DATE=8/24/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=WEN HO LEE GRANTED BAIL (S-L)
NUMBER=2-265839
BYLINE=MIKE O'SULLIVAN
DATELINE=LOS ANGELES
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=


INTRO:  A U-S federal judge has agreed to free 
scientist Wen Ho Lee on bail on Thursday as he awaits 
trial on charges of mishandling nuclear secrets.  Mike 
O'Sullivan has a report from our West Coast Bureau 


TEXT:  Dismissing government objections that the 
defendant is a security risk, the judge in 
Albuquerque, New Mexico, agreed to release Mr. Lee on 
one million dollars bail.  The former scientist for 
the Los Alamos National Laboratory had been denied 
bail twice before.  He was not released immediately, 
but will go through a hearing Tuesday to determine his 
bail conditions.  District Judge James Parker said in 
a written decision that Mr. Lee should be kept at home 
with electronic monitoring.

The scientist is accused of illegally copying computer 
data on nuclear weapons design.  He was fired from his 
job last year and arrested in December.  

Mr. Lee was born in Taiwan but is a naturalized U-S 
citizen.  Supporters say he was targeted because of 
his Asian background, and that most of the information 
he copied can be found in public records.  

Prosecutors say he copied thousands of pages of 
nuclear secrets on unsecured computers and tapes, and 
that some of the tapes are now missing. 

The case is scheduled to go trial in November.

            /// REST OPT FOR LONG ///

This month, a key prosecution witness admitted he was 
mistaken in earlier testimony when he said Mr. Lee was 
deceptive on several key issues during interviews.  In 
one case, defense lawyers submitted Mr. Lee's own 
report on his contacts with Chinese scientists, after 
the prosecution witness said Mr. Lee had concealed 
those contacts from supervisors.

The scientist was being held in solitary confinement, 
and the American Civil Liberties Union and Asian 
American groups have rejected the government's 
argument that he posed a security risk if released on 
bail.  (Signed)

NEB/MO/TVM/PT



24-Aug-2000 19:45 PM EDT (24-Aug-2000 2345 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
.