The ordeal of testifying was finally over for Watergate Conspirator John Dean, who stuck steadily to his story under the often clashing cross-examination of lawyers for the defendants in the Watergate cover-up trial. But the travail had barely begun for Federal Judge John J. Sirica and the 21 lawyers locked in the multisided legal struggle. Already, tempers were turning testy. Frequently, the drama centered more on the extraordinary exchanges among the judge and counsel than on the fate of the five defendants.
With the jury either out of the courtroom or beyond earshot, the judicial colloquy was astonishingly frank. Weary of the angry wrangles between the defense counsel and prosecutors, the blunt Sirica mused at one point: "Maybe I shouldn't say what is on my mind." But he did. Staring sternly at former Attorney General John Mitchell, a defendant, Sirica said of the Nixon aides who had plotted to bug Democratic National Headquarters at meetings in Mitchell's office: "It's too bad that Mr. Mitchell didn't say: 'Throw them out of here. Get them out fast.' If he had," Sirica told Mitchell, "you wouldn't be in this courtroom today."
My Way. John J. Wilson, 73, the garrulous defense attorney for H.R. Haldeman, also drew the fire of Sirica, 70, who had once worked with Wilson when both were assistant U.S. Attorneys in Washington. After one Sirica ruling, Wilson protested: "I always want to be respectful, but I think that's palpably unfair." Sirica slapped the bench with his hand, startling spectators. "Now listen, Mr. Wilson, you know me," Sirica snapped. "You've known me for years. I'm as much interested in getting the truth out as you are." Undaunted, Wilson argued on. Interrupting, Sirica shouted: "We're going to do it my way, not your way!"
An argument also broke out after Dean insisted that he thought "parts were missing" on the tapes of three White House conversations he had held with Nixon and therefore he could not vouch for their accuracy. Wilson wanted to show that Dean's testimony before the Senate Watergate Committee last year did not agree with everything on those three tapes, yet he nevertheless objected at length to Sirica's suggestion that the tapes be played. "Now listen, just a minute," Sirica cut in. "You just stop talking until I get through. You're not going to argue to this jury that this man went up to the Senate committee and say he gave false information when you will not let the tape be played." Earlier, after another counsel protested one of his rulings, Sirica declared more calmly: "If I am in error, I am never in doubt."
Even with the jurors in court, Sirica was outspoken. He advised that he intended to treat the normal rules of evidence with considerable latitude because "what we are trying to get, members of the jury, is the truth of what happened ... the truth—T-R-U-T-H."
Later, as defense counsel kept drawing ready admissions from Dean that he had shredded documents, helped others commit perjury and obstructed justice, Sirica seemed to tire of the repetition.