CA: Woman at heart of FBI spying case challenges government bid to overturn dismissal

Bakersfield Californian ^ | 2/23/05 | AP - Los Angeles

[NormsRevenge]

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Attorneys for Katrina Leung, who was accused of using her romantic ties with a retired FBI agent to gain access to classified documents, asked a federal judge Wednesday to reject the government's bid to reinstate the case.

U.S. District Judge Florence Marie Cooper dismissed all charges against Leung last month, saying prosecutors deliberately tried to keep defense attorneys from preparing properly for trial.

A motion asking the judge to reconsider was filed this month. On Wednesday, Leung's attorneys submitted a 35-page response that called the motion "procedurally impermissible and substantively wrong."

"The court's dismissal order was well-founded, supported in fact and law, and clearly appropriate," the response said. "Even at this juncture the government continues to stonewall, hiding key evidence and witnesses."

Leung, a wealthy San Marino socialite with close ties to China, was recruited by the FBI in the early 1980s to gather intelligence. Prosecutors said she used an affair with James Smith, her FBI handler, to copy classified documents he carried in his briefcase.

Leung, who was never charged with giving the documents to a foreign government, faced up to 14 years in prison if convicted of illegally copying and possessing national security documents.

Smith, who retired from the FBI in 2000, has pleaded guilty to a single count of making a false statement about his relationship with Leung.