Mistrial declared in case of ex-Boeing employee who was source

Andrea James of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports Monday that a mistrial was declared in the case of a former Boeing employee accused of stealing company secrets and giving them to local business journalists.

James writes, “Jurors, who entered their fifth day of deliberations Monday, were split 10-to-2, with the majority leaning to convict Eastman. He was accused of 16 felony counts of computer trespass, after downloading Boeing documents and providing some of them to a Seattle Times reporter. He also had contact with a Seattle P-I reporter.

“‘We will review the case and make a decision within two weeks on whether to seek a retrial,’ said Dan Donahoe, spokesman for the King County prosecutor.

“Eastman had said that contacting the media was his last resort after Boeing management and the Federal Aviation Administration ignored his complaints about what he said was a shoddy inspection process for new planes. Eastman says that he is a whistle-blower.

“The King County prosecutor charged that some of the resulting newspaper articles had nothing to do with airplane safety.”

Read more here.