Musmanno, Michael Angelo (1897–1968)

US judge and author. A successful and controversial lawyer in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he tried to reverse the death sentence in the Sacco–Vanzetti case (1927), was a member of the team appointed to ascertain whether Adolf Hitler had died in Berlin, was a judge at the Nuremberg War Trials (1946), and was a witness for the prosecution in the trial of Adolf Eichmann (1961). He was judge of the court of common pleas in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania (1934–40), and a member of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court (1951–68). A staunch anticommunist, he cowrote the Communist Control Act of 1954. He also wrote Ten Days to Die (1956) and Columbus Was First (1966).

Musmanno was born in Stowe Township, Pennsylvania. He served in both World War I (infantryman) and World War II (lieutenant commander to rear admiral). He also earned a total of seven academic degrees.