Confession Introduced at Lonetree’s Trial

QUANTICO, Va. — A sworn statement in which Clayton J. Lonetree admitted to giving information to the KGB was presented to the jury Friday at the Marine sergeant’s court-martial on espionage charges.

David Moyer, a Naval Investigative Service agent, testified that Lonetree voluntarily signed the multipage confession on Dec. 29, 1986, the day he was arrested and more than two weeks after he first approached an intelligence agent in Vienna to tell of his contact with the Soviets.

In the statement and in another signed on Dec. 28, Lonetree admitted that while working as a guard at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow he gave a KGB agent known as Sasha a floor plan to the embassy’s classified seventh floor, photographs of U.S. intelligence agents, the location of the U.S. ambassador’s office and the home telephone numbers and addresses of embassy workers.

Gave Embassy Plans

In the statement, Lonetree also admitted that while at a later assignment as a guard at the U.S. Embassy in Vienna he gave Sasha plans to the entire layout of the embassy there, classified photographs and more than 100 classified documents he had taken from the Moscow embassy.

The confessions came under attack during pretrial motions as the defense tried to destroy the government’s case by trying to get them thrown out. The statements are the prosecution’s strongest evidence.

Defense lawyers Michael Stuhff and William M. Kunstler contended the statements were taken illegally, but the military judge, Navy Capt. Philip F. Roberts, ruled they could be admitted as evidence.

Moyer testified Friday that Lonetree was read his rights before each interrogation, and that Lonetree never tried to stop the questioning or seek legal advice.

Ex-Roommate Testifies

During earlier testimony Friday, a Marine who roomed with Lonetree at Camp Pendleton, Calif., in 1983 said Lonetree had told him he wanted to work for the KGB.

Marine Cpl. Michael Lavato said Lonetree told him he “would like to have been a KGB agent (and) worked for the KGB because they were a really good spy operation--better than the CIA.”

The Marine Corps has charged Lonetree, 25, with supplying U.S. secrets to KGB agents after he became romantically involved with a Soviet woman while serving as a guard at the Moscow embassy. He faces a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted of espionage.