Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 3, 1990 TAG: 9004030153
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
In nearly an hour of instructions, U.S. District Court Judge Harold Greene also said the jury should not "draw any inference of guilt" from Poindexter's decision not to take the witness stand.
Consider "specific charges rather than broad policy disputes" between the Reagan administration and the Democrat-controlled Congress, Greene told the jury of eight women and four men.
The jurors are not to decide "who was right in political disputes between Congress and the president, between Democrats and Republicans or between liberals and conservatives," Greene said.
Poindexter, who was Reagan's national security adviser, is charged with conspiracy, two counts of obstructing Congress and two counts of making false statements.
He is accused of concealing aide Oliver North's secret military assistance to the Contras and U.S. knowledge of a November 1985 shipment of Hawk missiles to Iran.
After 7 1/2 days of testimony from North and other government witnesses, prosecutors said Poindexter directed North to lie to Congress by denying he was assisting the Contras. Poindexter tore up a presidential document on Iran, alleged the prosecutors, to cover up his own lies to Congress.
The document signed by Reagan said the CIA assisted an arms-for-hostages arrangement with Iran, something Reagan had said he would never take part in.
The jurors should disregard the "underlying political controversy" and the prominence of some of the people connected to the case, he added.
The judge did say jurors may decide whether a witness gave biased testimony.
Iran-Contra prosecutor Dan Webb said Reagan's testimony - in which he winked at his former aide at one point - was biased in favor of Poindexter.
In 5 1/2 days of testimony from defense witnesses, Poindexter's lawyers said he always followed his boss's orders. Reagan testified that he encouraged his advisers "to stay within the law."
Poindexter's lawyers say he had no intent to cover up because all of the activities he is accused of concealing were legal.
Thus, the defense emphasized the congressional Boland amendment, which Reagan says did not apply to the National Security Council. It barred intelligence agencies from providing military aid to the Contras.
"The meaning and applicability" of the legislation "may be important" in determining whether the defendant "had the requisite specific intent to commit the offenses," the judge instructed the jury.
The jury cannot convict Poindexter if it finds he gave Congress incorrect information through "mistake, inadvertence or accident," said Greene.
Poindexter told Congress he didn't find out that missiles were aboard a November 1985 shipment to Iran until five weeks after the delivery. In fact, Poindexter was involved in planning the Hawks shipment and had Reagan sign a document ratifying the shipment. Poindexter's defense to the Iran charges was that by Nov. 21, 1986, when he briefed Congress, he had simply forgotten about events that had happened 12 months earlier.
by CNB