Testimony of Gerald Alch - Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee Hearings on Presidential Campaign Activities, May 24, 1973
Testimony of Gerald Alch - Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee Hearings on Presidential Campaign Activities, May 24, 1973
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee Hearings on Presidential Campaign Activities, May 24, 1973 - Testimony of Gerald Alch United States Senate Caucus Room, Washington DC
Testimony of Gerald Alch - Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee Hearings on Presidential Campaign Activities, May 24, 1973
Senator BAKER. Now, I want to move on to another subject matter. The chairman has suggested that it might be a glory to your competency as a lawyer and your judgment as a counsel had you advised Mr. McCord to plead guilty, that after all he was caught, as the chairman put it, I believe, redhanded in Watergate. He was indicted on what - seven counts, or eight? Mr. ALCH. Seven, I believe. Senator BAKER. Did you ever consider advising him to plead guilty? Mr. ALCH. I did not, for this reason. He told me from the beginning he did not want to. He told me he wanted to go to trial and he told me the defense he wanted to use based upon what he claimed to be the true motivation of his actions. Senator BAKER. What did he tell you to be the true motivation of his actions? Mr. ALCH. His attempt to obtain advance warning of planned violent demonstrations by radical antiwar groups, as he put it, which would, in his opinion, lead to violence to prominent Republican officials. Senator BAKER. And he said that in relation to the entry into the Democratic National Committee? Mr. ALCH. He did. Senator BAKER. Not into the headquarters of the Weathermen or any other group, but the DNC, the Democratic National Committee? Mr. ALCH. That is what he told me was his reason for doing what lie did. Senator BAKER. Did you advise him that that was or was not an available defense? Mr. ALCH. I told him I would look into it. I did. He was talking and submitted memorandums to me under the topic of defense of others. My research told me or showed me that this particular defense did not permit the one claiming not to know that he was breaking the law. I told him so. Senator BAKER. Did you then tell him that the defense was not available? Mr. ALCH. That particular one, but I also told him that there was a similar related defense which particularly allowed the perpetrator to know that he was breaking the law. That was the defense of duress. That defense was presented in his behalf and when Chief Judge Sirica ruled as a matter of law that it was not applicable to the facts, I made my offer of proof.
Testimony of Gerald Alch - Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee Hearings on Presidential Campaign Activities, May 24, 1973
Senator BAKER. Did the U.S. Attorney's Office, did the Justice Department, or anyone else contact you to try to induce or even to discuss the matter of your client pleading guilty? Mr. ALCH. Yes, sir. Senator BAKER. When? Mr. ALCH. As reflected in my statement, there were two times. The dates appear in my statement. Senator BAKER. One to plead guilty on one charge of the indictment? Mr. ALCH. And become a Government witness. Senator BAKER. And the second time to plead guilty to three or four counts Mr. ALCH. Three, and become a Government witness. Senator BAKER. Were there any other offers? Mr. ALCH. From the Government, no, sir. Senator BAKER. Were there any suggestions of Executive clemency? Mr. ALCH. No, sir. The only other, and I do not want to characterize it as an offer. It was not an offer. But as a result of a meeting in chambers with Chief Judge Sirica during the trial, I came out and advised my client that it was not too late to go before the grand jury.
Testimony of Gerald Alch - Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee Hearings on Presidential Campaign Activities, May 24, 1973
Senator BAKER. Mr. Alch, you have previously stated that the way you practice law, the decision on whether to plead innocent or guilty is too important for you to decide; it must be left to your client. I admire your rectitude in that respect, but I doubt your judgment. And I really wonder, and I put this to you in a very blunt and in a very, very cruel way, I really wonder if there is not a balancing judgment to be made in the minds of the expert retained as counsel to advice him on the trial of his rights, on the one hand the likelihood of prosecution and conviction, and on the other hand, advantages of pleading guilty on one or four counts of the indictment. Mr. ALCH. Senator, I was not moot on that point at all. My discussion - in my discussions with Mr. McCord, as we were talking about the defense which we ultimately used, I pointed out to him that, No. 1, it was the only possible legally recognizable defense I could think of; and also told him that in my opinion, the chances of success were less than 50-50. Senator BAKER. All right. At that point, what was Mr. McCord s reply? Mr. ALCH. "I want to go to trial on that defense." Senator BAKER. On that defense? Mr. ALCH. On that defense.
Testimony of Gerald Alch - Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee Hearings on Presidential Campaign Activities, May 24, 1973
Senator BAKER. When did he then bring up the matter of his contrived wiretap, I mean conversations with embassies, that he suspected or knew of wiretaps? Was it before or after your conversations with him about the possibility of pleading guilty either to one or four counts of the multiple count indictment? Mr. ALCH. I am not sure. Senator BAKER. All right, skip that. Tell me what your reaction was when Mr. McCord told you of the two embassy phone calls. Mr. ALCH. I asked him what the phone calls were about. He told me they were phone calls relative to the case, no more. Senator BAKER. Did he tell you that he suspected they were tapped? Mr. ALCH . He did. Senator BAKER. Did you ask him how he knew that? Mr. ALCH. I did. Senator BAKER. What did he say? Mr. ALCH. "I know they are." Senator BAKER. I know they are? Mr. ALCH. Yes, sir. Senator BAKER. Did you ask him anything else? Mr. ALCH. I asked him, how do you know? He said there was a similar situation in the Ellsberg case. Senator BAKER. When was the Ellsberg case tried and dismissed? That was a long time after this? Mr. ALCH. No; he gave me a memorandum. I think it is one of the papers I submitted to the committee in which he cited the Ellsberg case. Senator BAKER. When was that? Do you have - Mr. ALCH. I do not have a copy with me, but it is one of the documents I submitted. Senator BAKER. Mr. Counsel, do you have that?
Testimony of Gerald Alch - Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee Hearings on Presidential Campaign Activities, May 24, 1973
Senator BAKER. Now, you are a lawyer. You are a member of the bar of the District of Columbia? Mr. ALCH. No, sir. Senator BAKER. Of the State of Massachusetts? Mr. ACH. Yes, sir. Senator BAKER. Do you understand your obligations as an officer of the court? Mr. ALCH. Of course. Senator BAKER. Did you have the impression that your client was trying to manufacture and contrive a method by which the Government would be required to dismiss this case, notwithstanding his guilt or innocence? Mr. ALCH. No, sir. I did not take this to be a frivolous attempt or action on his part. When he told me that these calls were relative to the case, at my client's instruction, I presented the motion. Senator BAKER. Had he not told you the calls were relative to the case, what would you have done? Would you then have had an ethical dilemma as an attorney? Mr. ALCH. Yes, sir. If I had thought in my own mind that, No. 1, the calls were not made or that, No. 2, they were made for frivolous purposes and of no consequence nor relation to the case, I certainly would have.