Judge in Los Alamos Scientist’s Case Bows Out

The judge handling the case against fired government scientist Wen Ho Lee, accused of illegally copying U.S. nuclear weapons secrets, removed himself from the proceedings unexpectedly Monday, canceling hearings and likely delaying the trial date set for November.

Chief U.S. District Judge John Conway gave no reason for his decision in an order issued to defense attorneys and prosecutors informing them that he was recusing himself and that Judge James Parker would take over the case.

Conway could not be reached for comment.

According to the recusal order, two pretrial hearings, scheduled for Wednesday and June 12, have been vacated until further notice from the newly assigned judge.

“Judge Conway’s recusal order in United States vs. Wen Ho Lee speaks for itself,” the U.S. attorney’s office said in a statement.

The trial date of Nov. 6 is likely to be delayed by the change of judges, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office added.

Defense attorney John Cline declined to comment on the matter.

Lee, 60, a U.S. citizen born in Taiwan, has been in jail since December, when he was arrested and charged with 59 counts of mishandling top-secret information at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Lee has been suspected of providing nuclear secrets to China but has not been charged with espionage.

Lee has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

Two important hearings had been set for the coming week to discuss the extent of classified information to be allowed at trial. Defense attorneys argue that the information Lee is accused of copying was legally available and designated as top secret only after Lee was fired in March 1999.

The government is expected to argue that for national security reasons, the information must be kept confidential during the trial.

Last month, Assistant U.S. Atty. Bob Gorence was replaced as head prosecutor on the case. George Stamboulidis, a veteran prosecutor of organized-crime cases, was named to lead the prosecution team.