Mooney Case
Mooney Case, a controversial California legal case that gained worldwide attention. The central figure was Thomas J. Mooney (1882–1942), a radical labor agitator, who in 1917 was sentenced to hang for bomb killings at a 1916 Preparedness Day parade in San Francisco. It became widely felt that Mooney had not received a fair trial because of antilabor prejudice. Defense lawyers claimed that some of the testimony was perjured.
Labor and other liberal groups took up Mooney's cause. At the request of President Wilson, the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. Demands were continually pressed for Mooney's pardon. It was finally granted in January, 1939. Warren K. Billings, a friend of Mooney's who had been sentenced to life imprisonment for an alleged part in the bombing, was released nine months later.