1 North Verdict Upset : Court Orders Hearing to See if Other 2 Were Tainted : Poindexter Conviction Doubts Seen

A federal appeals court panel today threw out one of Oliver L. North’s three Iran-Contra convictions and ordered a lower court to determine whether North’s entire trial was tainted by the use of testimony he gave Congress under a grant of immunity.

The former National Security Council aide was convicted May 4, 1989, on three of 12 counts stemming from the Reagan Administration’s clandestine effort to sell arms to Iran and aid the Nicaraguan Contras.

The divided three-judge panel reversed North’s conviction on the charge of altering and destroying sensitive NSC documents, finding that U.S. District Judge Gerhard Gesell gave erroneous jury instructions. North was also convicted of accepting an illegal gratuity and aiding and abetting the obstruction of Congress.

The court held that North is entitled to a full hearing on all three counts delving into whether his nationally televised testimony seeped into the case.

The ruling could also mean problems for the conviction of former national security adviser John Poindexter, who was convicted earlier this year of five felonies in the scandal. Poindexter, like North, gave immunized testimony to Congress.

Independent counsel Lawrence Walsh, who supervised the Iran-Contra investigation, said he is considering what his next step will be.

“Everyone familiar with these proceedings has recognized the difficulties presented by the grant of immunity by Congress,” he said in a statement. “We have diligently tried to work around these difficulties.”

He said the Iran-Contra investigation was continuing. The grand jury hearing the matter was in session today.

North, a former Marine lieutenant colonel, described for Congress and a spellbound national television audience in July, 1987, how the Reagan Administration secretly sold arms to Iran and then used the profits to aid the Nicaraguan Contras. He was guaranteed that his testimony would not be used in any criminal case against him.

If Gesell determines at the hearing that such tainted evidence was used to convict North on the other two charges, the court said, he will be entitled to a new trial on those counts as well.

Gesell “must hold a . . . hearing that will inquire into the content as well as the sources of the grand jury and trial witnesses’ testimony,” the court said.

“That inquiry must proceed witness by witness; if necessary, it will proceed line by line and item by item,” it added.

“We readily understand how court and counsel might sigh prior to such an undertaking,” the appeals court said of the prospect of such a hearing.

“Such a . . . proceeding could consume substantial amounts of time, personnel and money, only to lead to the conclusion that a defendant--perhaps a guilty defendant--cannot be prosecuted,” the court said.

The major rulings were supported by two Reagan Administration appointees, David Sentelle and Laurence Silberman. Chief Judge Patricia Wald, a Carter Administration appointee, dissented.