ASHINGTON, Feb. 24 — A federal worker who was convicted last week of trying to sell secrets to Iraq and China will not face the death penalty, a jury decided today.Posted on 02/25/2003 12:37:57 AM PST by JohnHuang2
ASHINGTON, Feb. 24 — A federal worker who was convicted last week of trying to sell secrets to Iraq and China will not face the death penalty, a jury decided today.
The former Air Force master sergeant, Brian P. Regan, who worked for the intelligence agency that operates American spy satellites, was found guilty last week of attempted espionage and collecting secret information.
Federal prosecutors had sought the death penalty. They said their posture reflected a determination by Attorney General John Ashcroft and other top officials to protect the nation's secrets as the United States faces hostilities around the world.
But Paul McNulty, the United States attorney for the eastern district of Virginia, said "justice has been well served" by today's outcome.
"Mr. Regan is now a convicted spy," Mr. McNulty said. "For this betrayal of country, he will pay a heavy price."
Mr. Regan, who is 40 and the father of four, could receive life imprisonment, officials said. He is to be sentenced by a judge on May 9.
Other spies who inflicted much greater damage than Mr. Regan have been spared death. Two of them, Aldrich H. Ames of the C.I.A., and Robert P. Hanssen, of the F.B.I., received life sentences despite actions that resulted in major security breaches and deaths of undercover agents for the United States.
Mr. Regan was considerably less successful and never actually transferred secrets, prosecutors said. His lawyer, Nina Ginsberg, portrayed him as a bumbler desperate to emerge from more than $100,000 in credit card debts. At the trial, she called his actions "harebrained."
Mr. Regan, a resident of Bowie, Md., was arrested in August 2001 as he prepared to fly to Switzerland in what the authorities say was an attempt to make contact with foreign officials. He was carrying coded information about Iraqi and Chinese missiles and had the addresses of Iraqi and Chinese embassies hidden in his shoe.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.