Secord Pleads Not Guilty to 9 Perjury Counts

WASHINGTON —  Retired Maj. Gen. Richard V. Secord pleaded not guilty Monday to nine felony charges that he lied to the congressional Iran-Contra committees when he swore that he did not expect to profit from secret arms sales directed by Oliver L. North.

Secord, 56, who showed no emotion during his brief arraignment, also faces an earlier conspiracy indictment stemming from an independent counsel’s Iran-Contra investigation. Defense lawyer Thomas C. Green persuaded U.S. District Judge Aubrey E. Robinson Jr. to delay the perjury case for 10 days while government and defense lawyers discuss which trial should come first or whether they should be heard together.

Green said he might have to withdraw from the case because “I was privy to and was a party to discussions with Congress” in connection with Secord’s 1987 congressional testimony. Therefore, Green might be called as a witness at the trial, he said.

Partner May Take Over

Green said he would “under those circumstances” withdraw from the case in favor of a partner in his law firm, James E. Sharp, who stood next to Secord as he was arraigned. Prosecutor Reid Weingarten said that “usually the entire firm is dismissed” as the attorney for a defendant when one of the firm’s lawyers becomes a witness in the case. Weingarten said that “we must explore” propriety of the firm of Sharp, Green & Lankford representing Secord.

Secord pleaded not guilty last year to six other criminal charges in an indictment accusing him and three others of illegally diverting more than $14 million in U.S.-Iran arms sale proceeds to the Nicaraguan rebels.

Charged with the former Air Force major general in that 1988 indictment were business partner Albert A. Hakim, former National Security Adviser John M. Poindexter and former National Security Council aide North. Conspiracy and theft charges against North relating to the diversion were dropped before his trial. The former NSC aide was convicted earlier this month of three criminal charges in the Iran-Contra scandal.