Lawyers give starkly different views of Oliver North

Press, 23 February 1989, Page 8

Lawyers give starkly different views of Oliver North

NZPA-Reuter Washington The sacked White House aide, Oliver North, never broke the law and was protecting the President by concealing details of the Administration’s plan to send aid to Nicaraguan rebels, his lawyer told a jury. “He never broke the law,” Brendan Sullivan said yesterday in his opening argument in North’s trial. "He followed the instructions of the highest ranking officials he protected the secrets he was ordered to protect.” But the independent prosecutor, John Keker,

painted North as a man who considered himself above the law and lied to Congress about the Reagan Administration’s plan to sell weapons to Iran and funnel some proceeds to the Nicaraguan Contra rebels. "When the time came for Oliver North to tell the truth, he lied,” Mr Keker said. “When the time came for him to come clean, he shredded, he erased, he altered.” North listened intently through more than five hours of opening statements to the jury of nine women and three men, while his wife, Betsy,

watched from the courtroom gallery. The 45-year-old exMarine has pleaded not guilty to 12 criminal charges of cover-up and persor .i misconduct stemming from covert United States operations during the Reagan Administration. He is charged with lying to Congress in letters and statements about sending aid to the Contras at a time when this was illegal, with destroying documents pertinent to the case, and with illegally accepting the gift of a security system for his home.