No Person Above the Law by Cynthia Cooper

Author:Cynthia Cooper
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mentoris Project

12

A LETTER TO THE JUDGE

One night in February, unable to sleep, Judge Sirica gets up at 3 a.m. Coco barely lifts an eye to see him moving toward his desk.

“One thing they should know,” he tells Coco. “I am not a damn fool.”

The judge starts flipping through the federal code. A judge in another jurisdiction has mentioned “conditional sentencing” or “provisional sentencing,” and the judge is certain he once used it in a narcotics case. Provisional sentencing would allow him to give a temporary sentence and then review it later, in the meantime putting the defendants on notice that he will take into consideration what cooperation they provide.

“That might break out some truth,” he tells Coco.

If he makes this part of his sentencing approach, perhaps the defendants will give answers in court or before the Senate committee now looking into the Watergate incident. Since the end of the trial, Congress, the media, and the public have all taken a deep interest in Watergate.

The Monday after the trial ended, Senator Sam Ervin had introduced a resolution to fund a committee to investigate the Watergate affair, officially known as the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities. One thing it will need: witnesses who will talk honestly. The prosecutors, prodded by Judge Sirica, have also indicated that the grand jury will continue to look at Watergate.

Of course, tough sentences are nothing new in Judge Sirica’s court, and that reputation might come in handy in this case. Harsh sentencing fits his reputation as “Maximum John.” He’s hard on convicted criminals, no doubt about it, but he’s the same across the board. White-collar criminals get the same treatment as everyone else; in fact, the judge thinks that people who have the advantage of a college education and a position of responsibility bear a special burden when it comes to following the law. President Nixon may have used “law and order” as a campaign slogan, but Judge Sirica lives it every day.

The judge puts a plan in motion. In every case, the probation department completes a pre-sentencing report on convicted criminals. The judge decides to send special questions to the probation officer who will be interviewing the burglary trial defendants. He wants the probation officer to ask “Who sent the burglars into Watergate?” “What was the motivation?” “What was the intention?”

Back in his second-floor chambers at the courthouse, Judge Sirica has his secretary type up the questions and asks part-time law clerk Richard Azzaro to deliver them to the probation department—it’s in the same building, so it’s merely a stroll down the hallway.

Probation officer James D. Morgan runs through Sirica’s questions and begins asking them of each Watergate defendant. When James McCord comes in, he’s dressed in a jacket and tie as usual. He’s prepared to answer questions about his career, his family, his disabled daughter who needs special care, his two other children, his church activities, his community work.

Morgan opens his folder. “I have some questions which may go toward mitigating circumstances that the

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