U.S. Says Nuclear Scientist Lee Still a Threat, Should Stay in Jail

Federal prosecutors say nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee should stay behind bars until his trial, stating he poses “irreparable harm” to the country if released.

The U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, which a week ago halted a release order for Lee signed by a federal judge in Albuquerque, will hear arguments Monday over releasing him from a Sante Fe, N.M., jail. He has been in solitary confinement since his arrest last December.

Lee, 60, is accused of downloading restricted material about nuclear weapons to unsecured computers and tapes while working at Los Alamos National Laboratory. His trial is set for Nov. 6; he could face life in prison if convicted.

Lee’s lawyers have filed two motions seeking his release pending trial. The U.S. attorney’s office in Albuquerque filed a response late Thursday, saying Lee’s claim that he will suffer significant harm by remaining jailed “does not overcome the potential irreparable harm to the United States” posed by his release.

U.S. District Judge James Parker, who signed Lee’s release on $1-million bond before the 10th Circuit stayed his order, set strict conditions for his release, including electronic monitoring. Prosecutors said Lee would be a risk because he could pass on the tapes or communicate their contents.

Meanwhile, the human rights committee of the New York Academy of Sciences sent a letter to the court saying Lee’s continued incarceration pending trial undercuts the group’s efforts to protest the jailing of scientists by totalitarian governments elsewhere.