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Doctors accused of conspiring to become Russian assets get mistrial in bizarre spy trial involving undercover agents
Image via WBAL-TV 11 Baltimore / YouTube (screenshot)

Doctors accused of conspiring to become Russian assets get mistrial in bizarre spy trial involving undercover agents

A federal judge officially declared a mistrial in a federal case involving two doctors who were accused of conspiring to help Russia in its war with Ukraine by providing private medical records.

Prosecutors accused Anna Gabrielian, a Johns Hopkins anesthesiologist, and Jamie Lee Henry, her active-duty Army officer husband, of attempting to become Russian assets after they allegedly shared private and "exploitable" health records of their patients to an undercover FBI agent, according to WBALTV 11.

The couple was arrested in 2022 after allegedly meeting with someone they thought was from the Russian embassy, but who was actually an FBI agent. One of the alleged meetings involved a going to a hotel in Baltimore, where the couple was accused of having offered, accessed, and delivered private medical records.

The records included those of a Department of Defense employee, an active-duty U.S. Army major, and an Air Force veteran who worked in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

The pair of doctors allegedly thought they were giving the information to a Russian operative, who they said caused them to fear for their life due to an alleged connection to the KGB. The KGB is the former Soviet Union's intelligence service, now typically used as a colloquial name to describe what is officially called the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service.

In their federal case, the judge read the jury's note that one juror "believes the defendants were entrapped and 11 believe the defendants were not entrapped and we could not get beyond that."

The judge said the jury was deadlocked and announced, "I'm going to declare a mistrial and dismiss the jury." One juror told the local outlet that the jury tried their best.

"The government, I believe, proved that case," said juror Denise Fortson. "I'm really sorry that the jury came to a hung decision on the evidence that was presented, but we all just couldn't agree on the same items."

Dr. Gabrielian had reportedly given prior testimony in which she stated that saving Russian soldiers' lives doesn't mean that one supports the Russian invasion of Ukraine. She allegedly went on to say that Russians are not to enemies that should be killed, but rather that their apparent crime is being born Russian 18 years ago and being fed government misinformation.

Prosecutor Michael Cunningham said the couple "were willing and able to assist Russia in any way they could." The FBI case agent, FBI Agent Matthew Walker, said the couple offered and produced all the documents on their own accord.

"We were concerned about his access and the potential for him to be exploited in that position," the FBI agent said of Henry.

However, in closing arguments, defense attorney Chris Mead said his clients were entrapped by the government to commit the crimes, and given that the couple thought they were speaking to agents of the Kremlin, they were scared to death, so they went "along with the KGB's request for a few random, useless medical records."

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