Sentence reduced for Pentagon analyst who leaked to AIPAC officials

[Scurrilous]

Source: Jewish Telegraphic Agency

<snip>

"A former Pentagon analyst who pled guilty to passing secret information to two former AIPAC staffers had his sentence drastically reduced.

Larry Franklin was sentenced to probation and 10 months of "community confinement," or a halfway house, along with 100 hours of community service. In 2005, he had received a sentence of 12 and 1/2 years in prison but was free pending his cooperation with prosecutors in the case against the two formers AIPAC staffers, Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman.

The charges against those two men for passing classified information were dropped by federal prosecutors last month who said that restrictions the judge had placed on the case made the government unlikely to prevail.

In a Thursday afternoon hearing in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., prosecutors asked Judge T.S. Ellis to reduce Franklin's sentence to eight years, saying he played an important role in the case but was "not what you'd call an ideal cooperator." Franklin attorney Plato Cacheris said Franklin had "paid his penalty and suffered greatly," and should not have to serve any time in prison."

Read more: http://jta.org/news/article/2009/06/12/1005836/franklin-sentence-reduced

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From the archives:

Ex-Pentagon analyst jailed for sharing US secrets (Jan-20-06)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2054404

[mitchum]

1. It may be latest breaking, but it's not really news

Color me...not shocked

[dionysus]

2. wow, probation for espionage...

:eyes:

[mbperrin]

3. Hey, HEY! Don't forget the community service! Probly gotta wear an

orange vest and everything, man. It can be rough, brudder, let me tell ya.....:crazy:

[magellan]

4. Didn't we used to shoot spies? n/t

[xchrom]

5. recommend

[dixiegrrrrl]

6. Boy, now I want to respect the law even more than I did yesterday !

[izzybeans]

7. Whoa, so next time another country approaches government employees

to buy information, they'll know that the price just got cheaper.

[Union Yes]

8. When I served in the Army they warned us that espionage was punishable by death.

[harun]

11. They forgot to tell you about the asterisk after that statement saying:

"unless you have a really really powerful well connected lobby".

Then of course not much happens at all.

[Union Yes]

12. So true, sadly.

[cascadiance]

9. I smell a coverup... I still remember when Sibel Edmonds being censored when Franklin arrested...

About the time he was arrested, Google for a month or so didn't have any news hits show up in their searches. And at that time, there wasn't anything really public that connected this scandal with what she was publicly talking about.

And this weird hiccup on Google alert messages I noticed at the beginning of the following year then...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=39220

[CTM1978]

10. MAKE A THREAT AGAINST OBAMA-NATIONWIDE MANHUNT! SPY FOR ISRAEL-SLAP ON THE WRIST!!!

Funny how that works.

[robinlynne]

13. of course, as soon as the Harman story became public, all charges were dropped against the

two AIPAc alledged spies.

[Hissyspit]

14. Probation Instead of Prison for Pentagon Leaker (AIPAC Case)

Source: Associated Press

Probation instead of prison for Pentagon leaker

1 hr 2 mins ago
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A judge has dramatically reduced the sentence for a former Pentagon analyst who pleaded guilty to leaking classified information to an Israeli diplomat and two pro-Israel lobbyists.

Lawrence A. Franklin of Kearneysville, W.Va., had been sentenced in 2006 to more than 12 years in prison. But on Thursday a judge cut the sentence to probation plus 10 months in home confinement.

Prosecutors had agreed his sentence should be cut but still wanted him to serve more than nine years in prison.

The reduction follows the government's decision not to prosecute the two lobbyists to whom Franklin leaked information. Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman had worked for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090612/ap_on_re_us/us_pentagon_spy_probe

[Name removed]

15. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[lib2DaBone]

16. Gawd... Good thing he didn't get caught with a Marijuana Cigarette...

.. he could have been in some real trouble..

[dbonds]

17. So its called leaking now, used to be called spying.

[pattmarty]

18. Let's see, if I sell a small amount of weed, I go to jail for 5 yrs, but.............

..........this guy is white and went to college and he gets, what??????????

[Demeter]

19. That Was VERY Generous Of the Court

But damn foolish. Think of the message sent to the children of this nation. Think of the message sent to the adults, never mind the nutcases.

[DCKit]

20. Spying during a time of war used to result in a brief trial with hanging immediately afterwards.

I don't give a shit who the guy was working for, he committed treason against the U.S.. Probation is a cruel joke on everyone serving time for far less serious crimes.

Then again, I'm pretty sure Franklin's actions were according to Administration policy, and we wouldn't want to upset the apple cart by holding anyone accountable for crimes against the state when a real investigation might implicate people who worked directly for DICK and Dumbya.

[ixion]

21. well, gee, it's a good thing he wasn't smoking a joint when he committed treason

he could have been in some serious trouble. :eyes:

[elehhhhna]

22. Once we acknowledge that Israel's our 51st state,

this will be easier to take.

[Bigmack]

23. To avoid any problems ....

with the anti-semitic issue, let's pretend a guy "leaked" classified info to a diplomat and lobbyists for ... oh.... say.... France, for instance. What would the penalty be?
Just askin'.