Reporters’ Calls to Jurors Anger Poindexter Trial Judge

An angry federal judge excoriated the press Tuesday and confined the John M. Poindexter trial jury to a hotel at night after reporters contacted two jurors by phone.

The Washington Post acknowledged that one of its reporters had contacted juror Leroy Witherspoon to try to set up a time when he could be interviewed after the trial. The Post, in an apology, said the reporter, Nora Boustany, a prize-winning foreign correspondent, had just come to the United States and was unfamiliar with American court procedures.

It was not known who contacted the second juror, William Harris, who said he hung up the phone as soon as he realized a reporter was on the line.

U.S. District Judge Harold H. Greene branded the press “guilty of irresponsible behavior.”

“I certainly don’t want to have a mistrial,” Greene said. “The reporter, we are told, just came back from Lebanon and didn’t know the ground rules. If anyone else in government gave such a lame excuse, the press would be justifiably scornful and sarcastic.”

Greene ruled that the trial would continue with the two jurors. Neither the defense attorney, Richard W. Beckler, nor the prosecutor, Dan K. Webb, objected.

But, hinting at some kind of punishment of the reporters involved, Greene said: “Some may think this may be an obstruction of justice. I am going to think on that.”

Poindexter, national security adviser during the Ronald Reagan Administration, is charged with five counts of obstructing Congress, lying to Congress, and taking part in a conspiracy to cover up the White House role in the Iran-Contra affair. He is the highest-ranking official put on trial as a result of the scandal that rocked the Reagan Administration.

After disclosing the phone calls, Greene ordered the jurors sequestered to a nearby hotel during the evenings, no longer allowing them to return home every night.

In the open courtroom, Greene asked Witherspoon and Harris to tell their stories. The two jurors, who had begun deliberations with the other members of the jury Monday, said they were contacted during the evening, one at home, the other in his office.

Witherspoon told the court that Boustany had telephoned him just after he returned home and had begun the conversation by asking him when the jury expected to return a verdict.

Although he hung up on her, Witherspoon said, Boustany called again. The juror said he hung up on her again and that finally stopped her calls.

Harris said a call reached him at his office, but that he hung up before the reporter, a woman, identified the organization she represented.

The judge then praised both Witherspoon and Harris as “alert and intelligent” for refusing to reply to the questions and hanging up on the reporters.

Robert Kaiser, assistant managing editor of the Post, told the Associated Press that editors had instructed Boustany to find out how to get in touch with Witherspoon once the trial was over. “She did this by calling him up to ask him,” Kaiser said.

Kaiser, who said the second juror was not contacted by a Post reporter, said that the paper had called Green’s chambers to apologize.