WHITWORTH RECEIVES 365 YEARS FOR SPYING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504300001-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 8, 2012
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: August 29, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/08 :CIA-RDP90-009658000504300001-2
._. ~A~__R1y-
365 Years for Sp
29 August 1986
Whitworth Receives
No P~crole Possible for at Least 60 Years
e
sentence, which also mclud- Martin also said Soviet intelli-
ed $410,000 in fines, was stiffer gence official Yurchenko, who de-
than the prosecution had requested. fected to the west last year and lat-
It raised the possibility that Whit- er returned to the Soviet Union,
worth will serve more time in pris- said that KGB officers who handled
on than Walker, the espionage ring- the spy operation received impor-
leader who introduced Whitworth tant promotions and decorations,
to spying and funneled his informs- and that one had been secretly des-
tion to the Soviet Union. ignated a "hero of the Soviet
While Whitworth must wait 60 Union."
years for parole, Walker faces the U.S. District Judge John P. Vu-
possibility of parole after 10 years kasin Jr., who presided at Whit-
of alife sentence. for creating a spy worth's four-month trial, called
ring that included his brother his
son and his close friend Whitworth. Whitworth "one of the most spec-
Assistant U.S. Attorney William tacular spies of the century" and a
S. Farmer based his comments man who represented "the evil of
about the spy ring's significance on banality."
an affidavit submitted to the court While Whitworth, a slim, bearded
by John L. Martin, chief of internal man wearing a brown suit, listened
security in the Justice Depart- without expression, Vukasin said,
ment's criminal division. The af'fi- "Jerry Whitworth is a zero at the
davit also stated that, according to bone. He believes in nothing. His
Yurchenko, the Soviet Union be- life is devoted to determining the
lieved the information learned from wind direction and how he can make
the Walker-Whitworth operation a profit from the coming storm."
would have been "devastating" to Whitworth, a 21-year Navy vet-
the United States in the event of eran who retired as a senior chief
war. radioman in 1983, did not testify at
phering of "1 million" secret U.S. d~ y ALFRED WHIT~'0~ RTH~
Navy messages. .assailed by presiding judge
Th
' '
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 28-In
the harshest U.S. sentence for es-
pionage imposed since the abolition
of the death penalty for spying, an
outraged federal judge sentenced
convicted spy Jerry Alfred Whit-
worth today to 365 years in prison,
with no possibility of parole until
the former Navy communications
specialist is 107 years old.
The sentencing came after a fed-
eral prosecutor told the court that,
according to Soviet defector Vitaly
Yurchenko, the KGB considered the
spy ring run by Whitworth and John
Anthony Walker Jr. "the most im-
portant operation in the KGB's his-
tory," one that albwed the deci-
By Jay Mathews
Wa~top Pat Staf! Vhihr
his trial. When asked today by Vu-
kasin if he wished to speak before
sentencing, he replied in a choked
voice, "I just want to say, I'm very
sorry, your honor."
He remained expressionless as
he was led out of court, while his
wife, Brenda Reis, sobbed quietly in
the third row of the public seats.
"I'm going to be stoic about this."
one of his attorneys quoted him as
saying.
Whitworth, who grew up on a
wheat and soybean farm in Mul-
drow, Okla., was convicted of pass-
ing highly sensitive Navy coding
secrets to the Soviet Union from
1974 to 1985 in an espionage con-
spiracy described by prosecutors as
the most damaging since World
War II. Whitworth'a lawyers did not
deny that he pawed the information
but maintained that he thought it
was going to a friendly country such
as Israel rather than to the Soviet
Union.
Defense attorney James Larson
said the sentence "is obviously dew
astating to us. We fed iE is inappco-
priate under the law and we will
appeal it " Defense attorney Tony
Tamburello said they also planned
to appeal Wbitworth's conviction on
12 counts of espionage and income
tax violations on the grounds of im-
proper searches of Whitworth's
home and improper statements in
court by Walker, the principal wit-
ness against him.
