ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A former health care worker who illegally accessed Supreme Court Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s health records before her death was sentenced Thursday to two years in prison.

Trent Russell, 34, of Bellevue, Nebraska, who at the time worked as a transplant coordinator for the Washington Regional Transplant Society and had access to hospital records throughout the region, was convicted earlier this year of illegally accessing health care records and or altering records at a jury trial.

He was also accused of posting the information online in 2019, at a time when public speculation about Ginsburg’s health and her ability to serve as a justice was a matter of public debate. Prosecutors said he published the information along with a false claim that Ginsburg was already dead. However, the jury acquitted Russell on this count.

Ginsburg served on the field until her death in 2020.

Prosecutors said Russell disclosed her health records on forums that peddled anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, including one that Ginsburg was dead, but the motivations for Russell’s actions were unclear. In fact, Russell never admitted to accessing the records; at one point he suggested that his cat accidentally walked across the keyboard, which summoned Ginsburg’s data.

Russell’s excuses and refusal to accept responsibility led to fierce criticism from prosecutors, who sought a 30-month prison sentence.

“With a straight face he made completely implausible excuses,” prosecutor Zoe Bedell said.

Russell’s attorney, Charles Burnham, requested a sentence of probation or house arrest. He cited Russell’s life-saving work as a transplant coordinator and his military record while deployed to Afghanistan as mitigating factors.

“Mr. Burnham wrote in court documents that Russell lived a quietly heroic life. He described his criminal behavior as “being stupid.”

Sentencing him to 24 months in prison, U.S. District Judge Michael Nachmanoff described his crime as “truly despicable conduct.”

“You have made it extremely difficult to understand what motivates you,” Nachmanoff said. He said Russell made the situation worse by lying to investigators and on the witness stand.

“You chose to blame your cat,” Nachmanoff said.

Court records in the case have been carefully edited to eliminate any reference to Ginsburg, but all parties during the trial and at Thursday’s sentencing hearing publicly acknowledged that Ginsburg was the victim of a privacy breach.

Indeed, his status as a public figure led to a debate about the seriousness of Russell’s crime. Prosecutors said his age and illness, as well as his high public profile, made him a particularly vulnerable victim.

“He went with a Supreme Court justice who was old, sick, and whose illness was a matter of public concern,” Bedell said.

Russell’s lawyer, however, argued that Ginsburg’s high office and the power that comes with it are the opposite of fragility.

In sentencing, Nachmanoff said he took into account the fact that Russell had a sick stepparent who might need care. The judge noted “somewhat ironically” that details of the step-parent’s health problems were confidential.

“Why? Because this is sensitive health information; a benefit you did not provide to Justice Ginsburg,” he said.

Russell and his attorney declined to comment after Thursday’s hearing about whether they planned to appeal.