Opinion ID: 347528
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Misuse of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA): Count 1

Text: 279 Haldeman next contends that, since the indictment did not specifically allege that misuse of the CIA to interfere with the FBI's investigation was part of the conspiracy charged in Count 1, 252 the jury was improperly instructed that they could consider such misuse to convict for conspiracy. Tr. 12377. This allegedly injected a new charge into the indictment. Haldeman br. at 114. 280 We must disagree with Haldeman's argument that (n)owhere in the Indictment was any defendant in this case charged with any crime pertaining to the Central Intelligence Agency or with any crime committed, in whole or in part, by reason of alleged 'misuse' of the Agency. Haldeman br. at 111. This is simply incorrect. While it is true that the indictment did not use the words misuse of the CIA, it is wrong to say that the conspiracy count did not allege facts that, if proved, would constitute misuse of the CIA. Count 1 (the conspiracy count) of the indictment charged that the defendants unlawfully conspired 281 to obstruct justice in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1503    and to defraud the United States and Agencies and Departments thereof, to wit, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Department of Justice, of the Government's right to have the officials of these Departments and Agencies transact their official business honestly and impartially, free from corruption, fraud, improper and undue influence, dishonesty, unlawful impairment and obstruction, all in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371. Count 1, P 10, J.A. 115-116; and that 282 11. It was a part of the conspiracy that the conspirators would corruptly influence, obstruct and impede, and corruptly endeavor to influence, obstruct and impede, the due administration of justice in connection with the investigation referred to in paragraph three (3) above and in connection with the trial of Criminal Case No. 1827-72 in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, for the purpose of concealing and causing to be concealed the identities of the persons who were responsible for, participated in, and had knowledge of (a) the activities which were the subject of the investigation and trial, and (b) other illegal and improper activities. 283 Count 1, P 11, J.A. 116; 284 13. It was further a part of the conspiracy that the conspirators would, by deceit, craft, trickery and dishonest means, defraud the United States by interfering with and obstructing the lawful governmental functions of the CIA, in that the conspirators would induce the CIA to provide financial assistance to persons who were subjects of the investigation referred to in paragraph (3) above, for the purposes stated in paragraph eleven (11) above. 285 Count 1, P 13, J.A. 117; 286 15.    (g) The conspirators would attempt to obtain CIA financial assistance for persons who were subjects of the investigation   . 287 Count 1, P 15, J.A. 119. 288 The Overt Acts also contained allegations of the attempted misuse of the CIA: 289 7. On or about June 24, 1972, JOHN N. MITCHELL and ROBERT C. MARDIAN met with John W. Dean, III, at 1701 Pennsylvania Avenue in the District of Columbia, at which time MITCHELL and MARDIAN suggested to Dean that the CIA be requested to provide covert funds for the assistance of the persons involved in the Watergate break-in. 290 8. On or about June 26, 1972, JOHN D. EHRLICHMAN met with John W. Dean, III, at the White House in the District of Columbia, at which time EHRLICHMAN approved a suggestion that Dean ask General Vernon A. Walters, Deputy Director of the CIA, whether the CIA could use covert funds to pay the bail and salaries of the persons involved in the Watergate break-in. 291 J.A. 120-121. 292 The unlawful agreement to attempt to use the CIA to interfere with the investigation of the Watergate break-in was thus fairly charged in Count 1 of the indictment as one of the means by which the defendants intended to accomplish one of the principal objects of their conspiracy defrauding the United States of its right to have its officials and agencies transact their business honestly, impartially, and free from corruption or undue influence or obstruction. The indictment was thus sufficient to put the defendants on notice of the charges against them and to enable them to plead an acquittal or conviction in bar of future prosecution of the same offense based on the same CIA evidence. Hamling v. United States, 418 U.S. 87, 117, 94 S.Ct. 2887, 41 L.Ed.2d 590 (1974). The particular means allegedly used were identified. Cf. Russell v. United States, 369 U.S. 749, 764-766, 82 S.Ct. 1038, 8 L.Ed.2d 240 (1962); United States v. Nance, 174 U.S.App.D.C. 472, 533 F.2d 699 (1976). Beyond this, it is not necessary for the indictment to include (t)he particularity of time, place, circumstances, causes, etc., in stating the manner and means of effecting the object of a conspiracy    . Such specificity of detail falls rather within the scope of a bill of particulars    . Glasser v. United States, 315 U.S. 60, 66, 62 S.Ct. 457, 463, 86 L.Ed. 680 (1942). Here, defendants did ask for certain further details in a bill of particulars, 253 and could have requested more information on the alleged means had they desired. 293 Therefore, the trial judge did not commit error in instructing the jury at the close of trial that 294 the second part of the conspiracy statute 254 concerns agreements to defraud the United States or any agency of the Government. The Government charges in Count One that these Defendants also conspired to defraud the United States in three ways: First, by attempting to induce the CIA to provide financial assistance to the Watergate defendants; second, by attempting to get the CIA to interfere with the Watergate investigation being conducted by the FBI; third, by obtaining and attempting to obtain information concerning the investigation from the FBI and the Department of Justice. 295 Tr. 12383 (emphasis added). While the conclusion that the CIA had been misused might not be the only possible one which could be drawn from the totality of the evidence, it was a permissible conclusion from all the evidence relating to that agency that the defendants did unlawfully conspire among themselves to induce the CIA to prevail upon the FBI to restrict its investigation, and to induce the CIA to furnish financial assistance to those involved in the break-in, so that, inter alia, the financing of the Watergate burglars by the Committee for the Reelection of the President, with Mitchell's participation, would be concealed. Such acts clearly constituted part of the means designed to accomplish the alleged object of the unlawful agreement to defraud the Government, and that result was a foreseeable possibility even though its ultimate objective eventually failed. As such, the evidence in question was within the conspiracy charged and its admission, together with the instruction thereon, did not constitute an amendment of the indictment. 296 Nor is the propriety of this particular instruction affected by the failure of the trial judge to define the term misuse of the CIA. This phrase was a reasonably accurate description of the charges in the indictment involving the CIA, and of the evidence in support thereof, which showed that the defendants had attempted to use the CIA to stop the investigation of the Watergate break-in and to use CIA covert funds to assist those guilty of that break-in. The defendants were not charged with a crime of misusing the CIA; rather, the allegations of the conspiracy count accused them, inter alia, of misusing the CIA as a means of accomplishing the crime of defrauding the Government, which was clearly defined by the charge on conspiracy. 255 In this sense, any use of the CIA to accomplish that end would have been misuse. It was thus not necessary for the court to further define misuse in order to sustain the jury's verdict that the defendants were guilty as charged in Count 1.