In a plea bargain reached last
October, Walker agreed to cooper-
ate with intelligence officials and
prosecutors, including testifying at
Whitworth's trial, in return for a
lighter sentence for his son, Navy
Seaman Michael Lance Walloer,
who like his father pleaded guilty to
espionage,
Under the plea bargain's terms,
Walker would serve two omcurrant
life terms, with parole possible in
10 years, and his son would serve
25 years, veldt pates pp~~ ~
eight Years and four nauths. John
Walker's sentence is contingent
upon the extent of his cooperation,
Nis sentencing is scheduled for Oct,
3 in federal court in Baltimore.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/08 :CIA-RDP90-009658000504300001-2
 Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/08 :CIA-RDP90-009658000504300001-2
Prasecutora said last year that
they believed that life was the max
imam term that Walker, who
pleaded guilty under the same es-
pioaage statute as could
receive.
John Walker's brother. Arthur
James Walker, was also convicted of
espionage, He received three life
sentences and a 40-year sentence,
all to run concurrently with parole
possible in 10 years, and was fined
$250,000.
Whitworth. 47, wbo was unem-
ployed a~ living is a traibr park in
Davls. Calif , when arrested last
year, was c~uvicted by a j~Y 1Wy
24 aE seven of eight counts of es-
pionage and five cxHmb at tax vio-
lations convected to the $332,000
he ra~eived from Wallter for pro-
viding cammunicatiaos code se-
crets.
? Today. Vukasia sentenced him to
180 years oa esch of the espionage
carats, some terms to run concur-
rently and some ooasecutlvely. To
.that he added four three-year terms
with a $100,000 fine each and one
Sve-year term with a $10,000 fine
for the tax violations.
Vukasin said Whitworth "did not
believe m what he did. He did not
believe in anything at all. He was
the type of modern man whose
highest expression resided iin his
amorality."
Farmer, although saying after-
ward he was not surprised by Vu-
kasin's sentence. had naked for
leas-150 years io prison with no
puck eligibility for 50 years.
U.S. Attorney Joseph P. Rus-
soniello, despite his frequent smiles
at a news conference after the sen-
tencing, called it a "sad and somber"
day because of the lasting damage
to U.S. security, He celled the sen-
tence awarning to other potential
spies and reminder aE the used for
American vigilance agaiaat "people,
PCPs usP~~11Y our own atisens,
who would attempt to profit from
the sale of our national secrets,"
Mindful of Farmer's request for a
long sentence, Larson argued
strenuously that federal law does
not allow judge to raise minimum
parole eligibility beyond 10 years.
Vukasin noted that one subsection
of the federal code sets a 10-year
limit, while another subsection ap-
pears to give judges the right to
insist on more,
In Whitworth's case. he said, the
10-year minimum "appears uacoa-
scionable to this c;ourt," adding that
he would leave it to an appeals
court to decide if he was right.
Farmer said in three recent
cases, all under appeal, federal
judges ruled that the to-year wnit
could be eaooeeded, In one kidnaping
case, he said, the sentence was 300
years. with a minimum 99 years
before puole.
Russotiello said today's Wiling
was the most severe in an espio-
Wage case since a 1973 U.S. Su-
preme Court decision abolished the
death penalty. While many states
have enacted capital Punishment
legislation that complies with the
court decision, there is no federal
death penalty.
A number of members of Con-
gress began a drive to revive the
death penalty for espionage after
the Walker spy ring was uncovered
last year. Farmer told Vukasin he
would have salted for Whitworth's
execution if the law had allowed it.
Larson said it would be "a trav-
esty of justice" if Whitworth re-
~~ in Damon a day longer than
John Walker. Farmer noted that
one federal expert estimated even
with parole eligibility of only 10
yearn, persons convicted of crimes -
of ~ magnitude usually serve at
least 25 to 35 years, so that the
difference in their eventual punish-
ments would not be so great.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/08 :CIA-RDP90-009658000504300001-2