Arthur Walker to Appeal His Spy Conviction
Lawyers for convicted spy Arthur J. Walker have filed a notice of appeal and said Thursday they will argue that the government failed to prove that the retired Navy officer passed classified documents to the Soviet Union.
The lawyers filed the notice in U.S. District Court on Wednesday, eight days after Walker was sentenced to life imprisonment and fined $250,000 on seven counts of espionage.
“We know of several areas that we’ll be asking the court to review,” said Samuel W. Meekins Jr., one of Walker’s two court-appointed lawyers.
Meekins said defense lawyers will argue that the government failed to show that the documents Walker took from his defense contractor employer and gave to his brother, John A. Walker Jr., were delivered to a foreign power.
They also will argue that prosecutors’ introduction of certain classified documents as evidence violated the federal Classified Procedures Act, Meekins said.
Walker, 51, a retired Navy lieutenant commander from Virginia Beach, has been held at the Virginia Beach Jail since his arrest.
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