Spy Suspect Reaches Deal With US GovernmentRobert Hanssen, former agent of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), will plead guilty this week to charges he spied for Russia and will avoid the death penalty, his attorney said Tuesday."This is an appropriate resolution which we believe is beneficial to the government and to Hanssen and his family," defense attorney Preston Burton said. Hanssen, 57, who had been an FBI agent for 25 years, has been charged with selling secrets to Moscow over 15 years for 1.4 million U.S. dollars in money and diamonds. Meanwhile, two government officials, who asked not be identified, confirmed that the deal spares Hanssen from the death penalty. The U.S. attorney's office said Tuesday that a federal court hearing has been set for Friday for Hanssen to change his plea to guilty from not guilty. In June, the U.S. Justice Department dropped its demands that Hanssen face a possible death penalty, clearing the way for a plea deal to be negotiated between defense lawyers and prosecutors in one of the most serious espionage cases in U.S. history. The accused spy will be required to sit for interviews with the FBI, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and other intelligence officials so they can determine the extent of his activities, the officials said. The deal would allow Hanssen's wife, Bonnie, and six children to receive benefits under his government pension, the government officials said. Hanssen is only the third FBI agent to be accused of espionage. He pleaded not guilty May 31 to charges of spying for Moscow, and plans were set for an October 29 trial. The federal indictment, issued May 16, accuses Hanssen of 21 counts of espionage. Hanssen, one of whose jobs at the FBI was supposed to have been catching Russian spies, was arrested in February after allegedly dropping off a bundle of classified material at a park near his home in suburban Virginia to be picked up by his Russian handlers. |
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