Hangovers From A Party Line

By Cathy Booth/Miami

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

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.

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.