
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 4, 1990                   TAG: 9004040370
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

JUDGE SEQUESTERS POINDEXTER JURY

A federal judge, angered on Tuesday by what he called "irresponsible behavior of the press," ordered the jurors in the Iran-Contra trial of former White House aide John Poindexter to spend their nights in a hotel here, out of reach of reporters.

During deliberations on a verdict in the case, the jurors will not be allowed to return to their homes at night because of two incidents Monday night, U.S. District Judge Harold Greene said Tuesday.

The jury completed a second day of deliberations on Tuesday without reaching a verdict. The jurors were then taken by a U.S. Marshal's Service van to an undisclosed hotel for the night.

In one of the two incidents cited by Greene, Washington Post reporter Nora Boustany called juror Leroy Witherspoon twice. Witherspoon said in the courtroom Tuesday that Boustany asked him when the jury would be reaching a verdict.

He said he hung up on her, but she called back, wondering if the connection had been broken.

The second incident, described by juror William L. Harris, involved a call to him at his office by an unidentified female reporter. He said he hung up on her; "I didn't give her a chance" to say who she worked for.

The judge said that The Post called him to explain, saying that Boustany had just come to this country from Lebanon, and "didn't know the ground rules."

Greene commented tartly: "If anyone else in government gave such a lame excuse, the press would be justifiably scornful and sarcastic."

by CNB