Biography
Richard Clark Johnson was an Irish-American radar engineer associated with Mitre Corporation. He was arrested in July 1989 and tried with Martin Peter Quigley and Christina Leigh Reid on charges concerning unlawful defense exports and assistance to the Provisional IRA. The original Constitutional Defense Fund campaign flyer distinguishes the June 18, 1990 jury verdict from August 20 sentencing. The First Circuit affirmed his concurrent sentences, whose maximum was ten years. The prosecution used FISA surveillance evidence; the defense campaign disputed the evidence and conduct of the trial. The official federal locator and a contemporary release report independently agree that Johnson left federal custody October 19, 1999. The Justice Department clemency report dates the start of sentence service to February 1991; the exact day and earlier detention endpoints remain unverified.
Verdict, formal sentence and official release distinguished
The original Constitutional Defense Fund flyer separately identifies June 18, 1990 verdict and August 20 sentencing. The First Circuit's footnote23 records concurrent terms with a ten-year maximum. The authorized official BOP lookup returns Richard Clark Johnson,17422-038,age78, with an October19,1999 endpoint. AnPhoblacht's October28,1999 release report independently gives TuesdayOctober19, supporting that exact day rather than October18. Existing portrait retained. The overlapping case rows are not treated as two prosecutions or used to manufacture continuous custody or unknown admission dates.
Sentence service began in February 1991
The Justice Department report to the President on Richard Clark Johnson's clemency petition, preserved in the Clinton Presidential Library records, PDF page 71 (printed page 3), explicitly states that he commenced service of his sentence in February 1991. This establishes a month, not an exact day, and is distinct from July 1989 arrest and August 1990 sentencing. February 1 is a storage placeholder only. Earlier detention endpoints remain unresolved. The report's projected October 1999 release is not used instead of the independently documented actual October 19, 1999 release. The overlapping companion case row is unchanged; no additional imprisonment or exact-day duration is invented.
