Based on the information in the story, four individuals were convicted and then pardoned. Four individuals were convicted and not pardoned. Two individuals were convicted, but their convictions were overturned not because they were not factually supported, buy based on what most law and order types of this thread would characterize as "technicalities." (See, eg, Ronnie White discussion.) Two individuals were indicted, but pardoned before their trial started. The indictment of one individual was dismissed by the government.
>>AWAITING TRIAL AND PARDONED
Caspar W. Weinberger: The former Defense Secretary, who operated
within the inner circle of Ronald Reagan's advisers on military and diplomatic
affairs, was indicted in June on five felony charges, including accusations that
he had lied to Congress and concealed more than 1,700 pages of notes from
a personal diary recording his discussions with other officials about arms sales
to Iran. He was indicted again on Oct. 30 on a charge of making a false
statement to Congress. The indictment was brought to replace a similar
charge dismissed in September by a Federal district judge. He was scheduled
to stand trial next month.
Duane R. Clarridge: The Central Intelligence Agency's former chief of
European operations was indicted Nov. 26, 1991, on 10 counts of perjury
and making false statements stemming from a secret missile shipment to Iran in
November 1985. He pleaded not guilty on Dec. 6, 1991. On Dec. 10, a
Federal judge ordered prosecutors to drop two charges from the indictment.
No trial date had been set.
GUILTY AND PARDONED
Clair E. George: The highest-ranking former C.I.A. official charged in the
scandal, he was indicted Sept. 6, 1991, on 10 counts of perjury, false
statements and obstructing Congressional and Federal investigators. He
pleaded not guilty on Sept. 12, 1991. Three obstruction-of-justice charges
were dismissed by a Federal judge last May 18; two new
obstruction-of-justice charges were filed two days later. A first trial ended in a
mistrial in August, when the jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict. After a
second trial, he was found guilty on Dec. 9 of two counts of lying to
Congress, and faced sentencing in February of up to five years in prison and a
$250,000 fine.
Robert C. McFarlane: President Reagan's national security adviser from to
December 1985, he pleaded guilty March 11, 1988, to four misdemeanor
charges of withholding information from Congress. On March 3, 1989, he
was sentenced to two years probation and 200 hours of community service
and fined $20,000.
Elliott Abrams: Former Assistant Secretary of State pleaded guilty on Oct.
7, 1991, to two misdemeanor counts of withholding information from
Congress about secret Government efforts to aid the Nicaraguan rebels.
Prosecutors said that he knew that Oliver L. North, then a National Security
Council aide, had been in contact with people supplying the contra rebels and
encouraged them to continue to aid the rebels despite a Congressional ban on
such aid. He was sentenced Nov. 15, 1991, to two years' probation and 100
hours of community service.
Alan G. Fiers Jr.: The former head of the C.I.A.'s Central American Task
Force, who had worked for Mr. George, pleaded guilty on July 9, 1991, to
two misdemeanor charges of withholding information from Congress about
diverting money from Iranian arms sales to the Nicaraguan contras. He was
sentenced Jan. 31, 1992, to one year's probation and 100 hours of
community service.
GULITY AND NOT PARDONED
Carl R. (Spitz) Channell and Richard R. Miller: Both businessmen who
helped Oliver L. North raise money from private donors for the contras. Both
pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiring to defraud the Government by
soliciting tax-deductible donations for non-deductible purposes, and both
were sentenced to probation.
Albert A. Hakim: An Iranian-born businessman who created a company to
funnel arms and money to the contras. He pleaded guilty on Nov. 21, 1989,
to a misdemeanor charge of providing an illegal gratuity to Mr. North by
paying for a security fence at Mr. North's home. He was sentenced on Jan.
24, 1990, to two years' probation.
Richard V. Secord: A retired Air Force major general who played a crucial
role in the secret arms shipments to Iran and support for the Nicaraguan
rebels. He pleaded guilty on Nov. 8, 1989, to lying to Congressional
investigators. He was sentenced on Jan. 24, 1990, to two years' probation.
Thomas G. Clines: The former C.I.A. agent was a business partner of Mr.
Secord and Mr. Hakim in supplying arms to Iran. He was convicted Sept. 18,
1990, on four felony counts involving the underreporting of his earnings to the
Internal Revenue Service in 1986 and 1987 and falsely telling the Government
that he had no foreign bank accounts. On Dec. 13, 1990, he was sentenced
to 16 months in prison and fined $40,000. A Federal appeals panel upheld
the convictions on Feb. 27, 1992. He began serving his jail sentence on May
25, the only defendant in the scandal to go to prison.
CASES DIMISSED
John M. Poindexter: President Reagan's national security adviser from
December 1985 to November 1986 was convicted on April 7, 1990, on five
counts involving charges that he obstructed, conspired to obstruct and made
false statements to Congress. He was sentenced June 11, 1990 to six months
in prison. A Federal appeals panel threw out the convictions on Nov. 15,
1991, on the ground that Mr. Poindexter's testimony to Congress under
immunity was improperly used against him.
Joseph F. Fernandez: The case against the former C.I.A. station chief in
Costa Rica was dismissed after the Government refused a defense request for
classified documents.
Oliver L. North: The former Marine lieutenant colonel was a staff member of
the National Security Council. Was convicted on May 4, 1989, on three
felony counts for his role in the Iran-contra affair: aiding and abetting
obstruction of Congress, destroying security council documents and accepting
an illegal gift. He was acquitted on nine counts. He was sentenced July 5,
1989, to two years' probation and 1,200 hours of community service and
fined $150,000. On Sept. 16, 1991, the convictions were thrown out on
appeal because testimony in the trial might have been influenced by Mr.
North's testimony before Congress under immunity. <<
nytimes.com
Also of interest from the story:
>>Ronald Reagan, in 1989, pardoned George Steinbrenner 3d, the owner of
the New York Yankees, who had been convicted on illegal contributions to
Mr. Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign.
George Bush, in 1989, pardoned Armand Hammer, the chairman of
Occidental Petroleum, who had pleaded guilty to making illegal contributions
to Mr. Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign.<< |
