Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: George jury asks for copies of law on CIA activities Date: Sat, 21 Nov 92 17:35:41 EST Message-ID: \SE A;NATION \SS (WS) \HD George jury asks for copies of law on CIA activities \BY ASSOCIATED PRESS Federal court jurors asked for copies of a national security statute yesterday as they deliberated in the criminal trial of Clair E. George, who is accused of lying to Congress about the Iran-Contra affair. The jurors, in their first note, requested the law that requires the CIA and other agencies to notify Congress about intelligence activities. The jurors failed to reach a verdict yesterday, and U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth told them to resume deliberations Monday. Mr. George's attorney, Richard Hibey, opposed providing the law, saying the jurors would be tempted to interpret the statute rather than determine the facts in the case. Prosecutor Craig Gillen said he would "deeply regret" not giving the jury what it sought. U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth agreed and granted the request of the eight-woman, four-man jury. Mr. George's first trial ended in a mistrial in August. The foreman, Steven Kirk, told reporters afterward, "There was never a point in our deliberations where a majority found the defendant guilty. . . . Some jurors did feel he could have been more forthcoming, but from a criminal perspective we did not find that Clair George told false statements to Congress." That view wasn't far from the closing argument of Mr. George's attorney, who told jurors Thursday that his client did not volunteer information he was not asked about, but never lied. "You're being asked to convict Clair George on answers he didn't give to questions he was never asked," Mr. Hibey said, accusing congressmen of trapping Mr. George by not telling him what they already knew about the Iran-Contra affair. But the prosecutor, Mr. Gillen, told jurors that Mr. George lied every time he was asked about key players in sale of arms to Iran and a White House-run military aid program for the Nicaraguan resistance. Most of the indictment focuses on Mr. George's testimony to Congress in late 1986, when U.S. lethal aid to the Contras was banned by law. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM