Court system
Court systemAbir Sultan, Flash 90

Ex-CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling, 49, still maintains he did not leak government secrets to the media.

Two years ago, Sterling was imprisoned under the Espionage Act on charges of leaking CIA mission details to an New York Times journalist.

"Sterling’s actions destroyed the program, endangered the lives of a covert human asset and his family, and compromised the United States’ ability to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons," prosecutors wrote.

Supposedly, Sterling told reporters of a CIA plan to mislead Iran. The plan would have involved giving the Iranian government false nuclear blueprints, in an attempt to mislead them into wasting years of time and resources on a plan that would never work.

Sterling was convicted and sentenced to three and a half years in prison, but hopes a federal court will overturn his sentence and allow him to go free earlier.

However, his attorneys say prosecution was never able to actually prove Sterling disclosed any confidential information in the district the case was tried in, and therefore the conviction is unjust and should be overturned. They are currently pushing the 4th Circuit US Court to grant Sterling a new trial.

The case will be heard in the 4th Circuit Court on Tuesday.

"We are very confident in our attorneys, we are very confident that it can be overturned," Sterling said.

Sterling has recently suffered from health issues, and his wife Holly worries he may die in prison.