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Wen Ho Lee

Judge needs more time to decide on release of Los Alamos scientist

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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The federal judge presiding in the case of Los Alamos weapons scientist Wen Ho Lee announced during the third of day of testimony in a bail hearing that he would not rule Friday on whether to release Lee on bond.

U.S. District Court Judge James Parker in Albuquerque, New Mexico, said he will need time to review transcripts before he issues a ruling, New Mexico court officials said.

Lee has been held in federal custody since December, charged with 59 counts of mishandling classified information. Federal authorities have investigated Lee for allegedly providing nuclear secrets to China, but Lee has been charged only with downloading files from Los Alamos nuclear weapons laboratory to unsecured computers and tapes.

The Taiwanese-born U.S. citizen is scheduled to go on trial November 6.

Earlier in open session Friday, FBI supervisory agent Robert Messemer, a counterintelligence agent based in Albuquerque, returned to the witness stand. The Associated Press reported that Messemer testified that Lee easily passed a private company's polygraph examinations.

But Messemer said the tests administered to Lee by Wackenhut, a security company working on behalf of the FBI, did not follow protocols accepted by the federal agency. Messemer said the FBI does not agree with the conclusions, though they were double-checked by an independent polygrapher and a polygraph supervisor.

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