“The Americans threw the book at him.”
No, he actually copped a nice plea deal in which he would plea guilty to a single count of espionage when they could have thrown the book at him and at his then wife, who was also involved in the espionage.
But both Pollard and his then wife broke the terms of the plea deal by giving unauthorized interviews with the media. The judge was infuriated and threw the book at both of them. As he should have.
It should be noted that Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed after being convicted of spying for an ally. And Ethel was probably innocent.