Motorola trade secret suspect convicted

CHICAGO -- A federal judge convicted an ex-Motorola software engineer Wednesday of stealing trade secrets from that company but acquitted her of more serious charges of corporate espionage at a trial that highlighted fears about China pilfering information from U.S. companies.

Hanjuan Jin was accused of stealing confidential information from a U.S. cellphone company knowing it would likely end up with China's military.

The split verdict signals that while prosecutors were able to convince the judge that she stole the cellphone information, they weren't able to prove that she was working on behalf of a foreign government or entity.

"The acquittal acts as a full repudiation . . . that Ms. Jin was operating as some sort of spy," defense attorney John Murphy said.

Despite the espionage acquittals, she still faces up to 10 years in prison for each of the three theft counts on which she was convicted. Jin could have received up to 15 years in prison for each count of economic espionage. The same judge will decide a sentence later this year.

Jin, 41, was charged after she was found carrying a one-way ticket to China, $31,000 and about 1,000 Motorola Inc. documents, many stored digitally, during a random security search at O'Hare International Airport in February 2007.

Federal prosecutors say Jin, who rose through the Motorola ranks, began downloading the documents at her Chicago-area office after returning from an extended medical leave two days earlier.

-- AP