Miller Jury Says It’s Deadlocked : Spy Trial Panel Ordered to Try Again on Monday

The jury in the espionage trial of Richard W. Miller announced Friday that it was deadlocked after 11 days of deliberations in the case of the first FBI agent ever charged as a spy.

U.S. District Judge David V. Kenyon reacted to the news by telling jurors to take the weekend to “rethink your position” and ordered them to resume deliberations on the seven espionage counts Monday.

The jury foreman sent a note to Kenyon at 3:18 p.m. telling him that, after reviewing all the testimony and exhibits in the trial, “The jury is unable to reach a unanimous verdict on any of the counts.”

The dramatic message from the jurors followed increasing speculation in recent days that jurors might be having a difficult time resolving the question of Miller’s guilt or innocence.

“We all know you have been working diligently and this is difficult for all of you,” Kenyon said, smiling at the jurors after calling them back into the courtroom. “My experience has been some juries will come to this point and eventually reach a decision.

“Come back in and commence your deliberations Monday morning. We’ll see after that what happens. We are grateful to you again. My heart goes out to you. Decisions are not always easy.”

There was no indication Friday of how the Miller jury is split. Kenyon earlier had instructed jurors not to reveal how they were divided, a preparatory instruction in the event of deadlock.

If on Monday the jurors again inform Kenyon that they remain deadlocked, the judge indicated that he will then give them a final instruction to make one last “reasonable” effort to reach agreement.

Blow to FBI Officials

The announcement of the jury’s failure to reach a decision was a major blow to FBI officials stung by Miller’s alleged betrayal and to U.S. Atty. Robert C. Bonner, who had personally headed the prosecution team in Miller’s trial.

Banned from any comment on the case by a gag order on attorneys issued by Kenyon in March, Bonner and Miller’s lawyers, Stanley Greenberg and Joel Levine, all said they had no comment on the development.

Bonner has not disclosed publicly what the government intends to do if the jury remains deadlocked on the charges against Miller and Kenyon is forced to declare a mistrial, but sources close to the case say the government is expected to immediately move for a second trial on the espionage charges.

Denounces Article

The jury’s disclosure that it was deadlocked came just hours after an angry denunciation by Kenyon of an article in The Times that discussed the possibility of a deadlock. Kenyon denounced the story as “nonsense,” and said the jurors were simply taking their time and “being very careful.”

The article said the possibility of a deadlock was raised in court Thursday when Kenyon suggested to the lawyers that he tell the jurors they could deliver a count-by-count verdict if they had not decided on all seven of the charges.

Responding to Kenyon’s suggestion Thursday, defense attorney Stanley Greenberg asked: “What purpose would it serve? We have no indication of a deadlock, or any other kind of problem.”

‘Never Raised’

“Everyone who was listening knows that (the possibility of a deadlock) was never raised,” Kenyon said Friday morning. “It is a classic example of taking something out of context.”

The jury’s deadlock came after a two-month trial that began Aug. 6. Jurors had spent about 56 hours in deliberations, including more than three days rehearing the testimony.

Miller, 48, was arrested Oct. 2, 1984, after a month-long FBI investigation into his relationship with a Russian emigre named Svetlana Ogorodnikova, who was also arrested along with her husband, Nikolai, on charges of conspiring with Miller to obtain secret FBI documents for the Soviet Union.

Pair Plead Guilty

The Ogorodnikovs pleaded guilty to espionage conspiracy in a plea bargain agreement June 25 midway through their earlier trial. Kenyon sentenced Ogorodnikova to 18 years in prison and imposed an eight-year sentence on her husband.

Miller claimed from the time of his arrest last year that he was involved with the Ogorodnikovs in an attempt to salvage his FBI career by becoming the first FBI agent ever to infiltrate a Soviet KGB spy ring.

Bonner, who called that claim “baloney” during final arguments in Miller’s trial, had presented the former counterintelligence agent as a man who was motivated by greed, bitterness toward the FBI for past disciplinary action and lust for Ogorodnikova.

State of Mind

In final arguments, lawyers for both sides emphasized that a key to the case was Miller’s state of mind. In a hint of the jury’s deadlock, jurors had sent a note to Kenyon earlier Friday asking him for a definition of the term “state of mind.”

The charges against Miller include:

- Conspiring with the Ogorodnikovs to obtain a copy of the FBI’s Positive Intelligence Reporting Guide and to deliver it to the Soviet Union, a charge carrying maximum penalties of either five years or life in prison depending on whether the document was deemed vital to U.S. defense.

Injury to the U.S.

- Copying and obtaining the FBI document with the belief that it would be used to the injury of the United States, a charge with a maximum 10-year prison term.

- Passing a copy of the Positive Intelligence Reporting Guide to the Soviet Union knowing that it would hurt the United States, a count carrying a possible sentence of life in prison.

- Passing a classified document to the Soviet Union, a lesser charge carrying a 10-year maximum sentence.

Bribery Charge

- Asking for $50,000 in gold for providing FBI documents to Ogorodnikova and other Soviet agents, a bribery charge carrying a 15-year maximum sentence.

- Soliciting $15,000 in cash for a planned trip with Ogorodnikova to Eastern Europe to meet with Soviet officials and give them FBI documents, another bribery charge with the same 15-year penalty.

- Agreeing to receive a $675 Burberry’s trench coat to wear on the trip to either Vienna or Warsaw, another possible 15-year sentence.

Charge Dropped

Besides those seven counts, Miller initially was charged with passing a classified document to Ogorodnikova on Sept. 12, but that charge was dropped by the government early in the case after Miller’s lawyers claimed that the document in question was actually a loan application to a bank.

Miller is also charged with eight other counts of fraud and theft from government in connection with allegations that he stole money from one FBI informant and sold FBI information to another earlier in his 20-year career with the FBI. However, those charges were severed from the spying counts and have been held for a possible second trial.

Besides the current deadlock, Kenyon revealed Friday that one of the jurors has sent him a personal note, the nature of which he did not disclose.