ITT JURY DISMISSED DEADLINE SET

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP09T00207R001000030078-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 16, 2011
• Sequence Number: 78
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/17: CIA-RDP09TOO207ROO1000030078-7
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ITT f" y Dismissed, Deadline Set
By Charles R. Babcock
Washington Post Staff Writer
A federal judge dismissed the jury 'his defense- by barring his access to
in a sensitive national security case ' some material.
yesterday and told prosecutors they Justice Department attorneys ar-
must decide-by- Monday ' whether to gued then, as they did again yester-
day, that some of what Wa11 de-
drop the charges to protect Central ? manded was not relevant to the case
Intelligence Agency secrets-
against Berrellez and might jeopard-
In an action that could deter prose-
cution of other national security
cases, U.S. District Court Judge Au-
brey Robinson rejected a Justice De-
partment proposal designed to pre-
vent classified information from being
disclosed at the perjury and conspir-
acy trial of Robert Berrellez, an offi-
cial of the International Telephone &
Telegraph Corp.
Berrellez. 58, is accused of lying to
a Senate committee investigating ef-
forts by ITT and the CIA to block the
1970 election of Salvador Allende as
president of Chile..
Tti u l: Robinson's discussions with
attorneys in the case were in secret. it
is understood that he told Justice law-
yers he will grant a defense motion to
dismiss the case unless they can get
yesterday's ruling overturned.
Appeals generally are not heard on
a judge's decision before a case is fin-
ished. The Justice Department could
try to get the U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals here to order Robinson to
change his ruling, but this so-called
mandamus procedure is rare.
The government's concern about
protecting national secrets has been a
constant threat to the three cases
growing out of the Senate's 1973 in-
~;tigation of efforts by ITT and the
CIA to ir:flueace the el.ctior. in Chile.
In August, Justice cropped three
counts of a companion indictment
against Edward J. Gerrity Jr., an ITT
senior vice president, rather than run
the risk that classified information
might be disclosed at hig upcoming.
trial. -
Last fall, former CIA director Rich-
and M. Helms was allowed to plead n6
contest to misdemeanor charges of
giving evasive testimony to the Senate
because he threatened to disclose se-
crets in his defense. ?
A recent Senate Intelligence Com-
mittee report on the problems of na-
tional security threats to prosecutions
referred to the defense tactic as
i ray mail." In such cases, the defense
attorney keeps demanding informa-
tion from thee-government until he'
finds something the prosecutors have
decided they can't give tip, the report
said. 0 .
Patrick A. Wall, Berrellez's
-attor-ney, had complained in pretrial hear-
in;s that the CIA was trying to limit
ize unrelated intelligence sources and
methods. ?'
- For instance, Wall had asked for
CIA documents relating to' Hernan
Cubillos, a Chilean newspaper official
mentioned in the conspiracy count
against Berrellez.
Cubillos is now the foreign minister
of Chile. On Monday, the day the trial
opened, the prosecution quietly drop-
ped references to Cubillos from the
charges. -
A jury -of eight women and four
men was prepared to hear. opening
statements in the Berrellez case yes-
terday mur_r.ng when the judge called
opposing. attorneys to the bench to
continue-out of the jury's hearing--
arguments on the prgsecution's pro.
posed protective order.
Some of the discussion could be'
heard by reporters in the courtroom,
including offers by Robinson. to seal,
the courtroom during parts of the
trial and contentions by prosecutor
John Kotelly that some defense re-
quests for evidence were not relevant.;
It is uridhrstood that the govern
ment was seeking -permission: to- be
able to challenge Wall's proppsed de-
fenses at bench conferences with the
judge during the, trial before the jury
would be allowed to. hear certain evi-
United Press International re-'
ported, for instance, that Kotelly had
asked Robinson on Monday to prevent
witnesses from naming CIA employes,
office, locations or other intelligence
information without court approval.
After the huddle with lawyers yes-
terday morning, R:,bioson called the
jury back is and annou iced:
"Circumstances have arisen which
make it necessary for me to discharge
YOU."
Attorney General Griffin B. Bell
said at, the time charges were filed
against Berrellez and Gerrity in A pril
that "You cannot decide never to
prosecute these cases that might in-
volve national security. To do so gives
people a license. That just can't be
the law."
The problems encountered since
then in the Gerrity and Berrellez
cases have led some Justice attorneys,
however, to wonder whether such
prosecutions are , :ver pos:;ibl,-,. -
The cases also raise questions about
the government's ability to prosecute
espionage cases, such as the one pend-.
ing aginst William Peter Kampiles, a
former CIA clerk accused of selling
the Soviet Union a supersecret man-
ual on a sophisticated U.S. spy satell-
lite. - -
Some Justice Department officials
feel that the relevancy of evidence is
much clearer in espionage cases than
it has been in the troubled cases in-
volving ITT, the CIA and Chile.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/17: CIA-RDP09TOO207ROO1000030078-7