Judge Dismisses Charges of Theft and Wire Fraud Against Poindexter

A federal judge on Tuesday ordered permanent dismissal of theft and wire fraud charges in the Iran-Contra criminal case against former National Security Adviser John M. Poindexter.

In the same ruling, U.S. District Judge Harold Greene spelled out the procedure prosecutors may use to narrow a broad conspiracy charge against Poindexter, who faces trial later this year in the scandal.

Greene said that the theft and wire fraud charges against Poindexter may not be reinstituted later. He said it would be unfair to Poindexter and would constitute harassment to subject him to that possibility.

At the conclusion of his trial, Poindexter “would have to wait in a state of uncertainty and under public obloquy . . . until the government decided that, somehow, for some reason,” the theft and wire fraud charges could be revived, the judge said.

Greene said that, if prosecutors file a motion, he “will strike from the indictment” the parts of the conspiracy charges that they want to eliminate.

The office of independent counsel Lawrence E. Walsh wants to reduce the scope of the case against Poindexter in order to avoid problems relating to the use of classified information. Such problems plagued the Iran-Contra case against Oliver L. North.

In the North case, prosecutors ultimately had to abandon the entire conspiracy charge against the former White House aide in order to protect national secrets and to save the remainder of the criminal case.

Specifically, prosecutors in the Poindexter case want to cut the parts of the indictment dealing with the diversion to the Contras of proceeds from arms sales to Iran.

The remainder of the conspiracy charge accuses Poindexter of obstructing inquiries by Congress and making false and misleading statements to government agencies.