Ex-U.S. senate aide in Iraq spy case freed

[Barrett808]

Ex-U.S. senate aide in Iraq spy case freed
By Christine Kearney

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former congressional aide accused of giving secret information to Iraqi intelligence agents was released from prison on Friday after a judge ruled the government could not order her to take medication to stand trial, her lawyer said.

Susan Lindauer was arrested in Takoma Park, Maryland, in 2004 on charges that Iraqi intelligence agents paid her $10,000 for information and expenses. She was freed on $500,000 bail by U.S. District Judge Michael Mukasey in a hearing in Manhattan early Friday, her lawyer Sanford Talkin said.

Lindauer had been held for less than a year in a federal medical facility in Fort Worth, Texas, after psychologists and psychiatrists found her to be mentally incompetent to stand trial, mainly due to delusions of grandiosity and paranoia.

The judge ruled earlier this week the government could not force Lindauer to take psychotropic drugs in order to stand trial after she disagreed with the diagnosis of a half dozen mental health professionals and refused the prescribed drugs.

Talkin said Lindauer was released as a result of that ruling but "the case is still pending and if she were to become competent she could still go to trial."

(more)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060908/us_nm/crime_iraq_spy_dc

Also see:

Judge won't force drugs on accused spy (for Saddam)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2499163&mesg_id=2499163