Appeals court affirms most convictions of ex-CIA officer convicted in leak case

Source: Washington Post

By Matt Zapotosky June 22 at 12:50 PM

A federal appeals court panel on Thursday largely affirmed the convictions of former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling, who was found guilty in 2015 of giving classified information to a journalist in a case that free press advocates worry may have set a precedent for compelling reporters to reveal their sources.

A three-judge panel with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit upheld all but one of Sterling’s convictions and determined that because his 42-month sentence could have applied to any single count of which he was found guilty, there was no need to take further action.

The court vacated one of the convictions because — in the view of a majority of the judges — prosecutors had not adequately proven the offense had taken place in the Eastern District of Virginia, where the case was tried. But the judges rejected Sterling’s arguments on the other counts, and the third member of the panel wrote that he would have affirmed the case entirely.

Edward B. MacMahon Jr., one of Sterling’s attorneys, said, “I’m obviously disappointed in the ruling, and I still believe in his innocence.” Barry J. Pollack, another of his lawyers, said while it was technically possible Sterling could appeal to the Supreme Court, “obviously the odds are very long that the Supreme Court is going to take any given case, so he’ll have to make a decision as to whether he’ll want to take a shot at that or not.”

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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/appeals-court-affirms-most-convictions-of-ex-cia-officer-convicted-in-leak-case/2017/06/22/7d4f0a1e-5748-11e7-a204-ad706461fa4f_story.html