Mistrial Called in Iran-Contra Perjury Case

The prosecution of former CIA official Clair E. George on perjury charges in the Iran-Contra scandal ended in a mistrial Wednesday in the latest setback for the office of independent counsel Lawrence E. Walsh.

U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth declared the mistrial and set a new trial for Oct. 19, minutes after a jury of eight women and four men reported for the fourth time that it was hopelessly deadlocked on all nine charges against George in its sixth day of deliberations.

Prosecutor Craig Gillen had recommended a new trial “as quickly as possible” before a new jury that Lamberth will impanel.

But jury foreman Steven Kirk, 38, a management consultant, told reporters that he believes another trial is unnecessary.

“Twelve other jurors would have a hard time finding the defendant guilty of these charges,” Kirk said, explaining that a majority of jurors favored acquittal on all counts. He said that, while some thought that George could have been “more forthcoming” in his congressional testimony in 1986, “from a criminal perspective we did not find that Clair George told false statements to Congress.”

The outcome of the George case did nothing to improve the spotty record of the independent counsel. Of 10 convictions obtained by Walsh’s staff in the last 5 1/2 years, two have been overturned on appeal--those of former White House aide Oliver L. North and former White House National Security Adviser John M. Poindexter. Of the remaining convictions, all but one resulted from negotiated plea agreements. Only one defendant has gone to jail and that was for income tax charges related to weapons sales.

Before George’s five-week trial, Walsh’s office had spent $32 million on Iran-Contra prosecutions, according to its own accounting. Walsh, a former federal judge in New York, has rejected calls to shut down his operation from many members of Congress.

Still to be tried next January is former Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger, who is accused of five counts of perjury and obstruction related to his congressional testimony five years ago.

The scandal that resulted in Walsh’s appointment involved a secret deal by the Ronald Reagan Administration to sell arms to Iran in 1985-86 in exchange for the release of U.S. hostages in Lebanon and to divert the profits illegally to anti-Sandinista rebels in Nicaragua.

George, 62, who formerly directed overseas spy operations as the CIA’s No. 3 executive, was tried on nine separate counts of perjury, obstruction and false statements in testimony presented to Congress in 1986 and a federal grand jury in 1991. He was accused of concealing his knowledge of arms sales to Iran and of secret U.S. assistance being given to the Nicaraguan rebels by such officials as North and former Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard V. Secord, who was North’s logistics chief.

Gillen, the prosecutor, produced cables, CIA memos and George’s own briefing book to try to show jurors that he lied to Congress about what he knew. Witnesses, including Alan D. Fiers, George’s deputy, also testified that he concealed his knowledge of key events.

In three days on the witness stand, George sought to depict himself as a man who tried to do his best in the political crisis spawned by the scandal and was being made a scapegoat almost six years after the fact.

He characterized some of his answers to congressional investigators as “a mistake” and other answers as “disjointed . . . and poorly put together.” He charged that his interrogators were “hypocrites” who were “trying to set me up” by asking questions for which they already knew the answers.

Outside the courthouse Wednesday, George said: “I want to thank my family and my lawyers for everything they’ve been through.” But he declined further comment because he expects to be retried.

“I don’t like it but that’s the way it is,” George said of the outcome.

His chief attorney, Richard A. Hibey, said he had learned that the jury was divided in favor of acquittal on all counts. “That has to stand for something,” Hibey said, adding that he plans to ask Gillen to reconsider his decision to try George again.

The judge, after declaring a mistrial, allowed Hibey and Gillen to question some members of the jury privately in a side room. Five jurors volunteered to meet with the lawyers.

“On five of the counts, they were divided 9 to 3 for acquittal. On the other counts, they varied between 7 to 5 and 10 to 2 for acquittal,” Hibey told reporters.

Gillen refused to tell reporters what he had learned from the same jurors, saying only: “We’ll be here Oct. 19 and we’ll do it again.”

Hibey said that much of the jurors’ difficulty lay with the wording of questions George had been asked. The jury was divided over “the context and meaning of words embodied in the questions from Congress and the grand jury,” he said, and “were not prepared to convict anybody based on questions which contained ambiguous phrases.”

The defense attorney said that he doubts George would enter a plea to avoid a second trial, even though his legal bill already exceeds $1 million. He said that contributions from friends and former CIA associates have covered only a small percentage of the cost.

Asked if he considers the mistrial to be a victory, Hibey replied:

“Well, we were not convicted, and any defense lawyer will tell you that’s a very good feeling. . . . But getting a hung jury is like kissing your sister. It’s nice but it doesn’t excite you.”

Walsh’s office issued a terse statement that said:

“We are, of course, disappointed that the jury was unable to agree on a verdict. We very much appreciate the prompt date for retrial.”

On the overall record of Iran-Contra prosecutions to date, Mary Belcher, Walsh’s spokeswoman, said: “There have been 10 convictions. Until now, we have never brought an indictment that didn’t result in a conviction, with the exception of the Joseph Fernandez case, which was dismissed in 1989 when then-Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh refused to release classified information.” Fernandez is a former CIA station chief in Costa Rica.

Belcher added that “the guilty pleas have included officials in the State Department, the CIA, and the National Security Council. We have a pretty good track record overall.”