Lawyer in State Department leak case seeks release of client

WASHINGTON (AP) — A lawyer for a former State Department intelligence analyst is asking the Justice Department to support the immediate release of his client.

In a letter to prosecutors, Abbe Lowell said the department displayed a "double standard" in demanding prison for his client, Stephen Kim, while recommending probation for former CIA Director David Petraeus.

Prosecutors have agreed to recommend two years of probation when Petraeus is sentenced next month for disclosing classified materials to his biographer, with whom he had an affair.

Kim was sentenced last April to 13 months in prison for passing classified information to a journalist. Lowell said prosecutors should agree to release him now to fix what he called "uneven and disparate treatment."

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Washington, D.C., declined to comment Monday.