Prosecution of Poindexter, North Unlikely, Senate Panel Leader Says

WASHINGTON — The vice chairman of the select Senate committee investigating the Iran arms- contra aid scandal said Monday it is unlikely the two key figures in the affair will be prosecuted and sent to prison.

Sen. Warren B. Rudman (R-N. H.), the ranking Republican on the Watergate-style committee, said it is too soon to talk about immunity for the two principal players--former National Security Adviser John M. Poindexter, and his aide, Lt. Col. Oliver L. North--in exchange for their congressional testimony about the deal.

But he said the public interest in finding out exactly what happened in the operation “outweighs the slim possibility that either of those men could get sentenced to jail.”

The Senate select committee and a companion House panel were established last week to investigate the sale of U.S. arms to Iran and the subsequent diversion of millions of dollars of profits to the Nicaraguan rebels.

Legal authorities have said that if the committees grant North and Poindexter immunity, it could prevent the independent counsel in the case, Lawrence E. Walsh, from bringing criminal charges.

Rudman said it will be up to Walsh to determine whether there have been criminal violations.

“I find it very hard to believe that a jury would ever find them (Poindexter and North) guilty of anything, and if they were found guilty that they would be sent to prison,” said Rudman, who emphasized he was speaking personally as a former prosecutor and not as vice chairman of the committee.