DEFENSE, PROSECUTION IN LETELIER TRIAL FINISH PRESENTATIONS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000403680030-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 22, 2010
• Sequence Number: 30
• Publication Date: May 28, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000403680030-9
ARTICLE APPEARED
ON PAGE
THE WASHINGTON POST
28 May 1981
ution
prosec
h. I Letelier i nal
. -Proseons
By Laura A. Kiernair:t,;.._
The retrial of two anti-Castro Cubans accused of
i iurder in: the X976 assassination ' of Orlando Lete-
Bier=' drew to a close in U.S. District:COuit yesterday
;`'prosecution and defense lawyers, focused' their
.final arguments .on Michael Vernon;=Townley, the .
key, government witness who testified ;that he orgy-. the plot to kill Letelier
:Assistant U.S.' Attorney E Lawrence Barcella Jr. .
told the jury that telephone and travel records, anaddress book, letters, receipts, other "documents and
components to explode a bomb, all of which were
obtained by federal investigators- irn 'the case, sup-.
port Townley's testimony that he. recruited the Cu-
Sams to help him carryout the. murder .on orders
fi'oin the Chilean secret; police, ."bnce. known as
..'Defense lawyers Paul Goldbe ger 'and Lawrence
A.-? Dubin ' described Townley, an,American-born,.
t)INA agent, as a ? polished liar who,: still acting on
orders from DINA, cooperated with US.' prosecutors.
tinly after he was instructed by Chilean officials to.
triplicate the 'Cubans.' The . defense` contends the'
assassination -was carried out by Townley, DINA
and Chile alone.
Letelier, a former Chilean ambassador was a vig-.
pious, outspoken, opponent of the military regime of"
augusto Pinochet,"which -took over the Chilean gov
vrnment during `.a bloody coup in' 1973. Townley
testified that Chilean military officers told him Le-
telier had to be killed and ordered him to have the -
Cubans carry- out the plot to insulate the-Pinochet
government from any culpability.,
`'Townley, who was expelled from ' Chile in .1978
end turned over to U.S. prosecutors, has pleaded
guilty to conspiracy to murder a foreign official and
is-serving' a sentence of 3 t/z to 10 years. -
Leteli er and an associate, Ronni Karpen Moffitt,
were killed -on Sept. 21, 1976, when a bomb explod-
gdumder Letelier's car as it rounded Sheridan Circle
on-Embassy Row. The two defendants, -.Guillermo
Novo Sampol and Alvin Ross Diaz, were charged .
with murdee'.and conspiracy along with-two other-
Cubans, both-of whom are fugitives. Novo'and Ross
were convicted 'of murder and conspiracy charges in
1979, . but they. were granted a new trial on appeal
Three Chileanmilitary men, including Juan Manuel
ContrerasrSepulvada, once the head of DINA, also
were indicted in the murders, but the Chilean courts
"refused td extradite them
--The prosecution contends that Chilean officials,
under intense pressure from the United States. in
connection with-the- Letelier case, told Townley to
tell the truth-about the killings.
.- But defense attorney Dubin told the jury of eight
women and -four men that the prosecution "needed
some bodies" to try. Townley, whose wife and chil-
dren still live in Chile, went along with the. ground
rules set up by the Chilean government so that he
could assure his return to his family and way of life
-there, Dubin said.
The jury is expected to begin deliberations today.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000403680030-9