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TIME: Almanac 1995
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<text id=90TT3092>
<title>
Nov. 19, 1990: Hangovers From A Party Line
</title>
<history>
TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1990
Nov. 19, 1990 The Untouchables
</history>
<article>
<source>Time Magazine</source>
<hdr>
LAW, Page 91
Hangovers from a Party Line
</hdr>
<body>
<p>Was Noriega's Sixth Amendment right to counsel violated?
</p>
<p> Since the U.S. military invaded Panama last December and
brought back General Manuel Noriega for trial in Miami on
drug-trafficking charges, the former dictator has had just one
link to the outside world: a beige telephone sitting on a shelf
outside his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center. The
phone has two little stickers attached, one in Spanish, one in
English, warning him that all calls are monitored. If Noriega
wants to make a call, a guard dials the number and waits for a
reply before handing over the instrument. Only conversations
with Noriega's defense lawyers are deemed immune from
wiretapping, and Noriega must notify authorities in advance of
those conversations. That right to privacy has been judged by
the courts to fall under the protection of the Sixth Amendment,
which guarantees defendants the right to counsel.
</p>
<p> Has Noriega's Sixth Amendment right been violated? Last
week his lawyers were loudly claiming so and seeking to have
Noriega's case dismissed. The action came after the Cable News
Network revealed that it had obtained jailhouse tapes of phone
conversations between the deposed leader and his American
lawyers. CNN aired tidbits of Noriega speaking with a Panamanian
buddy named "Lucho," and another that referred to the CIA,
President Bush and Noriega's legal strategy. Noriega's
flamboyant defender, Frank Rubino, pronounced himself "totally
startled and horrified" at the government's snooping. He said
the taping "without a doubt" violated Noriega's attorney-client
confidentiality.
</p>
<p> Rubino won a 10-day restraining order barring the network
from airing further tapes. CNN appealed the order, then defied
it, broadcasting a conversation between Noriega and a private
investigator on his defense team. On Saturday the Court of
Appeals for the 11th Circuit rejected CNN's appeal of the
restraining order. At the same time, Rubino sought a contempt
ruling against the network.
</p>
<p> The controversy placed an added burden on U.S. Federal
District Judge William Hoeveler, who is supposed to try
Noriega's case in January. Earlier in the week, the judge had
decried his "unfortunate and difficult task of resolving a
conflict between two fundamental constitutional rights," the
right to counsel vs. the "sacrosanct" First Amendment freedom of
the press from prior restraint.
</p>
<p> The U.S. Attorney's office prosecuting Noriega has denied
hearing the CNN tapes or even seeing transcripts. Said Robert S.
Mueller, assistant to the Attorney General: "Public reports that
the government has improperly taped telephone calls between
Noriega and his counsel are false."
</p>
<p> Prison officials say all calls are recorded unless inmates
inform them beforehand of a confidential client-lawyer
conversation. The FBI is investigating the authenticity of the
tapes. Hoeveler, in the meantime, has ordered a U.S. magistrate
to determine if the recordings contained anything that damaged
Noriega's case.
</p>
<p> CNN'S revelations raise yet again the question of whether
Noriega can get a fair trial. Attorney Rubino thinks not: he
plans to file this week for dismissal of the case, citing
violation of Noriega's attorney-client privilege.
</p>
<p>By Cathy Booth/Miami.
</p>
</body>
</article>
</text>