Wen Ho Lee - Indictment, Imprisonment and Release

Indictment, Imprisonment and Release

The Department of Justice constructed its case around the only real evidence of malfeasance, the downloading of the restricted information. They ultimately concocted an unusual strategy of trying to prove that, in addition to illegally handling information, Lee was trying to injure the United States by denying it the exclusivity of the nuclear information. Lee was indicted on 53 counts of mishandling information. Janet Reno confirmed on this date with CIA Director George Tenet and Louis Freeh that if the presiding Judge rules that if the government must reveal in open court what specifically was on the tapes, that the prosecution will have to plea out the case or risk jeopardizing state secrets.

Lee spent nine months incarcerated in solitary confinement with limited access to family. His treatment, though consistent with treatment of other prisoners at the Santa Fe facility, became a source of great controversy for the DOJ. In September 2000, Judge James A. Parker ruled that the government had to disclose the information on the tapes. According to Louis Freeh and Janet Reno, they were left with no option but to plea out Lee in order to A) find out where the missing tapes were and B) not risk sensitive government information by bringing it to trial. Lee was freed, and at plea, admitted to having made many copies of the tapes, which also were never located.

Wen Ho Lee pleaded guilty to one felony count of illegal "retention" of "national defense information". In return, the government released him from jail and dropped the other 58 counts against him. Judge James A. Parker apologized to Lee for the unfair manner in which he was held custody by the executive branch, and for being led by the executive branch to order his detention, stating that he was led astray by the executive branch through its Department of Justice, by its FBI, and its United States attorney. He formally denounced the government for abuse of power in its prosecution of its case. Later, President Bill Clinton remarked that he had been "troubled" by the way Lee was treated.