SUSPECTED SPY COULD RECEIVE DEATH PENALTY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000302530025-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 20, 2010
• Sequence Number: 25
• Publication Date: January 13, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/20: CIA-RDP90-00552R000302530025-3
APTI'cLE APPEARED. LOS ANGELES TIMES
G:: PAGE ,3 13 January 1984
Suspected Spy
Could Receive
Death Penalty
By MARK A. STEIN,
Times Staff Writer
Turning aside the arguments of
both prosecutors and defense law-
yers, a federal judge in San Francis-
co ruled Thursday that a suspected
Silicon Valley spy could be sen-
tenced to death if he is found guilty
of selling sensitive ballistic missile
defense secrets to the Soviet bloc.
The defense attorney in the case,
however, said he- will appeal the
decision to the U.S. 9th Circuit
Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
Prosecutors would not say whether
they will ask for the death penalty
when the case goes to trial, sched-
uled for April 3 in San Francisco.
"Given the potential consequenc-
es of ... espionage, which may
threaten the lives of all citizens of
the United States, this court finds
that capital punishment for espio-
nage is not uniformly disproportion -
ate to the severity of the offense
"
,
U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti require lower courts to -consider
said, such things as the defendant's state
of mind, malice and. quality of
character.
The ruling did not apply directly
to federal espionage laws, but the
lawyers argued that those laws lack
the clauses mandated by the Su-
preme Court's decision.
Conti rejected that thinking, say-
ing that no federal court has ever
"squarely confronted" the specific
issue of whether the 1972 decision
rendered the death penalty for
Terms It Lawful
"Accordingly, the punishment of
death for espionage is not unconsti-
tutional."
Conti's ruling was made in the
case of James D. Harper, 49, a
Mountain View engineer accused of
photocopying 67 classified reports
and later selling 31 of them to Polish
agents in Europe and Mexico for
about $250,000. FBI agents said the
reports were shared with the Soviet
Union.
The reports, which detailed how-
the United States plans to survive a
surprise nuclear attack by the Sovi-
ets, were allegedly provided to
Harper by his second wife, Ruby
Louise Schuler, who died last sum-
mer at 39 of cirrhosis of the liver.
Basis of Ruling
Only two people-Julius and Eth-
el Rosenberg, in 1953-have been
executed for peacetime spying in
the United States, and lawyers for
both sides in the Harper case had
told Conti that a 1972 'Supreme
Court decision held that capital
punishment in espionage cases is
unconstitutional.
That ruling, they said, was based
on the -opinion that death penalty
provisions of federal laws were
inapplicable because they -did not
STAT
espionage invalid. He added that he believes putting
convicted spies to death "corfor:ns to contemporary
societal standards of decency."
Assistant U.S. Atty. John C. Gibbons would not say
whether Conti's decision will change his mind and cause
him to seek the death penalty. Defense attorney Jerrold
Ladar of San Francisco said, "the Department of Justice
has determined they can't (seek a death sentence), and
if the judge imposes it, it would be an illegal act."
Ladar said be does not expect his planned appeal to
postpone the trial. Harper remains in custody without
bail at an undisclosed location, where'he has been held
since his arrest last October.
Meanwhile, government prosecutors continue build-
ing their case against Harper, and plan a t::p to Europe
to gather further .evidence, sources close to the
investigation said.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/20: CIA-RDP90-00552R000302530025-3