Iran-Contra Trials Will Be Separate : One Will Be Held During Height of Fall Election Drive

The judge presiding over the Iran-Contra trial ruled Wednesday that the four defendants in the case must be tried separately, a move that will prolong the proceedings significantly but will also allow for a trial of one former Reagan Administration official during the height of the fall election campaign.

U.S. District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell granted the request by the defendants for separate trials to allow them to use each others’ immunized testimony to Congress. Gesell said the fact that three of the alleged conspirators were compelled to testify before Congress created an insurmountable problem for a joint trial.

A defendant such as former National Security Adviser John M. Poindexter, for example, has a right to keep his congressional testimony out of the trial, yet a co-defendant such as Oliver L. North has a right to cite Poindexter’s testimony in his own defense.

Fifth Amendment Cited

“The Fifth Amendment rights (against compelled self-incrimination) cannot be protected if any of the two defendants named in the indictment are tried together,” Gesell said in court.

The judge asked independent counsel Lawrence E. Walsh to decide by Friday whether he wants to try North or Poindexter first. Gesell said that arms dealers Richard V. Secord and Albert A. Hakim could be tried after North and Poindexter.

Although Gesell’s order is a setback for Walsh, the judge also rejected defense motions Wednesday to move the trials out of Washington or to delay starting them until after the November elections.

An attorney for Poindexter argued that the media in Washington will refocus on this case because of its possible impact on the electoral hopes of Vice President George Bush, thus making a fair trial impossible.

‘Glare of Publicity’

“There is no reason for this case to take place in Washington, D.C., this summer during the glare of publicity in an election year,” attorney Richard Beckler said in arguing for the delay.

The trial should be moved outside the area in hopes of finding a less biased jury, Becker said. If not moved, the trial should be delayed until after November, he contended.

But Gesell scoffed at the idea that a panel of impartial jurors cannot be found in Washington, saying most residents of the District of Columbia have better things to do than to immerse themselves in the details of the Iran-Contra affair.

“Political scandals have been everyday fare in this city for scores of years,” said the 77-year-old Gesell, who presided over several trials resulting from the Watergate affair.

Prompt Trial Promised

In denying the motion to move or to delay the trial, Gesell said he would decide on further defense motions dealing with the issue of immunized testimony by July 1 and then be “in a position to set a prompt trial date.”

Legal experts who have followed the case said that Gesell’s ruling will greatly increase the burden on Walsh’s prosecution team. Walsh has argued strenuously against the separate trials, saying that they would result “in a massive waste of time and effort.”

However, analysts say, they also make it more likely that one of the high-profile cases will be tried before November.

“I think this indicates he (Gesell) isn’t buying the argument that you can’t have a trial because of the immunized testimony,” said attorney James Hamilton, an expert on immunized testimony who was a counsel for the Senate Watergate Committee.

North and Poindexter Smile

North and Poindexter stood and smiled broadly after Gesell finished reading his order. Although their attorneys refused comment on the ruling, other lawyers said it is helpful for defendants in a conspiracy case to be tried separately.

“The evidence in a conspiracy case tends to have a cumulative effect on the jury. Generally, you don’t want to be tried alongside a co-conspirator,” Hamilton said.

Walsh refused to comment after the rulings except to say: “Everyone recognizes that four trials are more burdensome than one, but the judge feels that that’s a necessary requirement to protect the constitutional rights of all four defendants.”

The 23-count indictment against North, Poindexter, Secord and Hakim charges that the four conspired to take profits from a secret U.S. government sale of arms to Iran and in defiance of Congress to use the funds to support the Contras fighting in Nicaragua.