By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
WASHINGTON — Former U.S. Atty. Michael Mukasey, who came to the Justice Department at the tail end of the Bush administration, is asking the White House to commute the sentence of convicted spy Jonathan Pollard to time served, the Jerusalem Post reported.
In a letter to President Obama, Mukasey, a former federal judge, wrote that Pollard, who was found guilty of spying for Israel”has not been alleged by anyone to have had any motive to harm the United States. In these circumstances, a life sentence can only be considered utterly disproportionate to the crime.”
“I had occasion myself to consider life sentences, and indeed to impose them. In more than 18 years on the bench, I imposed such sentences on four defendants,” Mukasey wrote.
Pollard’s wife Esther Pollard told Israel Radio that Pollard has been in poor health as of late.
Pollard, a former civilian intelligence analyst, was handed a life sentence in 1987 for spying.
