NATION : North Bid for New Trial Rejected
WASHINGTON — U.S. District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell rejected Oliver L. North’s bid for a new trial today, clearing the way for the former White House aide to be sentenced next Wednesday for his crimes in the Iran-Contra scandal.
In a nine-page ruling, Gesell dismissed the former Marine’s claims that he should receive a new trial because one of the jurors who convicted him, Tara King, acknowledged that she had used drugs months before the trial and that she was not truthful on a juror questionnaire.
Gesell added that challenges such as North’s “arise with some frequency in cases when the defendent has ample resources.â€
North, 45, was convicted May 4 of three felony counts stemming from the Iran-Contra scandal. King and 11 other Washington residents who made up the jury acquitted him on nine other counts.
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