 On October 14 , 1949 , after the defense rested their case , the judge gave the jury instructions to guide them in reaching a verdict . He instructed the jury that the prosecution was not required to prove that the danger of violence was " clear and present " ; instead , the jury should consider if the defendants had advocated communist policy as a " rule or principle of action " with the intention of inciting overthrow by violence " as speedily as circumstances would permit " . This instruction was in response to the defendants , who endorsed the " clear and present danger " test , yet that test was not adopted as law by the Supreme Court . The judge 's instructions included the phrase " I find as a matter of law that there is sufficient danger of a substantive evil ... " which would later be challenged by the defense during their appeals . After deliberating for seven and one @-@ half hours , the jury returned guilty verdicts against all eleven defendants . The judge sentenced ten defendants to five years and a $ 10 @,@ 000 fine each ( $ 99 @,@ 455 in 2016 dollars ) . The eleventh defendant , Robert G. Thompson – a veteran of World War II – was sentenced to three years in consideration of his wartime service . Thompson said that he took " no pleasure that this Wall Street judicial <unk> has seen fit to equate my possession of the Distinguished Service Cross to two years in prison . " 
