Miller Gets 2 Life Terms and 50 Years for Spying : Judge Calls Ex-FBI Agent a ‘Tormented Man,’ Urges That He Never Be Paroled From Prison

Described by a federal judge as a “tormented man” whose biggest problem is ingratitude, former FBI agent Richard W. Miller was sentenced Monday to two concurrent life prison terms for espionage and another 50 years on four other related spy charges.

The sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge David V. Kenyon on the first FBI agent ever charged with espionage followed the recommendation of government prosecutors, and the judge made clear his feelings that Miller should never be paroled from prison.

“It seems to me that anyone who deliberately, for their own personal gain, betrays their country, should not walk again in his country as a free man,” Kenyon said.

Kenyon’s sentencing of the former member of the FBI’s Los Angeles Soviet counterintelligence squad ended almost 22 months of occasionally chaotic, and sometimes even comical, courtroom proceedings in one of the most bizarre spy cases in U.S. history.

Excommunicated Mormon

Miller, 49, an excommunicated Mormon and father of eight with a bungled 20-year FBI career, was convicted of passing FBI secrets to the Soviet KGB during an adulterous affair in 1984 with Svetlana Ogorodnikova, an emotionally troubled Russian emigre who also was convicted of spying for the Soviets.

The government charged that the 250-pound Miller, bitter because he believed that he was about to be fired for obesity, agreed to sell FBI secrets to the Soviets in exchange for Ogorodnikova’s sexual favors, $50,000 in gold, $15,000 in cash and a $675 Burberry’s trench coat.

Defense lawyers likened him to the inept Inspector Clouseau, the fictional French detective of the “Pink Panther” movies. Miller was reprimanded repeatedly for failing to keep his weight in line with FBI guidelines, for always being behind in his work and for losing his FBI badge several times.

They argued that Miller was hoping to redeem himself by undertaking an unauthorized double-agent operation to become the first FBI agent to ever infiltrate the KGB--a plan that Miller himself described as a “James Bond fantasy.”

He met Ogorodnikova in May, 1984, and began a sexual relationship almost immediately without telling his superiors. In August, 1984, they traveled together to the Soviet Consulate in San Francisco, where they allegedly passed secret information to the KGB.

A few days after the trip, the FBI launched a massive counterintelligence investigation focusing on the activities of Miller, Ogorodnikova and her husband, Nikolai. The Ogorodnikovs were subsequently arrested along with Miller. They were tried first, pleading guilty to espionage conspiracy.

Ogorodnikova, 36, was sentenced to 18 years in a plea-bargain agreement in June, 1985, and her husband received an eight-year sentence. Ogorodnikov already has disavowed his guilty plea and requested a new trial. His wife disavowed her guilt while appearing as the star witness in the second of Miller’s two spy trials, but has not yet joined her husband in requesting a new trial.

Miller admitted to the FBI before his arrest Oct. 2, 1984, that he had passed more than one secret document to Ogorodnikova, but he only identified one document--the FBI’s Positive Intelligence Reporting Guide, a list of U.S. intelligence-gathering goals throughout the world.

In requesting life prison sentences for the ex-agent, U.S. Atty. Robert C. Bonner cited Miller’s failure to identify other documents as one of the reasons why a tough sentence was appropriate.

“He has damaged his country,” Bonner said. “The full amount of damage is not known and may never be known.”

Although Miller’s trials and the earlier trial of the Ogorodnikovs often focused on Miller’s sexual escapades and his penchant for blunders, Kenyon seized the occasion of Miller’s sentencing to discuss the “lesson” to be learned from the former FBI agent’s case.

“This case has been a tremendous lesson to the court,” Kenyon said. “As a boy, my mother used to constantly refer to being grateful when I complained about some things. The fundamental trouble Miller had was he did not appreciate that. Because he had everything.

“He had eight children he helped bring into this world, the privilege of watching them grow. He had a full family--to some the biggest blessing of all.

“He had a wife who stuck by him. He had his church. He had superiors in the FBI whom he resented, but he should have been very grateful for the way they treated him. He had a position of respect and a rare opportunity of service to his government.

“If Mr. Miller had been grateful enough for any one of those things, he would not be here today,” Kenyon said.

“My heart goes out to Mr. Miller,” he said, “because my impression is that he is a tormented man. We are all here to learn a lesson, because that’s what life is about. A man without gratitude has to be a tormented man.”

Pathetic Bumbler

Kenyon added he believed that it was necessary to impose a tough sentence on Miller to deter other potential U.S. traitors.

“It seems to me there should be a recognition on the part of all citizens of the United States because we hear of these things going on more and more--betrayals,” Kenyon said. “We begin to take it more lightly.”

Miller testified under a grant of immunity as a government witness in the trial of the Ogorodnikovs, incriminating them, but also branding himself a liar, cheat and petty thief who had once stolen his grandmother’s $113 Social Security check.

