 The 1949 trial was held in New York City at the Foley Square federal courthouse of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York . Judge Harold Medina , a former Columbia University professor who had been on the bench for 18 months when the hearing began , presided . Before becoming a judge , Medina successfully argued the case of Cramer v. United States before the Supreme Court , defending a German @-@ American charged with treason . 
