ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Jurors are conferring for a second day on the fate of an ex-CIA officer accused of leaking secrets about a classified operation to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions.
The federal jury in Alexandria, Virginia, heard closing arguments Thursday and began its deliberations in the afternoon. Friday marks the jury's first full day of deliberations in the two-week trial.
Prosecutors accuse 47-year-old Jeffrey Sterling of O'Fallon, Missouri, of illegally disclosing classified information to New York Times journalist James Risen, who wrote about it in a 2006 book.
Prosecutors say Sterling wanted to expose the 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.
