...Of course, he
was ultimately convicted at his court martial.
Anyone else remember Sgt. Clayton Lonetree?
Marine embassy guard, arrested for espionage? Passing secrets to the KGB? Anyone remember this one? Sort of overshadowed compared to Aldrich
"I know what's best for foreign policy and national security and I'm going to act on that" Ames, but an interesting story nonetheless.
The salient bit is this: Lonetree sat in 23-hour solitary at Quantico until his court martial started --
seven months -- before getting into the general population midway through the trial. Served nine years of a 30-year sentence (convicted on 12 of 13 counts, could've gotten life) thanks to good behavior, and a later judge taking into account how little damage his espionage actually did in the end. That last should be an interesting precedent, but no one seems to be talking about it.
I'd be interested to hear from Lonetree. He was released in 1996, and reunited with his ex-Soviet sweetie, if you can believe the internets.