EX MOTOROLA EMPLOYEE FOUND INNOCENT OF CORPORATE ESPIONAGE BUT NOT OF THE THEFT OF TRADE SECRETS

U.S District Judge Ruben Castillo last week found onetime Motorola software developer Hanjuan Jin guilty of stealing industry secrets from her former employer, but failed to convict on the more serious economic espionage charges, citing insufficient evidence the naturalized American citizen was a foreign operative. The bench trial held in Chicago underscored national jitters concerning China’s theft of American companies’ trade secrets in order to strengthen its economy and military. A random security search at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport resulted in Ms. Jin’s arrest in early 2007, when it uncovered $31,000 in cash and hundreds of Motorola documents, a good number of them saved digitally. She was also holding a one-way ticket to China, the country of her birth. The maximum penalty for each of the three counts of industrial espionage of which Jin was acquitted was a 15 year prison term. Even so, the three counts of corporate theft she was convicted of each carry a possible sentence of ten years in prison. Testimony at the trial this past November did not require even a week’s time, and yet, the complicated issues seemingly contributed to the extended wait for Judge Castillo’s decision. Last week’s hearing was similarly of a short duration, less than a half hour, but the subsequent written opinion of the judge covered 77 pages. He has not ordered Jin placed in custody until her scheduled April 18 sentencing. Castillo did impose certain restrictions, whereby Jin is subject to electronic monitoring and home confinement.