Jury in CIA Leak Trial Says it Can’t Reach Unanimous Verdict

BY MATTHEW BARAKAT
Associated Press

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Jurors say they can’t reach a unanimous verdict in the case of an ex-CIA officer accused of leaking secrets about a classified operation to thwart Iran’s nuclear ambitions, but the judge wants them to continue deliberating.

On their third day of deliberations Monday in federal court in Alexandria, jurors told the judge they had reached an impasse on several counts against 47-year-old Jeffrey Sterling of O’Fallon, Missouri. He’s charged with illegally disclosing classified information to journalist James Risen.

The judge gave jurors an early lunch break but urged them to continue deliberations.

Prosecutors say Sterling wanted to expose an operation to funnel deliberately flawed nuclear blueprints to the Iranians to get back at the agency for perceived mistreatment.

Defense lawyers say Senate staffers who had been briefed on the project were more likely the source of the leak.