Show Loin-- Herald )emm I-- TIm L'tah - Thumb June II 1973 Judge Sirica Kept Faith In The American System i Byl NEA Senior (Second in a Five-Pa- Editor Series) rt - 1NEA1 -WASHINGTON The morning of Friday March 1973 was clear but cool Not unusual for an early spring day here The cherry blossoms wtro endeavoring to make their annual comeback Otherwise it was a typical Washington day At 10 am one of the most explosive moments in American history would occur court room The second-fluo- r of the United States District Court House was uncommonly packed and under unusually large and stern guard Spectators who jammed the court room were required to pass through metal detector Chief Judge John Joseph 23 Sirica appeared at 10 sharp robes as severe as his reputation He is supposed to Inrow the book at the convicted Not today lie had delayed sentHe looked in his black encing on James McCord one of the conspirators in the Watergate burglary McCord had presented him with a letter he McCord had written to the court Judge Sirica had received the letter on Wednesday in his chambers before a stenographer and a few other witnesses He found it one of the nost remarkable of documents He sealed it and said he would read it aloud on Friday Judge Sirica is 69 years old hut his dark wavy hair (Washington rumor has it that he dyes nis hair t makes him look younger His eyebrows are heavy lips are thin and his nose seems a bit flattened perhaps from his days as an amateur boxer He now read the letter smoothly unemotionally "Certain questions have been posed to me from your honor through the probation officer dealing with details of the case motivations intent mitigating circumstances The letter went on to link for the first time the White Mouse and Watergate The impact in the court v is startling The spectators had come to hear something special but they were not sure what Even McCord's lawyers did not know about the contents of the letter that was the initial insight to the allegc network of obstruction of justice by the Nixon administration This letter induced by Judge Sirica's actions during the course of the conspiracy trial may be the document that will result in the present administrations being cleansed if not in fact top- them and the importance of Watergate: A Challenge of Courage being a principled man of the law" said Sirica Judge Sirica was appointed to the bench by President Eisenhower in 1957 He had campaigned for the Republican ticket since Landon in 1936 In fact he had made speeches in 1952 and 1956 in support of Richard Nixon the Republican way to be placed in so grand a position as a national hero "I've known poverty" he in of his childhood Conn and JacksonWat-erbu- says Fla He is the son of Italian immigrant parent’s ville His father was a barber "and I'm very proud of the fart he was an honest man" Judge reralls that he and his family slept in the back of a grocery store in which his mother worked "She kept us clean and she got us to school" he says Through school he greased automobiles and waited on tables He worked as an athletic director for the Knights Sirica of ?olumbus in Washington to law pay his way through school “I guess I always wanted to be a trial lawyer but at one time I also considered being a boxer I weighed 150 pounds But I found that boxing was loo rough a way to make a dollar" pled Columnist Mary McGrory said that Judge Sirica is "the He spent two years in law school and was admitted to the bar (That was all the schooling required for lawyers in the early 1920s which may account for some saying his reputation for honesty is reatcr than his reputation for rilliance man whom we owe our liberty if we still have any" Sen Sam Ervin said that Judge Sirica “showed great courage and great wisdom especially when it would have He work in pribeen easier lor him to have vate began legal He met William practice drifted with the tide" E Leahy a little-know- n Through the several months Washington lawyer who the of the trial Judge Sirica sat judge calls "my idol" Leawith growing outrage as he hy's large portrait hangs in listened to the seven defendJudge Sirica's chambers "I ants give their bland testimolearned from him how to ny lie was rertain there was more than this being just "a the jury nodding in your vor how to anticipate their third-rat- e burglary as the questions to let them know White House contended He gave the six besides you aren't out to hoodwink McCord stiff sentences Yet in an unusual move Judge Sirica delayed sentencing of McCord who admitted that he feared a severe sentence possibly 20 years if he did not cooperate BUFFAIA) NY tUPIl -One person was arrested the courtroom was ordered cleared and an attorney accused the prosecution of using "Richard Nixon-typ- surveillance" e Wednesday during the third day pre-trihearings in connection with llie 1971 Attica prison riot State Supreme Court Justice Carman F Ball ordered the courtroom cleared of some 8(1 spectators after they began dapping and chanting when defense attorney Donald Jelmek filed a motion to seek Ball's removal from the case Jelinek said he wanted the proceedings halted until (lie Appellate Division of State Essible Supreme Court could decide “If a judge has one eye on whether Hull should continue what an appellate rourt might presiding over the hearings and ‘ do then e should get olf the subsequent trials bench" he said ' I never The Kieetutnrs who diunted think about it I've been reversed several times anil I've been sustained many many times" ' Because ol his independent ways the judge has him as one writer pul it “ngorouoly above political considerations" Which meant that he couldn I be bought but also that he would not necessarily be a prime candidate for promotion either John Sirica has come a long By PHIL NEWSOM L'PI Foreign News Analyst The announcement that another four star general is to be the next president of Brazil ends any thought of a return to freely elected government in the near future Instead it makes certain a continuation of military dictatorship for at least the next five years It is a mark of the lack of faith among the Brazilian military in the elective process and another step in the steady retreat from the democratic principles to which the Brazilian armed forces pledged themselves in 1964 when they took over from the ineffective and leftward drifting govern- ment of Joao Goulart When former army chief of staff Gen Humberto Castelo Branco took office on April 15 1964 it was as “the president of all" and with the declaration that “the remedy for the evils of the extreme left is not the birth of a reactionary right but rather the adoption of the reforms that are necessary" When the current president Gen Emilio G Medici took over in October 1969 it was with this promise: “By the end of