Catch and Release

You'll forgive me if this doesn't encourage me.

A US judge has dismissed all charges against a Chinese-American woman accused of taking classified documents from her FBI agent lover.

The judge ruled the case against Katrina Leung should be thrown out because of prosecution misconduct.

Judge Florence Marie Cooper said the government had blocked Mrs Leung from speaking to the defence.

Mrs Leung was recruited to steal secrets from China in 1982 but was believed to have become a double agent.

Although not charged with espionage, Mrs Leung could have faced up to 14 years in prison if she had been convicted of illegally possessing national security documents that she could have used to damage US interests.

And the clarification?

But the judge said the government had used "wilful and deliberate misconduct" to prevent Mrs Leung having access to her former lover and Federal Bureau of Investigation handler, James J Smith.

Mr Smith, a Chinese counter-intelligence agent, is said to have recruited Mrs Leung to be an FBI agent providing intelligence on China.

The two reportedly began an affair that year that continued for almost two decades.

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but "her former lover" does not equal "her defense." This guy had an affair with an asset that lasted for almost two decades and gave her classified documents? Of course she shouldn't be allowed to see this guy.

She's quite possibly a double agent. Seeing as how international intelligence is so much more high stakes in this day and age, the prosecutors who bungled this, if it was truly prosecution bungling and not just some Clinton-era appointee trying to obstruct a legitimate prosecution, the prosecutors should be sacked. Most likely, though, it was some judge giving undue leverage to someone who probably further compromised American national security secrets to the Chinese.

Oh, and Kudos to the BBC for inserting the little tidbit that Ms. Leung was a fundraiser for the Republican party. Would they have mentioned that if she'd been a fundraiser for the Democratic party? Does it have anything to do with the actually story? Of course not, on both counts. Bloody wankers.