SEP 1 5 1973
were not only officials in a political,party but were 'also officials in the executive branch
of government."
"Events since the time the
guilty pleas were entered have
demonstrated that the entire
judicial proceedings in. this
matter were tainted by a massive fraud whose intended vicBy Timothy S. Robinson
tims' were the public, the
Washington Post staff Writer
prosecutors and this court,"
FOur Miamians told a fedthe motion said.
eral judge here yesterday they
WATERGATE, From Al • In, addition, the four defendhad entered guilty pleas in the
ants were termed in the moing to elicit new information tion the ones
who' "have suforiginal Watergate • break-in
from them about their motivabecause they felt they were
tion and payment for the fered the most" as a result of
under pressure to do so from
break-in
and bugging at Demo- the break-in. "(They) have had
coconspirator E. Howard Hunt.cr c National Committee their lives shattered due to an
and "high officials of the execunconscionable deception that
utive branch of government."
headquarters.
appeale
d to their patriotism,"
The men told the judge also
Hunt has not sought to withthat they had ilarticipated in
accordi
ng
to the motion.
draw his plea.
the-break-in only because they
The four Miami residents
The motion on behalf of the
had been told it was a legitiwere provisionally sentenced
mate government intelligence • Miamians said their participaby Judge Sirica this March to
operation and had. entered; tion in the break-in was
"the a maximum of
their pleas' of guilty out of
40 years in
product of a. blind and i„gnoconeern for "national secuprison plus $50,000 in fines
rantfloyalty fostered irr *hese
rity."
each.The four men asked that the
defendant's minds by decepHowever, he stressed repeatjudge allow them to withdraw
tions practiced on theni by edly that their
final sentences
their guilty pleas and face a
others who purported to act could-be lighter
jury trial. They had entered
if they coopthe pleas to charges of con-. under color of a higher law."
erated with prosecutors invesspiracy, burglary, illegal wireAccording to yesterday's tigating the Watergate.
tapping and eavesdropping
motions, the defendants
The four men have aided
charges.
thought at the time of their prosecutors, and were exThe guilty pleas "were false
sentencing that they "were en- pected• to be sentenced in
and involuntarily entered ungaged in a clandestine opera- about la month.
der the force and compulsion
tion sponsored 'and approved
of a belief that the necessity
to protea national security in-I b5& a legitimate federal govern- Snit Seeks to Bar
terests precluded them from: ment intelligence agency."
Watergate Hearings
asserting the defenses they
As a result,' they had interThe Nation al 'Citizens :Comhad ..." the request said.
preted Hunt's plea of guilty as niittee
"The pleaS; were premised.
" for Fairness to the
on false assumptions which' a directive to them to plead Presidency filed suit in U.S.
guilty as well, it continued.
had been fostered on them by
District Court here yesterday
others, including codefendant
Since it was later sktown in an attemp
t to halt public
E. Howard Hunt (who pleaded
that the Watergate was hearing
s
by
the
Senate Waterguilty before them) and ulti"pgrely political in n'ature," - gate
mately, high officials in the
Committee.
the defendants were "the vicexecutive branch of .. governThe group said it was filing
tins of a cruel fraud initially the suit
ment," it continued. on behalf Of all of the
The motion was : filed by atperpetrated on them to obtain citizen
s
of the U.S. because
torney Daniel E.,-Schultz on
their participation in the 'ac- the hearing
s "have deliberbehalf of Watergate coconspitivities (and) perpetuated in ately and inequi
rators Bernard L. Barker,
tably disorder to safeguard a g a i-n s t rupted the domest
Frank Sturgis, Eugenio R.
ic tranquilthese defendants disclosing ity of the
Martinez and Virgilio R. GonU-S. by undermining
zales.
what little information they the confide
nce of citizens
U. S. District Chief Judge
did know with respect to the in the integrit
y of the adminisJohn J. Sirica, who presided
engaged."
tration of the Department of group said.
over the trial, has the option of
Their attorney said in the Justice
The group, which is headholding a hearing before actand the (nation's) judiing on the motion. A spokes-' motion that there 'are at least ciary."
quartered in Rhode Island and
man in his office said no decitwo defenses that could be
According to papers filed claims 40,000 members,- also
siogion a hearing had been
raised in his defendants% be- with the suit,
the hearings are' strongly criticized the commitmade yesterday afternoon.
tee's method of operation.
half if they are permitted a often
Sirica reluctantly accepted
repetitive. Various memFor 'example,, witnesses are
activities in which they had bers of the
the pleas of the four defendcommittee often allowed to make statements
ants at the start of the Waterjury trial.
ask the same questiqn of the based. on hearsay that allege
gate trial on Ja. 15 atter tryThe first is that the four Same Witness,
"Often with con criminal acts by others, 'but
,See ''WATERGATE; A5, Col. 1
men were only flowing or- siderable' attenda
the person accused does not
nt theatrics, have
a right to question the
ders and thereforeithere is no so the
cost of obtaining 'in- witness about such charge
s,
"essential element of criminal format
ion through public the group said.
intent."
The senate hearings are
hearings is substantially
Secondly, the defense of en- greater
than if it were gath- scheduled to begin again Sept.
24. The fairness group asked
trapment could be raised because the persons who hired ered by staff ,,interviews or in for an expedited hearing on
the four men "apparently closed sessions," the fairness lits suit.
WXPost
Watergate Burglars
Seek to Shift Pleas