APPEALS COURT ALLOWS SECRET INFORMATION IN SPY CASE DEFENSE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00494R001100700184-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 26, 2010
• Sequence Number: 184
• Publication Date: December 19, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2010/07/26: CIA-RDP90-00494RO01100700184-6
-1~1 F r, 717 F
WASHINGTON POST
19 December 1984
Appeals Court Allows Secret
By Leah Y. WormationLatimer.~`~ defense
Wasfunvon'Pwt Suff Writer Spy
A federal appeals court has ruled
that classified information may be
used as evidence in the espionage
trial of former intelligence officer
Richard Craig Smith, a decision that
could bring the case to trial in Al-
exandria early next year after- a
five-month postponement.
Smith was accused in April of -
selling the identities of six U.S. dou-
?ble agents to the Soviet Union for
$11.000. Smith, 40, who maintains
his innocence of the charge, said in
pretrial hearings in August that he
was werl.~ng secretly for the CIA.
At the time, he sought to present
certain classified information as ev-
idence.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals, in an opinion released yes-
terday, rejected the government's
contention that the need to protect
national security outweighs Smith's
need to use the classified informa-
tion for_ his defense.
U.S. District Court Judge Rich-
ard L. Williams ruled in August that
Smith would be allowed to..intro-
duce some classified information as
evidence in his defense during his
trial. It was that ruling that the
three-member appeals panel upheld
this week in a 14-page opinion.
Defense attorney William ' B. ;
Cummings said yesterday. that. the
ruling will allow Smith the use of
"critical" information and could lead
to a trial in February, if the govern-
ment does not extend the appeal .
process. Yesterday, Assistant U.S.
Attorney Joseph Aronica said the
government is considering. what its
next action sliould.be:
The appeals court ruling noted
that the government had not ex-
plained why the 'information was
classified or how its. disclosure
would threaten national security.
"Without this information, the court
was 'ill-equipped' .. to balance,
the harm to the national security
...against the relevance of the evi-
dence," the judges wrote.
Aronica said the government is
considering whether it will seek
more'pretrial hearings in the case
to allow the government to outline
the -"seriousness". of .the classified
information."Itwas not appropriate
to do so"[in the initial appeal). We
are now at the stage where it- is
appropriate," Aronica said.
The classified material that
would be allowed into evidence un-
der the court rulings includes infor-
mation involving a now-defunct Ho-
nolulu investment firm that Smith
said he used to reach CIA contacts.
The CIA has acknowledged that it
had "a slight involvement"with the
firm, Bishop. Baldwin. Dillingham &
Wong. :+ .
The [classified] evidence tends
to negate the criminal-intent that
..the government will be required to
prove," Cummings said yesterday.
Smith's trial was originally sched- >
filed for July 9,:but it was postponed
indefinitely .`when prosecutors said
they needed' more, time to 'examine
the "'classified information Smith
sought.to use. Because of the delays,
Smith has' been allowed to travel to
-Washington state,:-where he lived
'-before- his arrest' 'His -lawyer -said
yesterday that Smith is in -Seattle.
Approved For Release 2010/07/26: CIA-RDP90-00494RO01100700184-6