The Nation - News from May 16, 1989

Prosecutors in the Oliver L. North case advised the court as soon as they found out one of their office secretaries was related to the jury foreman, James Wieghart, speaking for independent counsel Lawrence E. Walsh, said. Wieghart said the matter was brought to the attention of the U.S. District Court in Washington and North’s attorneys “when we learned of the relationship from the secretary” at the end of North’s trial. Denise Anderson, the jury foreman, said in an interview in People magazine that she bumped into her cousin Gertrude Griffin, but did not discuss the case with her and did not report the meeting or the relationship to the court. The jury convicted North, a former National Security Council aide, on three felony counts in the Iran-Contra affair.