my adminiscases I've admired the way tration to I hope leave urics composed of everyone democracy definitely installed rom taxi drivers to secretariin our country as well as fixed es to economists can assimibases for our social and late facts and arrive at a fair economic development'' verdict no doubt that nine is There "I've been very impressed of leadership has by that I've found that the years military force and discithe provided an man is really common uncommon man" pline that has made Brazilian development among the most world Inflation Good dynamic in thefrom "The fvcAi more than has been cut Dame") 100 per cent in 1964 to 15 per cent last year (NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE ASSN ) PRESIDENT NIXON’S newspaper reading is done for him by this staff in Washington They comb through about 45 dailies monitor TV and come up with a losdeaf book of 25 to 31 pages Foreign investors poured $3 billion into Brazil in 1972 and Brazil added another $9 billion of its own Vast projects are opening up the riches erf the Amazon Valley Aid projects are extending Brazilian economic and technical help to poorer neighbors and acquiring the enmity of others including Argentina Brazil is reaching out toward Africa and making its presence felt in Europe where the Common Market is Brazil's principle trading partner It is entertaining ambitions of a spokesman for becoming underdeveloped third world countries But it has been at a heavy cost to civil liberties Last 2 Days labeled “Eyes Only for the President’’ It's on his desk about I in the morning The staff works six days a week Saturdays off Harsh censorship prevents any criticism of the government or even a discussion of selection of the next president Catholic bishops have accused the government of torture and of discrimination against peasants workers Macks women and the political opposition Amnesty a five-yepresidential term beginning next March 15 is Gen Ernesto Geisel lately head of the state oil monopoly and brother of the minister of the army Gen Orland Geisel Friends predict he will loosen the government's controls on congress and political parties But the record is against it ar a International The first post office in the group seeking release of political prisoners United Staes opened In New demanded an investigation oL York City Nov 28 1783 the deaths of some 25 alleged WMAWIAMMRMMMWII subversives in police custody It said so many political ICE prisoners had been "run down” Dry Party Cruihad while trying to escape or shot Block Wholatal PricM by friends trying to free them that “we believe an impartial WOODBURY'S investigation is essential" 5 14 North 6th Wait The new man selected to fill London-base- d 752-965- 2 Big Sales dispasaMs diaspsr sale bond-sellin- Judge Sirica also admires Vice President Spiro Agnew "He has not forgotten his heritage where he came from" said the judge "He once happened to join me at a 15 off men’s underwear naturalization proceedings I what he said It was similar to what I usually tell people on this occasion handled I liked Naturalization proceedings are one of the things I enjoy most about being a judge "I tell folks that now you are as much an American as the President of the United States It is something to be proud of to be a citizen of this great country Now when people ask what you are don't say 'Italian' or 'Chinese' say ‘I am an American' ” He is sentimental enough to have framed autograph pictures of both Agnew and Nixon at home in nis den which he calls "my hall of memo- ries" Yet he is not taken by lofty He says he believes that “men generally are wise and good "The most important lesson for me in this regard was gaining confidence in the jury system I think it is the greatest system ever devised by man In the great majority of stature Sale 3“ 275 Stock Up arid Save 15 Off Sale I09 Reg 3 for 325 Men's polyestercotton athletic shirts or briefs Something they never have enough of Cut for comfort in shirt sizes 34-4- 6 White briefs 28-4- 4 3 for Boxer 325 Reg shorts of cool comfortable polyestercotton Penn-Pre- st for no wrinkles Prints in sizes 28-4- 4 Now's the time to stock up and save Court Proceedings Halted By Chanting fully Some critics said that Judge Sirica's arlion actually placed him in the role of prosecutor There was concern that the means in which the tetter was obtained would not hold up in the appellate court "You would have to be a nincompoop to play no role this" Judge Sirica had said from the bench And more recently in an exclusive interview in his chambers the judge added “I think when a judge sees that acts are not being developed he has a duty to prosecutor and defendant to get the full Ccture regardless of whom it hurts "1 did onlv what I thought was right Uv God nobody can criticize you for that" Was he concerned about a reversal by an candidate But partisanship never entered his courtroom if he could help it Now he has caused havoc for the Republicans Another time he nearly threw the former secretary of the Interior Stewart Udafl a Democratic appointee into jail for contempt Yet Judge Sirica not only admires toughness but gentleness too One of his best friends today is Jack Dempsey the former heavyweight boxing champion whom he g met while on tours during World War II Military Extends Its Rule of "free the Attica brothers" reluctantly left the courtroom and were escorted from the cnurilmusc by helmeted Erie County sheriff's deputies Marilyn Siegel 21 of suburban Snyder a legal assistant to Jelinek tins of using telephone taps bugring conference rooms homes and offices and "maybe even opening letters" The hearings took m a routine procedure after the recess and there were no further outbursts The criminal proceedings against some 60 former and current Attica inmates indicted in connection with the nation's bloodiest prison rebellion were ordered moved from the Wyoming County courthouse in Warsaw to Buffalo by the apHllate court The proceedings have moved slowly because of legal bickering and tight security mea- sures which include the searching of all persons entering the courtroom At a news conference rior to Wednesday's session members of the Attica Defense Committee who represent several of the inmates accused Ball of "disrespect for constitutional rights and human dignity" and claimed his courtroom was "obviously not the proper place to hold the Attica trials" JCPenney arrested and charged with obstructing governmental administration During a recess following the outburst Jelinek accused the state attorney general's office The Marianas chain of 15 islands in the i’acific sire titles more tlum 4iM miles north and south ahuut 1200 miles east of llu Iliilippines We know what you're looking for Shop Friday Night 'til 9 pm Bring your JCPenney charge card |