Poindexter Judge Denies Mistrial Over Testimony

The judge in the Iran-Contra trail of John M. Poindexter today denied a motion for a mistrial.

Defense lawyers asked for a mistrial after one of the prosecutors inadvertently brought out Poindexter’s immunized congressional testimony--which can’t be used in the trial--about destroying a politically embarrassing presidential document.

With Rep. Lee Hamilton on the witness stand, prosecutor Dan Webb asked whether Poindexter ever reported destroying the document, called a finding.

“He did,” Hamilton said in front of the jury, referring to Poindexter’s July, 1987 congressional appearance in which the former national security adviser admitted tearing up the document.

The document indicated that missiles had been sent to Iran in 1985 in an effort to win the release of American hostages in Lebanon.

U.S. District Judge Harold Greene ruled that the Webb-Hamilton exchange was not grounds for a mistrial, noting that Oliver L. North testified last week that he watched Poindexter tear up the finding.

Greene said Hamilton’s testimony was “cumulative, rather than harmful.”

As soon as Hamilton answered, another prosecutor, Howard Pearl, stood up. Webb quickly said, “I see the problem.”

Webb rephrased the question, but Poindexter lawyer Richard Beckler said that “I will made an argument on this,” and later moved for a mistrial.