JURY REFUSES TO INDICT ROBB FRIEND WHO GAVE TAPE FACES CHARGE

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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 13, 1993                   TAG: 9301130287
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A1 NOTE: LEDE AND STORY MIGHT BE    EDITION: 
SOURCE: ROB EURE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK                                LENGTH: Medium
JURY REFUSES TO INDICT ROBB FRIEND WHO GAVE TAPE FACES CHARGE
A federal grand jury provided a surprise ending Tuesday to its 18-month investigation of U.S. Sen. Charles Robb and his office, refusing to indict Robb in connection with the leaking to reporters of an illegally intercepted phone call made by Gov. Douglas Wilder.
The stunning end to the investigation - Robb himself had predicted an indictment last month - came as the panel indicted Virginia Beach hotelier Bruce Thompson, a onetime friend of Robb's who originally provided his office with the Wilder tape.
Robb, who got the news in his Washington office, was jubilant but remained critical of prosecutors for bringing him to the brink. "It never entered my mind that this matter could get this far or that the system could be so abused," he said.
It is rare for a grand jury to refuse to indict once the Justice Department asks, say lawyers familiar with the federal system. Robb's testimony in December, his second appearance before the grand jury, was viewed as a last-ditch effort to head off an indictment.
Grand jurors are barred by law from commenting on their deliberations. Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Wiechering, the main prosecutor in the case, would say only that he accepted the grand jury's decision.
Robb first testified voluntarily before the panel in August 1991 and left saying he had been assured he was not a target of the investigation. He was notified last May that he had become a target, usually an indication that indictments are pending.
Tuesday's inaction brought a strange end to the high-profile drama that surrounded the case since June 1991, when newspapers first reported the Wilder tape and that Robb's office was implicated in its release. Three former Robb aides and the Virginia Beach restaurateur who intercepted and recorded the call have pleaded guilty to minor charges in leaking the tape to the Washington Post. The Roanoke Times & World-News published the tape transcript on the same day as the Post, but the grand jury apparently did not focus on how the paper obtained it.
The grand jurors, who deliberated 90 minutes Tuesday morning and another 30 minutes after lunch, spent much of the afternoon at ease, wandering the courthouse until 3:30 p.m., when Justice Department officials in Washington announced that Robb would not face indictment.
Wiechering, who had said almost nothing to reporters during the probe, had to ask them for copies of the Justice Department statement so he could read it before making his brief comments.
The indictment of Thompson, a social companion of Robb's at Virginia Beach when he was governor, outlined the government's theory of a conspiracy by Robb's staff to release the tape while protecting Robb by giving him "plausible deniability."
Although the indictment had to be returned in open court, reporters who waited outside a guarded grand jury room never were told they could enter.
Thompson, who obtained the tape soon after it was made in 1988 and passed it to a member of Robb's staff, was charged with distributing the tape, conspiracy and tampering with two witnesses. The indictment said he sought to contrive a story with Robert Dunnington, the Virginia Beach restauranteur who intercepted the call, and his brother, Richard, to hide their involvement.
Thompson's lawyer, Jack Dresher, said Thompson is innocent and promised his client will "vigorously contest" the charges.
The 16-page Thompson indictment also spelled out how Robb staffers, including former chief of staff David McCloud, former state director Robert Watson and former press secretary Steven Johnson, handled the tape.
"The plan was to put Wilder in a position where he would be forced to publicly deny that he has promoted stories of misconduct by . . . Robb," the indictment alleged. It said the plan was for McCloud to "take the hit" if the tape was ever traced to Robb's office.
Johnson said Tuesday that he believes the grand jury "acted in a responsible fashion."
He said "based on my knowledge, the government's conspiracy theory has a large number of holes and errors in it, such as the suggestion that Robb saw memoranda he never did see."
The Thompson indictment says that Johnson prepared a memo on leaking the tape, addressed to Robb and other members of the staff. But Johnson said Robb was never shown that memo and that he testified to that. Neither Thompson nor his lawyer could be reached for comment Tuesday night.
Thompson got the tape from Dunnington and told McCloud about it. He played the tape for Robb's Norfolk lawyers and later gave a copy to McCloud.
Over the next 2 1/2 years, McCloud kept the tape. Robb never heard it, but ordered a transcript prepared early in 1991.
Interest in the tape among Robb's staff increased then as media scrutiny surrounding Robb's Virginia Beach activities intensified.
Robb's staffers believed that the tape was evidence that Wilder was fueling allegations about Robb's private life.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB