A former health care worker who obtained and leaked the medical records of former Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was sentenced Thursday to two years in prison.
Trent Russell was convicted by a federal jury on July 31 of accessing Ginsburg’s records between 2017 and 2019. He was also convicted of lying to investigators and trying to destroy evidence.
U.S. District Judge Michael Nachmanoff said Russell’s actions were “truly despicable conduct,” according to the Associated Press. “You made it extremely difficult to understand what motivated you,” he said.
Prosecutors sought a 30-month prison sentence, partly because of his unwillingness to take responsibility. At one point in the trial, he tried to blame his cat for walking over his keyboard and retrieving Ginsburg’s data.
“He gave a completely implausible apology with a straight face,” prosecutor Zoe Bedell said, according to the Associated Press.
Ginsburg died in 2020 at the age of 87 from complications related to pancreatic cancer.
