THE IRAN--CONTRA HEARINGS : North Appeal Tied to Bid to Bar His Incarceration
WASHINGTON — Lt. Col. Oliver L. North was trying to avoid being jailed for contempt of court last month when he appealed a sealed ruling by a federal judge on a grand jury subpoena, court records indicate.
A docket entry in North’s appeal of U.S. District Judge Aubrey Robinson Jr.’s May 8 ruling stated that his attorneys filed a motion that day “for stay, or in the alternative, for bail.â€
The reference to bail in the case docket on file in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals indicated that the former National Security Council aide was seeking to block his incarceration in a contempt-of-court action.
The docket entry, which was examined Monday, was changed later to replace the words “for bail†with “for relief.â€
North, who has not been jailed, apparently won a stay of a contempt order by the district court, pending his appeal.
Public documents later filed with the appellate court show that North is challenging the authority of independent counsel Lawrence E. Walsh to enforce subpoenas issued by a special grand jury as part of his investigation of the Iran- contra affair.
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