Word: sirica
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Federal Judge John J. Sirica once had hopes that the Watergate mystery would be solved in his courtroom. The jury, he told the defendants, "is going to wonder who, if anyone, hired you. They are going to want to know if there are other people, that is, higher-ups in the Republican Party, who are involved in this case. The question will arise, undoubtedly, what was the motive for doing what you people...
...exasperated was Judge Sirica by both prosecution and defense that he often swept aside legal proprieties, interrupting and making theatrical asides. He started by interrogating all the prospective jurors himself, and during the trial he urged the lawyers to "get on with it." When Henry Rothblatt, one of the defense lawyers, offered an emotional opening statement, Sirica broke in with warnings, such as "don't let your blood pressure...
...Sirica's overall behavior was such that defense lawyers for both McCord and Liddy announced that they would use it as a basis for appealing the verdict. That hardly chastened Sirica. As he stated during the trial, "I'm not awed by the appellate courts. Let's get that straight. All they can do is reverse me. They can't tell me how to run my case...
...Well, I'm sorry but I don't believe you," said Federal Judge John J. Sirica. He was addressing four of the Watergate defendants, and what he did not believe was their claim that they could not remember who had supplied them with money. Even sums as high as $114,000, they said, simply turned up in brown manila envelopes from none knew where. Despite the judge's sharp questioning, the four insisted last week on pleading ignorance-and guilt. That reduced the number of defendants from seven to two and also reduced the likelihood that...
...White House consultant and longtime CIA official who played a prominent part in the planning of an earlier fiasco, the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961. At first Hunt offered to plead guilty to only three of the six charges against him, but under pressure from Judge Sirica he agreed to include...