United States v. Franklin

Last updated

United States v. Franklin, Rosen, and Weissman
CourtUnited States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
CitationNot specified
Case history
Subsequent actionsFranklin sentenced to community service and halfway house
Court membership
Judge sitting T. S. Ellis III
Case opinions
Judge T. S. Ellis III delivered notable opinions regarding the Espionage Act

United States v. Franklin, Rosen, and Weissman was an early 21st century court case from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. The government prosecuted one Department of Defense employee (Franklin) and two lobbyists (Rosen & Weissman) for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) for allegedly disclosing national defense information to persons "not entitled" to have it, a crime under the Espionage Act of 1917 ( 18 U.S.C.   § 793 ). It is one of the few Espionage Act cases of its kind, targeted not at traditional espionage or sedition, but at the practice of information leaking in Washington DC. The cases against Rosen and Weissman were also unusual because this aspect of the Espionage act had rarely (if ever) been used against non-government individuals. [1] Franklin pleaded guilty, but all charges against Rosen and Weissman were dropped.

Contents

Background

Larry Franklin worked for the Department of Defense at the Pentagon. Steve J. Rosen and Keith Weissman were lobbyists for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a lobbyist group. Rosen had worked at RAND Corporation and began work for AIPAC in 1982. Weissman started AIPAC work in 1993 and was an Iran expert. Franklin met Rosen and Weissman circa 2002 and they began exchanging information. [2] [3]

By 2003 the FBI had been investigating Rosen for a long time. The government flipped Franklin some time before 2003; he became convinced by the FBI that Rosen and Weissman were doing bad things. Franklin started wearing wires to get evidence against Weissman and Rosen, including a 2003 meeting where he leaked fake information about a planned killing of Israelis, which Rosen took and gave to Israeli diplomats and the media. [4] In 2004 the government raided AIPAC offices. The government alleged the information the three transferred was related to the national defense and otherwise violated 18 U.S.C.   § 793 . [2] [3]

Larry Franklin counsel: Plato Cacheris, John Francis Hundley [5]

Rosen counsel: Erica Emily Paulson, Joseph John McCarthy [5]

Weissman counsel: John N Nassikas, III, Baruch Weiss [5]

Several legal principles were expounded upon regarding the relevant sections of the Espionage Act. Judge T. S. Ellis III had several notable opinions: [6]

Other notable features:

Result

See also

References

  1. 1 2 U.S. to drop spy case against Pro-Israel Lobbyists, Neil A Lewis, David Johnston, New York Times May 1, 2009
  2. 1 2 US vs Franklin, Rosen, & Weissman, 2005, US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Grand Jury Indictment.
  3. 1 2 3 AIPAC Decision a Victory, With Qualifiers, 2009 May 8, Ron Kampeas, New Jersey Jewish Standard
  4. 1 2 Once Labeled An AIPAC Spy, Larry Franklin Tells His Story, Nathan Guttman, July 10, 2009, The Jewish Daily Forward
  5. 1 2 3 Criminal Docket for case #: 1:05-cr-00225-TSE-ALL (US v Franklin), medialaw.org
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 A Troubling Prosecution; United States v. Rosen has its thorns. Michael Berry, AUGUST 21, 2006, National Review
  7. 1 2 Hearing on Reduction of Sentence for Lawrence A. Franklin, June 11, 2009, US Dist. Ct., from fas.org, p 33, 37, 41, etc
  8. 1 2 3 4 Government drops charge in United States v. Rosen that two lobbyists criminally received leak of classified `national defense information Newspaper Association of America, 2009 June 23
  9. ↑ See Ellis' decisions
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.