Watergate has put dozens in gaol

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33776, 24 February 1975, Page 15

Watergate has put dozens in gaol

(Neto Zealand Press Association—Copyright)

WASHINGTON, February’ 23. Mr Richard Nixon’s closest associates have been sentenced to gaol, but the Watergate story is not over yet.

John Mitchell, H. R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, and Robert Mardian have joined more than two dozen others who have been sentenced to gaol in the country’s worst political scandal, and a dozen more are awaiting sentence or will go on trial soon.

The sentencing decreased, but did not end the work of the office of the special Watergate prosecutor — an office set up by Mr Nixon to investigate the scandal. One of the three original Watergate grand juries is still in operation and it is widely speculated more indictments will be forthcoming before it comnletes its work.

The former AttorneyGeneral, Mitchell, “Mr Law and Order” of the Nixon Administration, was sentenced to a minimum of 30 months and no more than eight years in gaol by Judge John Sirica. Haldeman and Ehrlichman were given similar sentences. Mardian, Mitchell’s senior a’de at the Justice Department, was given a gaol sentence of 10 months to three years. TO APPEAL All four intend to appeal and it is unlikely that they will begin serving their sentences for some months. Bruce Kohn, N.Z.P.A. staff correspondent in Washington, reports that the sentences were lighter than could have been handed down by Judge Sirica. Mitchell, aged 61, could have been sentenced to 25 years in gaol and fined up to $U537,000 on the charges of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and committing perjury. Haldeman, formerly chief of staff at the White House and President Nixon’s “right hand man,” also faced a possible 25 years in prison and a SUS2I,OOO fine. Ehrlichman, aged 49, could have received

a 20-year sentence and fines of up to $U535,000. The sentencing of these three most powerful princes of the Nixon White House court completed the disgrace of an administration which rode to power on a platform of vigorous enforcement of the law. Ehrlichman and Haldeman were unemotional at the sentencing. Mitchell quipped later to reporters that “he (Judge Sirica) could have sentenced me to spend the rest of my life with Martha” — his ex-wife. Haldeman’s lawyer, Mr John Wilson, insisted to the Judge that whatever his client had done had been not for himself but for the President of the United States.

Haldeman had been caught up in a political maelstrom. “Whatever Bob Haldeman did,” said Mr Wilson, “so did Richard Nixon.” Ehrlichman sought a stiff sentence to be served on an Indian reservation in New Mexico, rather than in gaol. But his plea went unheeded. PRISON THREAT N.Z.P.A.-Reuter reports that a former White House aide, Mr John Dean, has predicted that Mitchell might be killed if he ever enters a prison. A stay in prison “could well be John Mitchell’s death sentence,” Mr Dean told a Millersville State College audience. “I met many men in prison who felt they were there because of John Mitchell. They said, ‘Wait until he gets here, we’ll take care of him.’ “There is a high probability that he (Mitchell) could be killed by another prisoner,” said Mr Dean, who served four months in gaol for his role in the Watergate cover-up.

The former special Watergate prosecutor, Mr Leon Jaworski, has urged Mr Nixon to make a statement on the Watergate cover-up — “to say what is in his

heart, to tell the truth.” “I would say ex-President Nixon would have to do the same soul searching that everyone should make when confronted with such a serious situation (as Watergate) and make a statement,” Mr Jaworski told a press conference in Chicago.

Asked whether he felt aides such as Haldeman were responsible for Mr Nixon’s present position, he replied: “Each man is responsible to himself." NIXON’S PARTY

The former President will come out of his self-imposed seclusion today, as guest of honour at a party attended by rich and famous friends.