U.S. Tries to Keep Svetlana Quiet, Miller Lawyers Says

Lawyers for Richard W. Miller charged Thursday that government prosecutors are trying to prevent convicted Soviet spy Svetlana Ogorodnikova from testifying for the defense in the former FBI agent’s espionage retrial because they are afraid of what she might say.

The charge came after prosecutors told U.S. District Judge David V. Kenyon that they have reconsidered a pledge during Miller’s first trial that they would not oppose a grant of immunity to Ogorodnikova if she intended to plead the Fifth Amendment to avoid incriminating herself. After Ogorodnikova’s lawyers told Kenyon that she intends to plead the Fifth Amendment, attorney Stanley Greenberg urged the judge to immunize her from further prosecution without the government’s consent to permit her testimony about her alleged conspiracy with Miller to pass secret FBI documents to the Soviet Union.

“Why are so many people fighting so hard to keep this woman from being heard? What are they afraid of?” Greenberg asked. “She should be a good government witness. She pleaded guilty.”

Earlier Trial

During Miller’s first trial, which ended in a deadlocked jury last November, U.S. Atty. Robert C. Bonner said the government would not oppose a “court-ordered” grant of immunity if Ogorodnikova pleaded the Fifth Amendment. Bonner and Assistant U.S. Atty. Russell Hayman contend that the commitment is not binding on the government for Miller’s retrial.

“We rarely give immunity and we believe someone in her position should not be given immunity from other forms of prosecution,” Hayman protested Thursday.

“You stated you would in this case,” Kenyon responded. “If it’s such a rare thing, why should people not rely on that when it emanates from the mouth of the U.S. attorney in open court?”

While Kenyon expressed some sympathy for the defense position, he listened with equal attention to Hayman’s continuing argument that the retrial was a “new ballgame” and that many agreements made during the first trial had been altered for the second trial. The judge said he plans to announce a decision today.

The dispute over Ogorodnikova’s possible testimony came as the prosecution neared the end of its case, with retired FBI agent John Hunt testifying for the third day about his own relationship with Ogorodnikova, which began two years before she met Miller in May, 1984.