John W. Powell

SAN FRANCISCO - John W. Powell, a journalist tried for sedition for writing 1950s articles claiming the United States had used biological weapons in North Korea, died Monday. He was 89. He died of complications from pneumonia in a San Francisco hospital, according to his son Thomas Powell, of Albuquerque, N.M. The highly publicized case dragged on for five years and made Powell himself the subject of headlines, before all charges alleged by the government were dropped. The charges behind the 1959 trial stemmed from articles Powell wrote for the English-language China Monthly Review in which he quoted the Chinese government's claims that the U.S. had used germ warfare against Chinese soldiers. Powell was indicted by a San Francisco federal grand jury on 13 counts. The charges included violation of wartime sedition laws by printing false statements and undermining the loyalty of American troops who read the articles. Each count carried a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, a $10,000 fine or both. Two other editors at the China Monthly Review _ including Powell's wife, Sylvia _ also were indicted on one count each. After an initial mistrial, new complaints were filed, then dropped when the government could not obtain indictments. In May 1961, the remaining charges against the three defendants were dropped, with the approval of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.