Word: sirica
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...words were delivered crisply and without emotion by Federal Judge John J. Sirica. Yet they summed up a historic "memorandum opinion and order," which Sirica then passed out to the attorneys in the Watergate cover-up trial. The ruling meant that in all probability former President Richard Nixon may never have to face public questioning under oath about his role in the scandal...
...Sirica order quashed a subpoena served on Nixon by Defendant John Ehrlichman to testify at the trial. The judge also denied alternative motions by Defendants H.R. Haldeman, John Mitchell and Ehrlichman that depositions be taken from Nixon in California. Sirica's ruling was based primarily on the fact, certified by a court-appointed panel of doctors, that the recuperating Nixon's life might be endangered if he were asked to respond to any questioning before Jan. 6. Even then, Sirica noted, Nixon's recovery might not be satisfactory, and more time would also be required...
...Sirica also had some less compassionate reasons for ruling out Nixon's testimony. Noting that Nixon had been named an unindicted co-conspirator by the original Watergate grand jury, he declared that even if Nixon were to appear, the trial jury would have to be warned that Nixon's words "should be received with caution and scrutinized with care." That was a thinly veiled suggestion that Nixon might not be a credible witness. Sirica also implied that the defendants were exaggerating the importance of Nixon's testimony. He wrote that the information they sought from Nixon "could...
...Nixon could not travel to Washington until at least Feb. 16, 2) he could not testify in a courtroom setting in California until Feb. 2, 3) he could not risk even the strain of giving a deposition in his home until Jan. 6. That posed a dilemma for Sirica, who is trying to wind up the trial by Christmas. Sirica could delay the trial's conclusion until after a deposition was taken. If this is done, the doctors recommended, questioning of the former President should be restricted to two one-hour sessions a day under close medical supervision...
Mitchell's weak attempts to stonewall Neal's questioning so concerned some defense attorneys that one of them, Jacob Stein, protested to Sirica that Mitchell's "credibility" was adversely "affecting" the other defendants. Sirica had earlier shown his dissatisfaction with Mitchell's answers. He dismissed the jury and posed questions of his own about why anyone had paid the original defendants "for support of families or anything else" unless "some wrongdoing" or "some obligation" was involved. "I can't enlighten you, your honor," Mitchell replied. "I didn't have anything to do with...