Jury Gets Deaver Case; Judge Scolds Defense Attorney
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WASHINGTON — A seven-woman, five-man jury began deliberating the perjury case against ex-White House aide Michael K. Deaver today after a federal judge accused the chief defense attorney of violating legal ethics by personally vouching for his client’s integrity in closing arguments.
Attorney Herbert Miller Jr., in closing arguments before the jury Thursday, asked jurors to find Deaver innocent of lying under oath because the prosecution’s case was weak and Deaver is a “fine man. . . . He is not a cheat. He is not a liar. He is an upstanding man.”
U.S. District Judge Thomas P. Jackson instructed the jurors to ignore Miller’s remarks as they began deliberating the fate of the 49-year-old former White House deputy chief of staff, and admonished Miller, saying his action was “contrary to the canon of ethics.”
The jury must decide whether Deaver is a willful liar who traded his friendship with President Reagan for profit as a lobbyist or an honest victim.
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