Page-2-Tuesday, April 11, 1978-The Michigan Daily
CHARGED WITH ILLEGAL WIRETAPS OF RADICALS:
Former FBI Director Gray indicted for bugging
WASHINGTON (AP) - Former FBI
Director L. Patrick Gray and other
former key FBI officials were indicted.
Monday in connection with bureau
wiretappings and breakins.
Attorney General Griffin Bell, an-
nouncing the indictnents at a news con-
ference, said the ;charges arose from
FBI activities earlier in the decate
when the agency was pursuing radical
fugitives.
THE FEDERAL grand jury in
Washington indicted Gray, former
Associate FBI Director W. Mark Felt
and former Assistant Director Edward
Miller on a single charge of conspiring
to violate the rights of citizens.
The charge carries a maximum
penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine
of $10,000.
At the same time, Bell said the
Justice Department has dropped its
prosecution of John Kearney, a former
FBI supervisor in New York, indicted a
year ago in connection with the same
activities.
KEARNEY WAS the first agent in
FBI history to be charged with a felony
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involving official duties.
Bell told reporters that a thorough
review of unlawful FBI activities
during the agency's pursuit of mem-
bers of the Weather Underground
showed that the responsibility lay at the
top and that prosecution of Kearney
could not be justified.
In addition. to the indictments, Bell
also announced that he is taking
disciplinary action - presumably in-
cluding the prospect of dismissal -
against J. Wallace LaPrade, currently
an assistant FBI director of the
Bureau's New York office "for his con-
duct in these matters."
BELL SAID 70 other persons will be
subjected to disciplinary action ranging
from censure to dismissal. Most were
members of the New York unit which
conducted the anti-radical activities
under Kearney's supervision.
Bell issued a written statement
declaring he had "determined that in
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this case the most severe sanction of
criminal prosecution should be brought
to bear at the highest levels of authority
and responsibility at which the eviden-
ce will support prosecution."
Gray was appointed acting director
of the FBI by then-President Richard
Nixon in May 1972 following the death of
J. Edgar Hoover. Gray's nomination as
permanent director was later with-
drawn during the _height of the
Watergate scandal. It was later
disclosed that Gray once destroyed
Watergate documents for a White
House aide.
GRAY, THROUGH his lawyer, said
he "never participated in or knowingly
authorized any illegal conduct." Felt
called the indictments "a tragic
mistake" and Miller's attorney called
the charges "unfortunate."
Felt, reached after Bell's announ-
cement, said he, Gray and Miller had
rejected a Justice Department offer
last week to plead guilty to a
misdemeanor charge. Miller's attorney
confirmed that.
Gray, who was in his law office in
Groton, Conn., when the indictments
were issued, declined comment. But his
lawyer, Allan Baron, later issued a
statement from Gray that said he had
done nothing illegal.
MILLER'S ATTORNEY, Tom Ken-
nelly, said his client "emphatically
denies any wrongdoing and I think
when the smoke clears he will emerge
as a good man who at all times acted in
the best interest of the United States."
In the past, Miller has publicly said
he authorized breakins after receiving
approval from Felt, who in turn, has
said the go-ahead came from Gray.
Previously, Gray has denied through
his attorney that he ever approved any
illegal actions.
Bell said the dropping of the charges
against Kearney, for whom various
organizations had raised more than
$500,000 in defense funds, did not mean
that carrying out orders represents an
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excuse to break the law. "And that will
not be an excuse in the future, but I do
not believe it will be just to prosecute
him for activities which now are not
likely to recur."
Kearney resigned from the FBI in
1972 after 25 years as a special agent
and is now an executive with a private
security firm. He lives in Simsbury,
Conn.
Kearney had been charged with five
counts in connection with FBI break
ins, mail openings and wiretappings
between 1970 and the summer of 1972.
P ot buyerxs
toessed out
of Bursicy
(Continued from Page 1)
Lambert and Michele Pickett could not
be reached for comment.
Freshperson Christine Hurst and
sophomore Jacquelyn Adams also sit
on the Board, but were unaffected by
the Housing Office's action because
they weren't present at the meeting
when the marijuana purchase was ap-
proved. The money for the party came
from Bursley Enterprises, a student
fund supported by the Bursley Store,
pinball machines and movie fees.
DIRECTOR HANSON said the lease
terminations were "a reasonable ac-
tion," but opinion among Bursley
residents was mixed.
"It was a good party," commented a
Bursley freshperson who asked to
remain anonymous. "It is against the
law, but provisions should be made so it
doesn't happen again without ter-
minating the leases."
"It was pretty harsh (the lease ter-
minations)," said junior Tom Studen-
ski, a Bursley resident. "But then again
I don't know what else they could have
done to them."
Sophomore Margaret Siebel, a Bur-
sley resident, said terminating the six
leaves was the Housing Office's only
alternative. "They (Board members)
were pretty stupid to get themselves
involved in that in the first place," she
said.
Another Bursley freshperson, who
asked to remain anonymous, said he
saw nothing wrong in the dope pur-
chase.
"It was just an ordinary party," he
said. "There was booze there, too.
Basically it was what some of the
students wanted."
Lebanon
0
repatriates
refugees
(Continued from Page 1)
to the central sector of the invaded
territory. He said the Lebanese had
held no prior consultations'with Israel
on the resettlement.
tlement.
Tyre, 50 miles south of Beirut and 12
miles north of the Israeli frontier, is the
only. enclave south of the Litani River
held by guerrillas and their Lebanese
Moslem allies. The river, which zigzags
between 12 and 18 miles north of th
Israeli-Lebanese border, marks the
limit of the Israeli advance.
Israel has announced plans to with-
draw its troops from almost one-fourth
of the occupied zone in a two-stage
operation, today and Friday. They are
to be replaced by U.N. troops. U.N.
Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim
reportedly told Prime Minister
Menachem Begin over the weekend
that the United Nations wanted more -
a fast, full pullout.
Waldheim also issued a report Mon-
day in New York, saying the U.N.
peacekeeping force would reach its
authorized strength of 4,000 by the end
of April. The report said the General
Assembly would be asked for $58.7
million - instead of the $68 million
originally estimated - to fipance the
U.N. force.
DISCO
Lessons at
af A Mm
1=1ROORR