WASHINGTON -- Confessed spy Jonathan Pollard was sentenced to the maximum life in prison Wednesday for selling thousands of secrets to Israel in what prosecutors called one of the worst espionage cases in U.S. history.
Pollard, his arm around his shaken wife, Anne Henderson-Pollard, as the two faced a federal judge, caught her as she shouted, 'No! No! No!' and nearly collapsed upon hearing the sentence.
U.S. District Judge Aubrey Robinson, brushing aside the couple's 11th-hour pleas for mercy, sentenced Henderson-Pollard to two concurrent five-year terms for lesser charges of helping her husband's espionage.
Neither was fined.
Pollard, given the maximum punishment in the rare case of spying for an ally, confessed in June 1986 to selling thousands of pages of secret U.S. documents to Israel in exchange for cash, European vacations and promised payments to a secret Swiss bank account.
At the time of his arrest in November 1985 -- 18 months after his spying as a Navy intelligence analyst began -- the case sent shock waves through Jerusalem and Washington, with Pollard's cooperation in the case resulting in the indictment Tuesday of a top Israeli air force officer for his role.
Neither of the couple's attorneys was available for comment after the sentencing.
Pollard, 32, defended his actions as based on ideology, not greed, and told Robinson he spied only to help Israel.
'While my motives may have been well-meaning ... they cannot excuse or justify my actions. Having said that, it is cold comfort for me to realize I was not intending to harm the United States but to benefit an ally.'
'I broke a trust,' he said. 'I hope that other people in my position will watch very carefully the results of this arrogance.'
Pollard also pleaded for mercy for his wife, 26, saying he 'sacrificed her ... on the altar of ideology.'
Henderson-Pollard, who wept throughout most of the three hours of the proceeding, begged that she be allowed to be reunited with her husband some day.
'That's all I live for,' she said.
U.S. Attorney Joseph diGenova said after the sentencing: 'This is not a day of joy for any of us. It is not a moment of pleasure. It's a moment to have respect for the laws of the United States.'
DiGenova said Robinson was amply aware of the gravity of the case and Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger gave the judge a classified document assessing in 'no uncertain terms' the degree of damage Pollard inflicted.
Prosecutor Charles Leeper said Pollard's spying caused 'exceptionally grave damage' to U.S. security and said the documents passed to Israel amounted to 'a volume of classified information, 10 feet by 6 feet by 6 feet.'
In urging a 'substantial' prison term for Pollard, DiGenova had argued the damage done by Pollard to U.S. national security -- including the betrayal of classified information on U.S. missile systems, ship locations and Arab defense capabilities -- was as great as any in U.S. history.
Robinson allowed last-minute appeals from the couple, and Pollard's attorney, Richard Hibey, based his defense on the fact that the top-secret documents he stole went to a friendly nation, not an enemy.
'The recipient was not Russia, it was not China,' Hibey said. 'The recipient was one of our closest allies, our partner in democracy.
Asking for leniency for his client, Hibey said: 'There is hard time and there is hard time. What we will be faced with here is the hardest of time.'
But Robinson evidently discounted the motions, later berating Hibey for minimizing the damage to U.S. security, even calling him before the bench at one point to prove his inaccuracy.
Henderson-Pollard's attorney, James Hibey, said his client 'acted out of love' for her husband.
Pollard, a former Navy intelligence analyst, was arrested at the gates of the Israeli Embassy in November 1985 seeking political asylum. He pleaded guilty last June to one count of espionage and faced up to life in prison and a $250,000 fine; his wife pleaded guilty to two lesser charges and faced up to 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.
The couple's sentencing came a day after the Israeli air force officer, Aviem Sella, was indicted on three counts of espionage for recruiting and directing Pollard.
The indictment was a blow to Israeli efforts to detach itself from the controversial spy case. If convicted, Sella could face life in prison and a fine of $500,000 but it is unlikely he will face trial in the United States because the U.S.-Israeli extradition treaty does not cover espionage cases.
But the charges, including conspiracy to receive and deliver top-secret U.S. defense information to Israel, will effectively bar Sella from the United States and likely ruin any chance he had of becoming commander of the Israeli air force.
U.S. officials also said indictments would be sought against three other Israelis now stripped of immunity who were named as co-conspirators in the case, including Rafael Eitan, the former chief of Israeli intelligence.
Tuesday, in Jerusalem, Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin reiterated the affair 'was an exception and in contradiction to the longstanding policy of Israel not to carry out espionage activities against the United States.'
The case apparently still rankles some lawmakers. Wednesday, Rep. Dick Cheney, R-Wyo., charged that Israel waged a deliberate and successful spy campaign against the United States despite being a close friend and ally.
'I don't like it. I consider it an unfriendly act,' said Cheney after a meeting of the House select committee investigating the Iran arms scandal.