Poindexter Convicted on 5 Coverup Charges : Iran-Contra: The former national security adviser is found guilty of lying, obstructing Congress and conspiracy in the scandal that engulfed the Reagan White House.

Standing tall but swaying slightly, former National Security Adviser John M. Poindexter was convicted Saturday on five charges of attempting to cover up the Iran-Contra scandal before it engulfed the Ronald Reagan Administration in 1986.

After deliberating a total of about 24 hours spread over six days, a U.S. District Court jury convicted the 53-year-old retired Navy admiral of obstructing Congress, lying to Congress and conspiring with his former aide, Oliver L. North, and others to deceive Congress and destroy government documents during the complex, confusing and illegal affair.

U.S. District Judge Harold H. Greene set June 11 for sentencing. Poindexter faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of the five counts.

Poindexter’s defense attorney, Richard W. Beckler, vowed to continue the battle. With Poindexter and his wife, the Rev. Linda Poindexter, an Episcopal priest, standing by his side, Beckler told reporters outside the federal courthouse on Constitution Avenue: “We’re going to appeal this case and keep fighting it as long and as hard as we can.”

Asked to comment, Poindexter smiled slightly and said: “No, thank you,” adding, “Have a nice day.”

When a reporter asked if he had any second thoughts about his decision not to take the witness stand in his own defense during the trial, Poindexter declined to reply. His wife responded for him: “No second thoughts.”

Poindexter’s conviction on all five of the criminal counts against him was clearly the most significant victory achieved by the office of independent counsel Lawrence E. Walsh in the Iran-Contra affair. Walsh was appointed by former Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III in late 1986 to investigate, expose and prosecute the Iran-Contra principals.

The investigation was prompted by revelations that North, a Marine lieutenant colonel on Poindexter’s staff, had organized the secret sale of arms to Iran in an effort to win the release of American hostages and then illegally diverted proceeds from the sales to the Contras in Nicaragua.

Dan K. Webb, who prosecuted Poindexter for Walsh’s office, did not hide his pleasure over the verdict. “In my judgment,” Webb said, “the conviction of John Poindexter has marked the end of a very difficult and very important case in American history. High men in government with responsibility for national security ought not be allowed to commit crimes to pursue their own private interest.”

Asked what self-interest Poindexter had in covering up the Reagan Administration’s role in the affair, Webb replied: “Even being charitable to Adm. Poindexter, he did it to protect the political viability of Ronald Reagan, and I consider this a private interest. People do not commit crimes to protect the public good.”

Webb cited a statement made by the former President in more than eights hours of meandering, videotaped testimony that was played during the trial. Reagan repeatedly professed lapses of memory about key events in the affair, but he stated that he did not believe his subordinates had broken the law.

“There is no question,” Webb said, “that Ronald Reagan was wrong and incorrect when he said no one had committed any crimes.”

If Judge Greene sentences Poindexter to prison, he will be the first Iran-Contra principal to spend time behind bars.

North, while convicted on three counts of destroying documents, taking a bribe and helping to obstruct Congress, was acquitted on nine other counts. Although fined $150,000, he received a three-year suspended sentence. Four other Iran-Contra figures, including Robert C. McFarlane, Poindexter’s predecessor as national security adviser, pleaded guilty to criminal charges and were sentenced to probation.

The announcement of the verdict provided a tense and quiet drama of its own. After the jury reported it had reached its verdict at 11:20 a.m. Saturday, Judge Greene summoned Poindexter and the lawyers. But the defendant was at his home in suburban Maryland and did not reach the courtroom until shortly before noon.

Greene then called the 12 jurors into the courtroom. Poindexter, donning his glasses and buttoning his jacket, stood up, his hands loosely at his sides, as if he were almost, but not quite, at military attention.

As the clerk read each count, the foreman, 25-year-old Wayne Mitchell, a slight man in a sports shirt who works for a medical claims insurance company and studies paralegal courses at night, said the word “guilty” in slight, soft tones five times. Poindexter swayed slightly throughout the ordeal and clasped his hands in front of him toward the end, but he showed no emotion.

As the jury left the courtroom, Poindexter’s attorney, Beckler, pursed his lips and blew out air slightly, as if he were pronouncing an understated “whew.”

Although the entire Iran-Contra scandal served as backdrop to Poindexter’s case, the five-week trial focused on only a few aspects of the cover-up.

In the most far-reaching count, Poindexter was charged with conspiring with North and others to destroy documents and deceive Congress about both the illegal supply of military aid to the Contras and the secret sale of arms to Iran.

