The Nation - News from March 27, 1988

Testimony in the Lyndon H. LaRouche Jr. trial in Boston will be halted so a judge can determine whether to impose sanctions on prosecutors for withholding evidence from the defense. U.S. District Judge Robert E. Keeton made the announcement after Assistant U.S. Atty. John Markham conceded that materials he recently surrendered to defense lawyers should have been turned over before the trial began in December. The material concerns a former LaRouche consultant, Ryan Quade Emerson, who the defense contends was used by the FBI to entrap the political extremist, six aides and five LaRouche groups. All are charged with plotting to obstruct a grand jury investigation of alleged credit card and loan fraud during LaRouche’s 1984 presidential campaign. Possible sanctions Keeton can impose vary: from a continuance to allow further defense preparation to dismissal of the case.