His lawyers, privately deciding that Miller would be a disaster to himself as a witness, had advised him against testifying during his own two spy trials that finally ended in his conviction June 19. His earlier trial ended in a deadlock mistrial.

Moments before he was sentenced Monday, the former agent broke his courtroom silence--against his lawyers’ advice--to proclaim his innocence and deliver a rambling speech on what he described as the lack of justice in the courts:

“Your honor, to paraphrase a wise observer who said something like this, ‘There are many who seek to administer justice, but few who are able to do it,’ I have some stuff to present: I never intended to injure this country or benefit the Soviet Union. My conduct did no damage to this country.

“I know you are going to sentence me as if I did commit these crimes, but I did not commit them,” Miller added. “I will continue to assert my innocence through the appellate process, which I hope will result in a new and fair trial.”

Copy of Letter

Miller also released to The Times a copy of a letter he wrote to his family and friends last month while the jury was deliberating his case.

Complete with cartoon happy faces, sad faces and sketches of a snoring jury drawn by Miller, the eight-page letter provided a glimpse into his thought processes during the trial.

“Monday 9 June--Prosecutor gave closing arguments (Yukkie!),” Miller wrote. “Tuesday 10 June--Defense Attorney Joel Levine gives an eloquent synopsis of the ‘real issues’ in this case during his closing arguments (Hooray!).”

As jurors began their four-day deliberations June 16, Miller com-mented: “So far this trial has taken 16 weeks, two days and jury still must deliberate. I know everyone, including all of you, must be weary of this whole thing. I’m sure the jury is.”

Miller, writing from his cell at Terminal Island prison, also expressed strong religious beliefs throughout the document, which he described as “a Christmas letter six months early.”

“I would like to tell everyone that my blessings are many; not because they are merited or deserved, but because there is a God in heaven, who is kind and merciful, who thinks there still may be some hope for Richard William Miller,” the convicted spy wrote.

“I am blessed with eight great kids. . . . I am blessed with a kind, loving and charitable friend in Paula (his wife who sued him for divorce last November, but continued to visit him in prison). I caused her much pain and heartache; she was and felt betrayed. In return she gave love and support. Truly a great lady.”

Miller also took the occasion to accuse Kenyon of not giving him a fair trial.

A Fair Trial

“Judge Kenyon rules, politely and with a smile, in favor of the prosecution,” Miller said. “Occasionally he throws the defense a bone. . . . Stanley I. Greenberg, one of my attorneys, commented to me: ‘Richard, I hope I never have to have a fair trial like the one you’re getting.’ ”

Similar allegations were made by Miller’s lawyers last month, and Kenyon referred to them Monday before he pronounced sentence.

“If there was any error in terms of what the court decided to do in this case it was to err on the side of the defense,” Kenyon said.

FBI Praised

Kenyon also praised the conduct of FBI officials who investigated the Miller case. He said “many people” had been hurt by the case, singling out former FBI agent John Hunt, accused of also having had a sexual relationship with Ogorodnikova, and Miller’s FBI superiors, accused of favoritism toward Mormons in the Los Angeles office.

The judge said that in his opinion the evidence cleared both Hunt and FBI officials of any wrongdoing.

Richard T. Bretzing, agent in charge of the Los Angeles office, is a Mormon bishop, and another high-ranking Los Angeles official, P. Bryce Christensen, is also a Mormon. Both were accused by Miller’s lawyers of first coddling Miller because of their common religious affiliation, then unfairly using their trust to help wring damaging confessions from him.

Testimony during the Miller and Ogorodnikov trials, however, established that Bretzing had not even arrived in Los Angeles when Miller was placed on the Soviet squad. Under Bretzing, he received his most severe reprimands and threats of dismissal from the FBI.

‘Send a Message’

In urging life sentences and 50 years, all running concurrently, for Miller, Bonner, who prosecuted the case with Assistant U.S. Atty. Russell Hayman, said Kenyon needed to “send a message loud and clear to all the potential Richard Miller’s who don’t like their boss and think they are being treated unfairly.”

After the sentence, Bonner called a news conference to praise the decision as “appropriate.” In addition to the two life terms for conspiring and passing FBI secrets important to national security to the Soviets, Miller was sentenced to 50 more years for soliciting $65,000 in gold and cash from the Ogorodnikovs and for copying and passing classified information. He will be eligible for parole consideration after about 16 years--roughly one third of the 50-year sentence.

Kenyon also fined Miller $60,000, although Miller has declared indigence. The judge said the fine was imposed to make sure that Miller doesn’t benefit financially from his crimes from literary or movie rights.

Miller’s lawyers have said their client now has no prospects of a book or movie deal. Any payment for the rights to the former agent’s life story would be applied toward the $60,000 fine and an estimated $250,000 in defense attorney fees paid for by the government.