New trial sought for former Boeing worker

King County prosecutors will seek a second trial for a former Boeing worker after a jury earlier this month deadlocked over charges alleging he improperly accessed sensitive company computer files, according to the man's attorney.

Gerald Eastman has been told to appear in court Wednesday to learn his new trial date, said defense lawyer Ramona Brandes.

She said she received an e-mail on Monday notifying her of the prosecutor's intent to try Eastman a second time. Brandes did not have any additional details, such as whether Eastman would be tried on the same charges, or whether a new complaint would be filed.

Senior Deputy Prosecutor Scott Peterson, who handled the first trial, did not return a telephone call. Prosecutor's spokesman Dan Donohoe would confirm only that the county "intends to retry the case."

Earlier this month, a jury deliberated five days before deadlocking 10-2 in favor of convicting Eastman. The former Boeing inspector had been charged with 16 counts of computer trespass.

In his case, Eastman was accused of taking files and other information from an employee-accessible system at Boeing and leaking some of it to The Seattle Times. Eastman, a self-proclaimed whistle-blower, also gave information to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, according to evidence presented at trial.

Eastman, who worked at Boeing for 18 years — much of it as a quality-control inspector — argued that he had access to those files.

Testimony at his trial indicated that he spent hours every day surfing internal company Web sites, and investigators alleged he downloaded more than 8,000 files that police later found on his home computer.

Boeing and prosecutors claimed 16 stories in The Seattle Times contained information from downloaded documents.

After the jury failed to reach a verdict, Peterson said he and Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg would meet with Boeing officials before deciding whether to proceed with another trial.

A telephone call seeking comment from Boeing was not immediately returned.

Both Brandes and Peterson agreed there was confusion over the statute during the first trial. The law does not specifically say it is a crime for an employee to access restricted company information.

Eastman was arrested at work in May 2006, briefly held in the King County Jail and fired about that time.

Eastman, who was fired for violating company policy, has said he was trying to address serious quality-control issues at the airplane manufacturer.

Mike Carter: 206-464-3706 or mcarter@seattletimes.com