The Region : Soviet Spy’s Bid for New Trial Rejected

A Los Angeles federal judge rejected a bid for a new trial by convicted Soviet spy Nikolai Ogorodnikov, 53, who pleaded guilty to espionage conspiracy in June, 1985, in exchange for an eight-year sentence in connection with the Richard W. Miller spy case. Ogorodnikov claimed his guilty plea was involuntary and coerced by lawyers for his wife, Svetlana Ogorodnikova, who also pleaded guilty in exchange for an 18-year sentence. U.S. District Judge David V. Kenyon ruled that Ogorodnikov “knew exactly what he was doing” when he pleaded guilty and found that Ogorodnikova’s lawyers, Brad Brian and Gregory Stone, acted properly during two meetings with Ogorodnikov outside the presence of his lawyer, Randy Sue Pollock, in accordance with an “ongoing understanding” with her. Ogorodnikov’s lawyer, Terry Amdur, is appealing the ruling to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.