Government Gives Up Papers, Rests Case in Ellsberg Trial

The government, acting under orders from Judge Matt Byrne, turned over four secret CIA memorandums to defense attorneys for Daniel Ellsberg '52 and Anthony Russo yesterday, before resting its case in the Pentagon Papers trial in Los Angeles.

The documents, written by CIA agent Samuel A. Adams, "point to the fact that military estimates in Vietnam in 1967 were deliberately falsified to justify U.S. policy in the war," Adam Bennion, legal consultant to the defense, said yesterday.

Refuting the Pentagon

Bennion added that the CIA documents may aid the defense in refuting the January 20 testimony of William G. DePuy, a high ranking Pentagon general. DePuy said that the release of the Pentagon Papers could have aided the North Vietnam war effort.

David Nissen, the assistant U.S. attorney who is handling the prosecution for the government, said yesterday that he was resting his case, but that he would present some last-minute testimony on Tuesday.

Nissen alleges that the fingerprints of Vu Van Thai, former South Vietnam ambassador to the U.S. are on one of the volumes of the Pentagon Papers which belonged to Ellsberg. The official record of Thai's fingerprints are expected to arrive from Saigon on Tuesday, Bennion said.

The government has called ten witnesses in four weeks of testimony trying to prove espionage, conspiracy and theft charges against Ellsberg and Russo in connection with the leak of the Pentagon's top secret war study.

Bennion said last night that the defense will again file a motion for the dismissal of the case today on the grounds that the government has not proven the charges of theft.