A federal judge, upholding John M. Poindexter's Iran-Contra convictions, says the former national security adviser mounted a weak defense to compelling evidence that he lied to Congress.
U.S. District Judge Harold H. Greene refused Tuesday to set aside Poindexter's five felony convictions, saying that "proof of defendant's guilt of the charges is compelling.""There can be no question," Greene said, that the evidence "supports the jury's verdict: Defendant was an integral and important part of the unlawful activities known as Iran-Contra."
By contrast, Greene found that "the defense mounted against the charges was neither broad nor particularly convincing" and consisted mainly of attempts to show that former White House aide Oliver L. North, former President Reagan and others "bore some of the responsibility for activities with which the defendant has been charged."
Neither North nor Reagan, who gave a videotaped deposition for the trial, "were willing to relieve defendant of culpability," the judge said in an 85-page opinion that rejected Poindexter's motions for a judgment of acquittal.
"Other than an attempt to weaken the testimony of the government's witnesses through cross-examination, Poin-dexter simply did not have a defense of his own," the judge observed.
The retired Navy rear admiral, who served as Reagan's national security adviser from late 1985 until the Iran-Contra affair unraveled in November 1986, is scheduled to be sentenced June 11.
He could be ordered to serve up to 25 years in prison and fined $1.25 million for five felony convictions of conspiracy, obstructing Congress and making false statements to lawmakers.
Poindexter was found guilty April 7 of lying to Congress and destroying documents to conceal a covert operation to arm the Nicaraguan rebels and to hide the U.S. role in a 1985 Israeli shipment of Hawk missiles to Iran.
The judge rejected Poindexter's contention that he was acting with Reagan's authority and therefore lacked requisite criminal intent to violate the law.
"There is no evidence in this record to support the proposition that former President Reagan ordered or authorized the conspiracy, the obstruction, the false statements" or efforts to arm the Contras despite a prohibition enacted by Congress, the judge said.
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54 percent of Utahns say no to a pardon
A recent Deseret News/KSL-TV poll shows that most Utahns don't want President Bush to pardon former National Security Adviser John Poindexter, recently convicted on several charges stemming from the Iran/Contra scandal that occurred during the Reagan-Bush administration. Pollster Dan Jones & Associates found that 54 percent of those surveyed don't want Bush - who has the power of a presidential pardon - to set aside Poindexter's federal court conviction. A third of all Utahns think Bush should pardon Poindexter, Jones found, and 17 percent didn't know.