 The government was represented at trial by John T. Cahill, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Judge William Calvin Chesnut of the District of Maryland presided over the jury trial at which Manton called former Democratic Presidential candidates Alfred Smith and John W. Davis as character witnesses.Manton was convicted for conspiracy to obstruct justice .Manton's conviction was affirmed by a specially constituted Second Circuit panel consisting of retired Supreme Court Justice George Sutherland, Supreme Court Justice Harlan Fiske Stone, and newly appointed Second Circuit Judge Charles Edward Clark.