dictionary

Judge orders bail for Wen Ho Lee, but U.S prosecutors likely to appeal

Lee will remain in prison until at least Friday, when hearings on the conditions of his release on $1 million bail will resume

From staff and wire reports

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico -- Former Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist Wen Ho Lee should be free on bail by Friday, barring an appeal by the U.S. government, a federal judge said Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge James Parker ordered the government to complete its search of Lee's home and finalize conditions for his release on $1 million bail by noon Friday.

Parker gave the government's attorneys until Friday to file an appeal of his decision last week to release Lee until the scientist stands trial in November on charges of mishandling sensitive nuclear information while working at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

A prosecutor said the government is likely to appeal.

The government must appeal to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, Colorado, by Friday. The government could submit the papers to the U.S. District Court in Albuquerque, and court officials there will forward the appeal to the Denver appeals court, according to the office of Robert March, the clerk of the court in Albuquerque.

Parker set Tuesday's hearing to impose conditions that would keep Lee under house arrest and tight surveillance at all times.

VIDEO CNN Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas looks at the case Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)     ALSO Science, security are focus of U.S. Energy Department commission     MESSAGE BOARD National security

LEGAL RESOURCES Latest Legal News Law Library FindLaw Consumer Center Select a topic Bankruptcy Discrimination Divorce Estate Planning Landlord-Tenant Personal Injury Taxes

Lee, 60, who has been behind bars since December on charges he copied U.S. nuclear weapons secrets, has been fighting to get out so he can spend time with his family ahead of his trial.

Even though he is not formally accused of espionage, prosecutors said they opposed his release because of the possibility that he could give classified nuclear information to foreign governments. They have said previously that he had "suspicious" meetings with Chinese scientists before his arrest last year.

"We are doing this out of concern...that the 7 portable tapes (of data) are not accounted for," Assistant U.S. Attorney George Stamboulidis said in court, referring to data that Lee is believed to have copied but that has not been found.

The hearing Tuesday would have focused on the judge's proposal to confine Lee to his home under electronic monitoring, remove all telephones and computers except for one tapped telephone for emergency calls and subject his wife to searches when she goes out or comes home.

Lee has pleaded not guilty to 59 counts of illegally copying computer data on nuclear weapons design. He has not been charged with espionage, though the government had hinted Lee might be a spy.

His attorneys and family have said Lee, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Taiwan, was falsely targeted by an FBI investigation because of his Asian descent.

Government prosecutors have argued Lee posed an acute danger to national security and could leak "the crown jewels of the nuclear weapons program" to a foreign power if he were out of jail.

But the judge, who last December upheld the government's request to deny bail, last week agreed with defense lawyers that the government case for keeping Lee in jail "no longer has the requisite clarity and persuasive character."

Lee was fired by Los Alamos, birthplace of the atomic bomb, in March 1999 amid congressional allegations of Chinese nuclear spying at the laboratory. China denied the allegations.

But Lee was not charged with espionage. Instead, prosecutors accused him of acting "with the intent to injure the United States" and named China and seven European and Pacific Rim countries as nations to which Lee may have intended to deliver secrets.

CNN Correspondent Martin Savidge and Reuters contributed to this report.

Hearing underway on details of Wen Ho Lee's release
August 25, 2000
Judge urges mediation in Los Alamos scientist case, sources say
August 25, 2000
Terms of Wen Ho Lee's release to be discussed Tuesday
August 24, 2000
Judge needs more time to decide on release of Los Alamos scientist
August 18, 2000
Scientist charged in nuclear secrets case may have been job-hunting instead
July 7, 2000
Wen Ho Lee indicted, arrested in Los Alamos case
December 10, 1999

U.S. Department of Justice
Los Alamos National Laboratory

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.