The Crack in Ehrlichman's Stonewall

In his charge to the jury, Judge Gesell emphatically supported the prosecution's argument. To conduct an illegal search, he said, a "physical break-in is not essential." All that had to be proved was an intrusion or exploration by governmental agents of an area which one would one would normally expect to be private." One of Ehrlichman's attorney's, Andrew C. Hall, protested that the judge's charge was too favorable to the prosecution. Beyond that, said Hall, Gesell's "facial expressions and demeanor" during the trial had been harmful to the defense. But the tart-tongued jurist replied that there had not been much of a defense. It had been mainly a matter of "dodging around various issues of the case." Given Gesell's charge, the jury had little choice but to find Ehrlichman guilty of conspiracy.

Source: Time Magazine,
July 22, 1974