
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 7, 1990                   TAG: 9003071744
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

POINDEXTER JURY EASY TO SELECT

The pool of prospective jurors for John Poindexter's Iran-Contra trial grew to 35 Tuesday, including a woman who campaigned for Jesse Jackson and another familiar enough with the case to know former President Reagan had refused to turn over his personal diary.

Eleven people were disqualified, including a retired CIA research analyst who conceded the agency had made mistakes, "but not very many."

On the second day of the jury selection process, U.S. District Court Judge Harold Greene said, "I think we can do with 45 people" before proceeding with choosing a panel of 12 jurors and six alternates. He said he expects to fill the pool by today and have opening statements Thursday morning.

Of the 35 accepted so far, 27 are women and eight are men.

Also sent into the jury pool was a retired Defense Department employee who got the Watergate scandal mixed up with the Iran-Contra affair.

The prospective juror, a woman who worked at the Army Materiel Command in Alexandria, Va., said Oliver North's trial last year was "about the tapes. He had so many tapes he did erase, Oliver North and secretary."

Poindexter's low public profile, compared with keen public awareness of North, is making it a relatively simple task to select a jury for Poindexter's trial.

by CNB