ALBUQUERQUE — The judge who apologized to former government scientist Wen Ho Lee at his sentencing has scheduled a hearing on whether to unseal documents to check if Lee was prosecuted because of his race.
Asian-American groups want to examine the sealed government documents for evidence of ethnic profiling. U.S. District Judge James Parker scheduled the hearing for Oct. 2.
"We have always been under the impression that Judge Parker takes this case very seriously and took very seriously the allegation of selective prosecution," said Diane Chin, executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action.
The San Francisco-based civil rights group filed a petition to unseal on June 6. It contends the documents may reveal that profiling was used in deciding to prosecute Lee, a naturalized U.S. citizen and former Los Alamos scientist. The Asian Law Caucus and American Civil Liberties Union supported the motion.
Lee was indicted in 1999 on 59 felony counts for transferring nuclear weapons information to portable computer tapes. He denied giving information to China but pleaded guilty to one felony count of downloading sensitive material. Judge Parker said he was misled by prosecutors and apologized to Lee for the nine months he spent in solitary confinement. Lee was sentenced to time already served.
Lee has sued the government for allegedly leaking information to portray him as a spy.
Last week, a Justice Department report criticized the Energy Department, which oversees the Los Alamos lab, and the FBI for the Lee investigation. The report, completed by federal prosecutor Randy Bellows, concluded that Lee was singled out for an investigation into suspected Chinese espionage because the Energy Department misled the FBI.
While the report said the DOE inappropriately targeted Lee, it concluded it was not because of his race.