 A judge later that year threw out three of the convictions, and a U.S. Circuit Court ruled that there was insufficient evidence to support the fourth and final conviction. Tao's lawyer, Peter Zeidenberg, said the prosecution was misguided from the start, and there was, quote, not a scintilla of evidence that Tao was engaged in espionage or theft of trade secrets. He said Tao is grateful that the nightmare is over. John Rewich, NPR News, Beijing. I'm Dave Mattingly.