Document Proof Focus of Espionage Case

SPOKANE, Wash. — The case against a Spokane couple accused of espionage centers on allegations that one of them brought home top-secret government documents and the other sold them.

On Monday, however, the existence of those documents was called into question.

The attorney for Deborah Davila said there is no proof she or her husband, Rafael, ever had any classified documents. And the National Guard -- the agency from which the documents allegedly came -- said it can find nothing missing.

“There is no evidence they [government officials] ever recovered any documents or that any of these documents ever existed,” defense attorney Christian Phelps said after a court hearing in the case was postponed Monday.

A spokesman for federal prosecutors acknowledged that none of the hundreds of documents alleged to have been stolen was recovered. But he declined to reveal what evidence of theft the government has.

“I’m not aware of any recovered documents,” Assistant U.S. Atty. James Shiveley said Monday.

Asked whether the government lacked evidence that any documents were stolen, Shiveley said: “I wouldn’t say that either.”

He declined to be more specific, citing national security concerns.

At Monday’s brief hearing, attended by U.S. Department of Justice counterespionage experts, Assistant U.S. Atty. Earl Hicks asked the court to impose restrictions outlined by the Classified Information Procedures Act of 1980.

That law is designed to prevent a form of legal blackmail in which espionage defendants press for the release of classified material to aid their defense, forcing the government to drop prosecution. Besides gagging participants, the restrictions require defense attorneys to obtain top-security clearance before reviewing documents in the case. They also would be required to review government investigative documents at a secure location, probably under guard.

U.S. District Judge Robert Whaley, citing a lack of experience with espionage cases, postponed the hearing until Friday, so he and defense attorneys can familiarize themselves with the federal laws.

“This is not an issue we have dealt with in this district,” Whaley said.

Rafael and Deborah Davila, 40, were arrested last Tuesday after an investigation that started in 1999 when Deborah Davila called authorities to report she had secret documents obtained by her husband. At the time, her yearlong marriage was crumbling.

But after the initial call she became uncooperative and tried to obstruct the investigation, the FBI has said.

Authorities allege that Rafael Davila, 52, admitted stealing secret documents throughout his career as an intelligence officer in Spokane and Tacoma for the Washington Army National Guard, and that his ex-wife shipped some to an antigovernment group.

Federal agents have testified the documents could harm the nation’s security and be worth millions to terrorists.