“Does the record reflect that the Court is familiar with these?” Kelleher, seemingly puzzled, asked.
“No,” Chelius said.
“It doesn’t ring a bell with me at all. I don’t think I ever saw them,” the judge said.
“Well, I submitted these letters in camera, copies of those letters,” Stilz said. “I provided them to the probation officer, and the probation officer indicated that he provided those letters to you, Your Honor. If you are not familiar, I can go get the original letters and let you consider them before sentencing.
“I think they are extremely important,” Stilz insisted.
“No, they will be ordered suppressed,” Kelleher said. “The Court will represent that it has no recollection whatever of the contents of any such letters, and if there is a recollection that comes to mind it will disregard any such matters.”
“Okay,” Chelius said, pleased.
“Your Honor, may I be heard for a moment?” Stilz persisted.
“Your Honor, I think it is extremely imperative that I be allowed to argue those letters, the contents of those letters. They show the state of mind and intent of Boyce after he was convicted, and they show no—”
“They are insufficient before the Court for that purpose,” Kelleher snapped, “so you will not make any reference to them.”
“May I submit those letters to Your Honor before sentencing?”
“No, you may not.”
Chelius and Dougherty returned to the defense table and told Chris things still looked good: Kelleher had refused to consider the letters in determining his sentence. Chris’s spirits were lifted.
Stilz rose to begin his pleading. As he had done at Daulton’s sentencing, he began by acknowledging that Chris had “cooperated fully” with the government since his conviction. “He voluntarily allowed himself to be interviewed and debriefed on numerous occasions by Federal agents; and more important, the information he did in fact provide to the United States Government proved extremely valuable to the CIA in terms of assessing the damage done to our national security and defense.
“However,” Stilz continued, “even taking defendant Boyce’s cooperation into consideration, it is the position of the United States that defendant Boyce should be sentenced to life imprisonment.” And then he listed the reasons:
“As he stands before Your Honor for sentencing, it cannot be questioned nor challenged by anyone that he committed one of the most serious offenses that a person can possibly commit against society: espionage—an act of betraying one’s own country, here the United States of America, a country that gave defendant Boyce his very existence, his education and an opportunity; a country that gave him, above all, freedom, his liberty and his security. But apparently unimpressed by these cherished items, defendant Boyce turned against his country and jeopardized its safety and well-being; in turn, he jeopardized the safety and well-being of all Americans. Why did he do what he did?
“What was his motive in jeopardizing the security and safety of his country and selling his country’s most sensitive top secrets to the Russians?
“Was it money? Was it for monetary gain? Perhaps to a small degree. But this was not his primary motive as it was with his codefendant, Andrew Daulton Lee.
“His primary motive, Your Honor, was to aid and benefit the Russians.”
Of course, Stilz continued, the defendant had said in open court that he was disillusioned by his government and had been coerced by Lee and had committed crimes that “may have caused untold potential damage to our national security and for this damage he has expressed in open court his ‘profound regrets’ to the American people and their principles. He then asked to be allowed to contribute once again to our society, that there was no possibility of a recurrence of his past deeds.”
The government submits, Stilz said, that his defense is “simply not worthy of belief.
“He was not coerced by Lee. No doubt his codefendant, Lee, had an influence upon him and probably at times pressured him due to his own monetary greed. But clearly not to the extent claimed and emphasized by defendant Boyce. Boyce had his own motive for betraying his country. He carried his betrayal into fruition because he had a reason to do so. His reason was to advantage and benefit the U.S.S.R.”
Chris, again wearing his rust-colored corduroy suit, but with an open-necked, flowered sport shirt different from the one he’d worn during most of the trial, didn’t look at Stilz as he spoke. He looked down at the defense table and fiddled with a pencil.
Not only, Stilz said, had the defendant systematically transmitted secrets to the Soviet Union; he had quit TRW to take a college course that would lead to a job in the State Department working covertly for the U.S.S.R. There was still another reason that this case demanded life imprisonment, Stilz continued: the nature of the documents that were sold to the Russians.
“First, there were those Top Secret documents and materials proved at trial, of which this Court is fully aware. Second, and more important, Your Honor, were those Top Secret documents and materials not charged in the indictment nor proved at trial. These documents and materials were, of course, so extremely sensitive that the government did not dare to expose them at trial. Yet defendant Boyce freely caused their transmittal for over a two-year period!”
Dougherty rose to his feet.
“May it please the Court,” he said. “I dislike to interrupt, but I hardly believe my client can be sentenced on the basis of anything that was not brought before the Court or proved at the trial.”
“Overruled,” Kelleher said.
Stilz deplored the espionage acts of Chris for more than twenty minutes. And then he concluded:
“Defendant Boyce knew if he breached the security of his position at TRW that the lives of every man, woman and child in this country would be drastically affected. He did so notwithstanding. He must, therefore, Your Honor, be expected to pay the consequences.”
