Spy Files Motion to Alter Guilty Plea

Former CIA officer and convicted spy Aldrich H. Ames is seeking to renegotiate his 1994 guilty plea, saying in a court filing that he agreed to a life sentence only to avert a long prison term for his wife, which would have deprived his young son of both parents.

The habeas corpus motion was drafted by Ames, who has been spending much of his free time in the law library of the federal prison at Allenwood, Pa.

John Martin, the Justice Department lawyer who supervised the prosecution of Ames and has since retired to private practice, said Tuesday that the vast majority of such motions fail. A CIA spokesman said the agency was unaware of Ames’ motion but would oppose it.

Ames was a veteran CIA officer who told government investigators after his arrest in 1994 that he had given the Soviet KGB the names of dozens of Russians serving as agents of U.S. and British intelligence. In return, the KGB paid him nearly $2 million over nine years.