Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 24, 1990 TAG: 9005240081
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
North and his lawyers attended a closed-door session before U.S. District Court Judge Aubrey Robinson while the grand jury met on another floor in the building.
After a hearing that lasted more than half an hour, North and his lawyers emerged from Robinson's courtroom, bypassed the third-floor grand jury room and walked out of the courthouse.
One of North's lawyers, Brendan Sullivan, refused to comment, as did the office of independent counsel Lawrence Walsh.
North's brief appearance suggested he has been subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury but is challenging the subpoena.
A court fight over a grand jury subpoena for North's testimony could take months to resolve. North could appeal any order issued by Robinson compelling the former White House aide's testimony.
Sources familiar with the 3 1/2-year-old criminal investigation have said Walsh's office wants to use the new grand jury in an attempt to determine the precise roles Ronald Reagan, George Bush and others had in the affair.
The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said last month that it was likely North would be called before a grand jury and that Iran-Contra prosecutors also were likely to call former National Security Adviser John Poindexter.
Robinson held North in contempt of court earlier in Walsh's probe when North refused to comply with a grand jury subpoena to provide a sample of his handwriting.
Iran-Contra prosecutors also tried unsuccessfully to obtain North's notebooks through the use of a grand jury subpoena. North ultimately was forced to turn over the notebooks at his trial last year when he took the witness stand in his own defense. Some 2,600 pages of North's notebooks have been publicly released over the past two weeks in connection with a lawsuit filed against the government by two private groups.
North, 46, was convicted on May 4, 1989, by a federal court jury.
by CNB