Now it was the defense’s turn. Bill Dougherty raised his huge frame out of his chair and approached the lectern. There was a short silence while he arranged the notes he had written and put on his reading glasses. Then, having no choice, he appealed for mercy.
Referring to the study of Chris that had been made that summer by the Bureau of Prisons, he said its author had concluded “that this act never could have happened had it not been for the gross negligence of TRW. I don’t say that excuses Mr. Boyce, but if we take the setting of a young boy, an impressionable young boy, in an extremely sensitive place, with absolutely no supervision, we see that the opportunity was not created by him.”
He stressed Chris’s willingness to spend six days with CIA representatives. “He and only he knew what had happened, and he chose to tell completely and honestly to the CIA and the FBI everything that he remembered.” Finally, after appealing to Judge Kelleher to sentence Chris under youthful-offender statutes, Dougherty turned over the defense’s case to Chelius. As he walked away from the lectern, the judge stopped him and told Dougherty he might want to consider two points while Chelius was proceeding.
“First: When one is awaiting sentence under a statute which, amongst other things, provides for a death penalty—the appropriateness of which has been brought under some question by virtue of some of the expressed wisdom of the Supreme Court in recent years—but facing sentence which clearly can be maximized to life imprisonment—it is understandable that he will at that time become cooperative.” Nevertheless, the judge said he would not ignore the defendant’s co-operation.
“But there is one thing that struck this Court very strongly concerning your client at a time when he really could have performed in vindication or perhaps in expiation, and that was perhaps to come forward as a witness to see that a disreputable codefendant did not escape with a fictitious, false, unsupported, almost insulting defense, which might have succeeded before a jury, but which would never have been done had your client been in the position where he would come forward to give the full lie to the testimon
y of his codefendant.
“You rise to some matter, Mr. Chelius?”
“Your Honor, I represent to this Court that defendant Boyce offered his testimony against Lee, which testimony was rejected by the United States Attorney.”
“What testimony did he offer?”
“He offered to tell the whole story,” Chelius said.
“Well, what was that testimony? Did it relate to—”
“It would have related, Your Honor, to the fact that defendant Lee was not a representative nor had he ever been advised that he was working for the Central Intelligence Agency; the United States Attorney rejected that testimony.”
“Very well,” Kelleher said.
Then Stilz, looking agitated, rose to address the judge.
“Number one,” Stilz said, “we rejected the testimony because I would put no witness on the stand who I thought would lie. And number two—”
“Very well,” the judge said. “That is sufficient. I think we will let it rest at that.”
Resuming the pleading, Chelius argued that Chris’s espionage acts had done less damage to the United States than Stilz had claimed. “Historically,” he said, “such crimes would have gravely damaged the defense interests of the United States; but modern rapid scientific improvement in the state of the art makes most, if not all, information obsolete within a matter of months. Some experts, for example, believe that such information cannot be protected longer than two years.” Then he turned, as Dougherty had before him, to the seedbed where Chris’s acts of espionage had occurred—the TRW plant.
“One could use the cliché ‘When in Rome do as the Romans do,’ for at TRW the security awareness and the importance they attached to the information, which has been the subject matter of the case, begged for just such a result. This, combined with the gullible nature of the defendant, made Christopher John Boyce an easy mark for completion of the crime.
“The probation report fairly details the personal life of Christopher John Boyce. I will not discuss it in any great detail except to point out that the defendant is twenty-four years old without a prior criminal record, a good history of satisfactory work and achievement, and a very supportive family, which is present in court today. All of these factors should assist Chris in achieving the societal goal of rehabilitation.”
Chelius stressed again Chris’s cooperation during the debriefing sessions. “It should be noted that by giving this report he has subjected himself to personal risk of injury from other inmates, because such actions are inconsistent with the code of conduct within the prison system.
“What is the future of Christopher John Boyce?” Chelius asked, after a short pause, and then answered:
“Since the defendant’s arrest and continuing through today, I have had numerous opportunities to discuss future goals of the defendant with him. One of the things that impresses me is his resolve to become a useful and productive member of society and to show this Court that he is capable of its trust and confidence. To this end I urge the Court to structure its sentence toward the goal of rehabilitation and not punishment.”
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“Mr. Boyce, you have the right to address the Court before sentence is passed,” Kelleher said. “Do you wish to speak?”
“No, sir,” Chris responded.
“Does the Court wish to ask my client any questions, Your Honor?” Dougherty asked.
“No. Very well, you may be seated,” Kelleher said, and then began a long, often rambling monologue. Before he had spoken many words, it became apparent that the judge who had admitted three months earlier to being perplexed by the defendant was more sure of himself this day.
“This was a long and protracted trial, and much was said in the course of that trial,” he said. “Much was disclosed in the course of the trial. Some of what was said was believed by the jury and some by the Court. Much was believed neither by the jury nor by the Court.
“It has been urged on the Court today, for example, that the laxity of security, in whatever degree it existed, at TRW is a factor relevant to the sentence process. I am not sure that the record here would disclose in fact that there was a significant degree of laxity in the security program at TRW.” The defendant, he added, had testified about such laxity. “I don’t believe a word of that.”
