From: "Gary Britt" 

OK, now you are in agreement with what I remembered.

Ollie never had a final conviction.  The appeals court requiring that he
receive his constitutional rights meant that he was NEVER convicted of
anything.

Gary

"John Cuccia"  wrote in message
news:os7jp11er465lhrfm6pimlo1v4bg4gs53n{at}4ax.com...
> On Thu, 8 Dec 2005 13:56:34 -0500, "Gary Britt"
>  wrote:
>
> >I don't recall Ollie coping a plea?
>
> Sorry, he didn't exactly cop a plea. After receiving limited immunity
> for testifying before Congress, he was tried and convicted. He was
> later sprung on a technicality involving that immunity.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_North
>
> In November 1986, North was fired by President Reagan, and in July
> 1987 he was summoned to testify before televised hearings of a joint
> Congressional committee formed to investigate Iran-Contra. During the
> hearings, he admitted that he had lied to Congress, for which he was
> later charged among other things. He defended his actions by stating
> that he believed in the goal of aiding the Contras, whom he saw as
> "freedom fighters," and said that he viewed the illegal Iran-Contra
> scheme as a "neat idea."
>
> North was tried in 1988 in relation to his activities while at the
> National Security Council. He was indicted on sixteen felony counts
> and on May 4, 1989, he was convicted of three: accepting an illegal
> gratuity, aiding and abetting in the obstruction of a congressional
> inquiry, and destruction of documents (by his secretary, Fawn Hall, on
> his instructions). He was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gerhard A.
> Gesell on July 5, 1989, to a three-year suspended prison term, two
> years probation, $150,000 in fines, and 1,200 hours community service.
>
> However, on July 20, 1990, a three-judge appeals panel overturned
> North's conviction in advance of further proceedings on the grounds
> that his public testimony may have prejudiced his right to a fair
> trial.
>
> >I had forgotten Poindexter had died.
>
> I had forgotten that he hadn't .  It was William Casey's very
> timely death that saved most of the Iran-Contra participants.
> Poindexter was convicted, though, and later sprung on a technicality
> very similar to the one that freed North:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Poindexter
>
> Poindexter was convicted on multiple felony counts on April 7, 1990
> for conspiracy, obstruction of justice, lying to Congress, defrauding
> the government, and the alteration and destruction of evidence
> pertaining to the Iran-Contra Affair. The convictions were reversed in
> 1991 on the grounds that the prosecution's evidence may have been
> tainted by exposure to Poindexter's testimony before the joint
> House-Senate committee investigating the matter, in which Poindexter's
> testimony was compelled by a grant of 'use immunity'.
>

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