Watergate jury set to retire
GV Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) WASHINGTON, December 30. United States District Judge John Sirica is going to tell jurors in the Watergate coverup trial that the pardon granted the former President, Mr Richard Nixon, should not be a factor in their deliberations.
“Neither the pardon of Mr Nixon nor any other case or extraneous matters should have any effect on your deliberations or your verdict,” Judge Sirica said in the instructions he planned to read to the jury today. After hearing the judge’s instructions on the legal issues in the case, the nine women and three men who have listened to .11 weeks of arguments and testimony will begin the task of deciding the guilt or innocence of the five defendants.
The long trial was the climax of the scandal that forced Mr Nixon to resign the Presidency less than two .years after he was re-elected by one of the largest margins in United States history. The Grand Jury that re-
turned the cover-up indictment last March 1, also named Mr Nixon, then still President, an unindicted coconspirator.
The five defendants are the former Attorney-General, John Mitchell; the former White House aides, H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman; the former assistant Attorney-General', Robert C. Mardian; and Kenneth W. Parkinson, sometime lawyer for the Nixon re-election committee.
The jury has heard testimony from more than 80 witnesses, about 30 of whom were called by the prosecutors. All five defendants testified.
Some of the most dramatic and damning words the jurors heard were from the White House tapes. The jury listened to 31 tapes, most of which covered conversations involving Nixon and his senior aides.
During their deliberations the jurors will be able to listen again to any of the tapes they already have heard.
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33730, 31 December 1974, Page 9
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295Watergate jury set to retire Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33730, 31 December 1974, Page 9
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