Chris shifted in his seat.
“The difficulty that this defendant faces at the present time is whether there is any integrity within him.
“The Court didn’t find any veracity in him. The attempt that he made to rationalize his reasons for embarking on this program of espionage at one time was generally to the effect that he was appalled at his government and what it was doing to Australia.
“Absolutely made of whole cloth, totally irresponsible—an act of irresponsibility not only toward the penal laws of this country but toward its international relationships—and the defendant was not deterred in the saying of those things, because apparently he thought they would serve his purposes.”
It hadn’t worked.
“There are factors which run in his favor,” Kelleher continued. “The Court has in mind the cooperation which was given in attempting to minimize the wrong that was done by telling what he knew or what he could remember, perhaps, of the sensitive material that he had caused to be turned over to the Russians.
“But the Court had the impression that he just photographed everything in sight as long as it would serve the purpose of equipping Lee with that which he needed to sell to the Russians, and that there wasn’t much discrimination by the defendant as to what he was photographing. He perhaps didn’t even know the full extent to which he thereby caused the Russians to know about the sensitive program involved.
“Just what can conscientiously and consistently be done by a court in imposing sentence here which gives adequate recognition to the need to tell Boyce and all others like him that you play this game at risk of the most severe penalty … not a moderate penalty, but a severe penalty?
“There was real wisdom in the Congress in providing by statute that acts exactly such as here performed qualify one for a death sentence.”
There was a pause in his monologue, and in the silence of the courtroom one of Chris’s sisters could be heard sobbing.
“That is obviously deterrence of the highest order,” he continued.
“I think this defendant was corrupted by an evil person. I think the defendant has within him some decency and perhaps some real potential for that decency to manifest itself and become meaningful to the community. If there were somehow disclosed to the Court a sentence which would allow this defendant to take his place at some reasonably early date in the community and still not send forth the wrong word in deterrence, the Court would embrace such a sentence.
“Even if the Court accepted as true the expressed motivation by this defendant that he was setting out to correct evil security practices by the government, the word needs to go forward that you don’t do that.
“In the role he played, in the position he occupied, it was none of his business to attempt unilaterally and through criminal acts to revamp a system he didn’t like, or which he disapproved, or of which he was critical.
“With all respect to Mr. Chelius and Mr. Dougherty, the Court will say to you gentlemen that you compound the difficulties for the Court in imposing sentence by the fact of who you are, respectively. It is part of the record of this court that you, Mr. Chelius, are one of those unusual persons, unusual in numbers, who bears the highest security classifications and who, accordingly, is unusually informed concerning all matters as they relate to the security program.
“And you, Mr. Dougherty, enjoy at least a reputation which certainly has the effect of placing you somewhat similarly situated to Mr. Chelius in respect to kinds of acts which are here disclosed as having been committed.” It was a reference to Dougherty’s Marine Corps record.
“The Court will say at the same time that each of you gentlemen has at the very least earned the admiration and the
respect of the Court for the professional manner in which each of you, under what must be unusual difficulties for each of you, discharged your professional duties.”
Kelleher then rejected Chelius’ contention that in an era of fast-moving technology a nation is unable to hide all its secrets for long. “We have to survive despite the weaknesses of the system,” the judge said, “and we have to cope with the system and make it work better.”
Kelleher’s long monologue was coming to an end. It had revealed that he had wrestled with a dilemma. And then he disclosed how he had resolved it.
Reversing himself, Kelleher said that he had concluded that the defendant would not benefit from the Youth Corrections Act and then gave his decision:
“The Court has a duty in regard to the sentence that it imposes here, and it would hope by whatever means may be available there would be some expansion of the restraints which decent people must self-impose if the system is to work or, in the alternative, that inability to exercise such restraint will lead to prison. Any legal reason why sentence should not at this time be imposed?”
“No, Your Honor,” Dougherty said.
And then, at the age of twenty-four, Christopher John Boyce was sentenced to forty years in prison.
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After the arrest of Chris and Daulton, the Central Intelligence Agency ordered surprise security inspections at companies around the country that manufactured espionage satellites and other equipment for the CIA, and Stansfield Turner, the agency’s director, reported afterward that the results were “distressing, perhaps appalling.”
TRW instituted a number of reforms in its security procedures after the arrests. It decreed that henceforth no employees would be allowed to work alone in the Black Vault, and that only two employees, working together, could set ciphers for the cryptographic machines.
Employees henceforth were forbidden to take packages, parcels, briefcases and other items, including potted plants, into and out of the vault. Rules were promulgated informing employees that while entering and leaving designated “secure areas,” they were subject to search. Television cameras were installed to monitor certain high-security areas twenty-four hours a day, and a score of other restrictions were imposed after the trials, including rules tightening surveillance of employees’ foreign travel; periodic interviews regarding employees’ personal lives and random inspections for security violations in the Black Vault were ordered.
The Falcon and the Snowman Page 40
