REWALD JURY STARTS ITS DELIBERATIONS; NO QUICK VERDICT SEEN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00494R001100710185-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 26, 2010
• Sequence Number: 185
• Publication Date: October 16, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2010/07/26: CIA-RDP90-00494RO01100710185-4
The Honolulu Advertiser
A-14 Friday, October -id? 196 1'11 ROM1UIu Advert4
Rewaid fury starts its deliberations;
no quick verdict seer
lter Wright
rum ni.rr rr Staff Wrllr?
Amid indications it will take
them at least a few days to
wade through more than 2,600
exhibits and reflect on testi-
mony from 140 witnesses, the
Rewald jury went home last
night after four hours of delib-
erations.
They must consider 98 sepa-
rate charges against 43-year-old
Ronald Ray Rewald, a failed
businessman from Wisconsin,
who after arriving here in 1978
built a flashy financial facade
on other people's money.
Rewald, who once hobnobbed
here on his own polo field with
Air Force generals, Hawaii
politicians, Arab princes, an
Asian sultan, British gentry,
and Philippine millionaires,
could be sentenced to about 500
years in prison if convicted.
Alternate jurors who were
released yesterday appeared far
from unanimous in their assess-
ment of the case. One leaned
toward acquittal, one toward
conviction, one declined to say,
and three others made no com-
ment. '
Their reactions suggested Re-
wald's lawyers succeeded in
planting some seeds of doubt
about the CIA's relationship
with Rewald.
Rewald himself left the
courthouse clearly hoping. to
harvest an acquittal from the
crop of questions in jurors'
minds.
The jury must be unanimous
in any verdict. A' hung jury
would result in a mistrial and a
new trial on the charges.
Two of the alternate jurors
released yesterday said they
didn't think there was much
more in Rewald's CIA connec-
tion than telephone, Telex and
stationery, as admitted to by
the CIA for maintenance of
"light commercial cover."
I don't think there's substan-
tial evidence" that the CIA di-
rected Rewald to spend inves-
tors' money as Rewald? claimed,
said Kerry Moyer, a !Maui golf
club employee. "But I think
there is some CIA involvement,
. possibly a little more" than
what was revealed at trial,
"kind of somewhere in between
what each side was saying."
Moyer said at times he felt
"the whole story wasn't being
presented," but said part of the
reason may have been because
of Judge Harold Tong's rulings
that much of what the defense
wanted to bring in was
irrele-vant. He said Fong was "impar-
tial - you can't really question
his judgment on that. If he
doesn't feel its relevant, you
can't deal with" what's outside
the case.
The key, Moyer said, was
what the law provided: wheth-
er Rewald's claim of CIA au-
thority would excuse him from
taking money from investors.
Another juror, an insurance
claims clerk who asked not to
be identified, said that "to be
honest with you, no," she didn't
think there was much to Re-
wald's CIA connection beyond
the telephone and, Telex bills,
but that she had kept an open
mind and was prepared to
examine the CIA question
closely.
The clerk also said she found
the CIA witnesses to be believ-
able, and the testimony from
investors who lost money con-
vincing.
"I woke this morning,,,- .. and
I sort of made up my mind, but
I would have given myself the
.opportunity to look over the
evidence," she said.
But a Uiir4 alternate, a social
worker; said she had "plenty
questions" about the CIA and
wanted= to "look into the docu-
ments" because she felt "they
wasn't coming out. really, with
the whole thing.'
The soeIel worker said she
didn't believe former CIA
Honolulu office chief Jack
Kindschi and was disappointed
not to see other witnesses testi-
fy, including Rewald himself
and his secretary, Sue Wilson.
The three- alternates indicat=ed they were not particularly
scandalized by the undisputed
allegations that Rewald spent
more than $280,000 on sexual
and social intercourse with
-women.
"Everybody does it," one of
the women alternates said.
The alternates agreed a ver-
dict may be hard to reach. One
said the verdict would come
next week. Another said that
since the prosecution and de-
fense had taken 21h monthd,
there was no reason the jury
shouldn't take as long.
"The others still up there
have got a tough decision," said
Moyer. "If they are going to
look through all that, . . . they
are going to have it tough."
The jury was not allowed to
take notes, nor will it have a
chance to review numerous
charts prepared by both sides.
But it took with it into the jury
room carton after carton of
bank records, CIA documents,
canceled checks and other
pieces of paper that tell the
story, or much of it, of Bishop
Baldwin Rewald _ Dillingham &
Wong.
Approved For Release 2010/07/26: CIA-RDP90-00494RO01100710185-4