Combat Hero to Lead Prosecution of North

A Purple Heart combat veteran of the Vietnam War was named today to head the team of lawyers to try the Iran-Contra case against fellow former Marine and ex-presidential aide Oliver L. North.

John W. Keker, 44, who like North was wounded while leading a Marine infantry platoon in action, was named lead trial prosecutor in the case by independent counsel Lawrence E. Walsh.

The 76-year-old Walsh, an experienced trial attorney, had said he would like to try the North case personally. But he said in a statement today that he will continue to deal with problems posed by a wealth of classified documents and supervise the continuing investigation of the Iran-Contra affair.

Walsh’s spokesman, James Wieghart, said Keker’s war record, which was not mentioned in the statement, was coincidental to his selection to lead the three-lawyer trial team.

But Keker’s Purple Heart for his combat wound is a serendipitous qualification for the lead prosecutor in the case against North, who has made patriotism and his own Vietnam service a hallmark of his public defense since the Iran-Contra affair unfolded two years ago.

North, 44, who earned two Purple Hearts for combat wounds, wore his Marine uniform when he testified before the congressional committees that investigated the arms-for-hostages deals.

Walsh announced his courtroom team in advance of a hearing next Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell to begin final preparations for North’s trial, which could begin in late January.

The former National Security Council aide, who retired from the Marines as a lieutenant colonel following his indictment last March, is accused of conspiring to illegally divert profits from the U.S.-Iran arms deals to the Contra rebels in Nicaragua.

Keker, who is on leave from his San Francisco law firm, will be joined by associate independent counsels David A. Zornow, 33, and Michael W. Bromwich, 34, both former federal prosecutors in New York City.

Zornow investigated and helped try several major municipal corruption cases in New York, including the successful racketeering prosecution of Stanley Friedman, the former Democratic chairman of the Bronx.

“This commits three of our most experienced criminal lawyers to the case,” Walsh said in the announcement.