Alan Gross

FILE – In this file photo taken March 5, 2011, U.S. government contractor Alan Gross, left, is surrounded by security forces as he arrives for his trial in Havana, Cuba. Gross, a 61-year-old Maryland native, was arrested in December 2009 and charged with undermining Cuba’s government by bringing communications equipment onto the island illegally. A hearing before Cuba’s Supreme Court on Friday, July 22, 2011, offers jailed American subcontractor Alan Gross a last chance to get his 15-year sentence for sneaking communications equipment onto the island dismissed. (AP Photo/Franklin Reyes, File)