Judge says a guilty finding of corporate espionage would chill workers' rights to change jobs.
A federal judge in Santa Ana acquitted an ex-Broadcom Corp. engineer on three counts of stealing the company's "crown jewels" on Tuesday in a criminal case that tested the rights of workers to change jobs.
U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter wrote that the ex-Broadcom employee, Tien Shiah, could be subject to civil penalties for downloading thousands of corporate documents after he left Broadcom in 2003 to work for rival Marvell Semiconductor Inc. But it was a stretch to convict him on criminal corporate espionage.
"A contrary holding would not only deprive Shiah of his liberty without holding the Government to its high burden" of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, Carter wrote in his 48-page opinion, "but it would also have a chilling effect on the ability of employees to move freely from one company to another."
Shiah, 40, hugged his attorney, Daniel Olmos, and then his wife, Margaret Juang, after Carter handed down the not-guilty verdict in the non-jury trial.
"It feels great, great to be exonerated," said Shiah, who still faces a civil suit by Broadcom in Santa Clara County Superior Court.
