DATE=9/10/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=WEN HO LEE RELEASE (L)
NUMBER=2-266326
BYLINE=BARRY WOOD
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:


INTRO:  U-S authorities say there has been a plea 
agreement between government prosecutors and attorneys 
for Wen Ho Lee, the Taiwanese-American scientist, who 
had been charged with compromising U-S nuclear weapons 
secrets.  VOA's Barry Wood reports that Mr. Lee is 
likely to be released from prison Monday afternoon in 
New Mexico.

TEXT:  Mr. Lee is pleading guilty to one of the 59 
charges brought by U-S prosecutors.  He will admit to 
mishandling classified government material at the Los 
Alamos nuclear weapons laboratory in New Mexico, where 
he worked.  The agreement is expected to be approved 
by a Federal judge in Albuquerque, after which Mr. Lee 
will go free. He is expected to be sentenced to the 
time he has already served in prison. He has been 
imprisoned since last December.

The agreement is being seen as a significant retreat 
by U-S prosecutors who had presented Mr. Lee as a spy 
for China and a threat to U-S national security. 

Mr. Lee worked on weapons design at the Los Alamos 
laboratory.  He is agreeing to cooperate with 
investigators in locating missing classified material.

Legal experts say the government's case against Mr. 
Lee was overstated. The prosecution was hurt by 
admitted false testimony and lack of credible proof 
that Mr. Lee had passed sensitive information to 
China.  There were also allegations that Mr. Lee was 
victimized because of his ethnic Chinese identity.

The plea agreement may mark the end of what has been 
one of the most complex espionage cases in modern U-S 
history.  A trial was to have begun in November.  Mr. 
Lee's family earlier filed charges against the Federal 
Bureau of Investigation and has been seeking his 
release on bail.  (Signed)


NEB/BW/FC 



10-Sep-2000 22:28 PM EDT (11-Sep-2000 0228 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
.