Poindexter also was charged with sending fraudulent letters to Congress denying that the Administration was helping the Contras and directing North to mislead Congress by denying the same thing. He was accused of obstructing Congress by denying that the U.S. government knew anything about an Israeli shipment of Hawk missiles to Iran and of lying to the House Intelligence Committee and Senate Intelligence Committee about the Hawk shipment.

Facing an array of damaging testimony and documents placed in evidence by the prosecution, the defense strategy seemed confused.

Beckler argued that Poindexter did exactly what he was told to do by Reagan and had never broken the law. Since Beckler did not acknowledge that Poindexter had ever lied to or obstructed Congress or destroyed documents, he could not claim his defendant was forced or encouraged or authorized to do those things by Reagan.

Beckler made two gambles during the trial, and lost both.

First, he decided to call Reagan to the stand and build much of his case around the former President’s testimony. Reagan, whose lawyers had won him the right to be questioned on videotape rather than in open court, made clear he had a high regard for his former aide and even hinted at one point that Poindexter had his blessing for keeping secrets from him.

If Poindexter knew about the diversion of funds, Reagan was asked, should he have informed the President? “Yes,” said Reagan. But he quickly added: “Unless maybe he thought he was protecting me.” Reagan also insisted that he had not advised Poindexter or any other aide to violate the law and that he did not believe any laws had been violated.

Prosecutor Webb, who warned the jurors not to base their judgment of Poindexter’s guilt or innocence on Reagan’s friendly assessment of his former aide, said that the ploy of using the videotape in Poindexter’s defense insulted the jury’s intelligence.

In his second major gamble, Beckler ended his case without putting Poindexter on the stand in his own defense. Although protection against self-incrimination is guaranteed by the Constitution, some lawyers contend that in a case of this magnitude, jurors expect to see the defendant personally defend himself in the courtroom.

By keeping Poindexter off the stand, Beckler avoided the relentless questioning of the defendant by Webb, a master at cross-examination. He also avoided the possibility of a future perjury charge if any of the Poindexter testimony had contradicted his testimony to joint sessions of the Senate and House Intelligence Committees after the Iran-Contra affair unraveled.

Webb took a big risk for the prosecution in relying heavily on the hostile, evasive testimony of North as a reluctant witness against Poindexter. North clearly did not want to help the prosecution’s case, but he dropped his guard often under Webb’s hammering questioning.

Although even Judge Greene acknowledged that taking testimony from North was like “pulling teeth,” Webb pressured North to acknowledge that he had kept Poindexter “aware of what I was doing” while directing efforts to raise private funds for the Nicaraguan resistance and resupplying the rebel forces with weapons despite a congressional prohibition on such assistance.

As the lead-off witness for the government, North told jurors that Poindexter told him to “handle” a congressional inquiry into the Contra supply operation and that Poindexter subsequently sent him a congratulatory note that said “well done” after North had lied to congressional investigators.

He also testified that as the Iran-Contra scandal was surfacing in November, 1986, Poindexter ripped up a key presidential document authorizing the 1985 arms-for-hostages deal.

Defense attorney Beckler sought throughout the trial to attack North’s credibility and to paint North and McFarlane as responsible for the misdeeds charged against Poindexter.

He also tried to characterize Poindexter as a scapegoat caught in the middle of a political battle between the White House and Congress.

‘THE BUCK STOPS HERE’: History will likely support Poindexter’s assessment of his role in the scandal. A15

THE CHARGES AGAINST POINDEXTER The five felony charges on which John M. Poindexter was convicted Saturday:

Count One: Conspiring to obstruct Congress and to falsify and destroy documents. Poindexter attempted to keep congressional leaders from learning that his subordinate, Lt. Col. Oliver L. North, had set up a clandestine network to funnel weapons to the Contra rebels in Nicaragua at a time when such aid was banned by the Boland Amendment. Poindexter also sought to conceal from Congress that U.S. officials were involved in shipping arms to Iran and that some of the arms profits were used to help the Contras militarily.

Count Two: Obstructing Congress. In July, 1986, Poindexter sent letters to the House Intelligence Committee, the House Armed Services Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee assuring them--inaccurately--that North’s activities were in compliance with “both the spirit and letter” of the Boland Amendment. Poindexter also arranged for North to meet personally with congressmen to reinforce the false assurance.

Count Three: Obstructing Congress. In November, 1986, Poindexter furnished a false chronology of events stating that U.S. officials did not know about the first arms sale to Iran--a shipment of U.S. Hawk missiles--until after the transaction had occurred in November, 1985.

Count Four: Obstructing a congressional inquiry. Poindexter personally met with members of the House Intelligence Committee on Nov. 21, 1986, and denied that he had advance knowledge of the Iranian arms shipment.

Count Five: Obstructing a congressional inquiry. Poindexter met with members of the Senate Intelligence Committee on the same day and made the same false statement.