Walsh Names North to Be Tried First

Independent counsel Lawrence Walsh today selected fired National Security Council aide Oliver L. North as the first of four defendants to be tried in the Iran-Contra conspiracy case.

Walsh advised U.S. District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell of his decision to try North as the first defendant, but he also asked the judge to reconsider his decision ordering separate trials for North, former national security adviser John M. Poindexter and arms dealers Albert A. Hakim and Richard V. Secord.

Walsh asked that Gesell order two dual-jury trials in which North and Poindexter would first be tried together and Hakim and Secord would then go to trial jointly.

Gesell had ruled that trying the four defendants jointly would prejudice their constitutional rights because of the inability to use the defendants’ immunized congressional testimony as part of the defense.

Walsh explained how a dual-jury trial could protect an individual’s constitutional rights. “When one of the two defendants being tried together seeks to introduce the immunized testimony of his co-defendant, the co-defendant’s jury can be excused from the courtroom, thereby protecting the defendant’s constitutional right not to have his immunized testimony used against him,” he said.