Aspersions Cast by Defense on Townley Testimony

Aspersions cast by By Kenneth Bredemeier tion because of his strident criticism Werthtartan Part Stiff. Writer of the current Chilean regime of mili- Defense lawyers for three Cubans tary dictator Augusto Pinochet. charged in connection with the 1976 At the same time, the defense at- temptell to cast aspersions on the bombing assassination of former Chi- testimony of the government's key leim ambassador Orlando Letelier be- wintess, Michael Townley, an Ameri gan their effort yesterday to so w can-born DINA agent who has con- seeds of doubt about the prosecu- fessed planting the bomb in Letelier's tiOn' 3 case. car that later exploded along Waso- On the one hand, the defense tried ington's embassy row on the morning to-show that someone other than the of Sept. 21, 1976. Chilean secret police, DINA, might The defense's first witness, Letell- have been motivated to kill Letelier. er's widow, Isabel, told the U.S. Dis- The government has contended that trict Court jury that she and her hus- DINA ordered Letelier's assassina- band had noticed that their mail in THE WASHINGTON POST C 3 Thursday, February 8,1979 Defense on Townley Testimony Washington had been opened before of the three Cubans that he had only Another defense witness, FBI agent they received it. four contacts in the early 1970s with Stuart W. Case, testified that Townley In one Instance, she said that they the CIA in the U.S. and that he never said that the "leg" wires on the blast- received information about a Mary- worked for the agency. According to a ing cap he used to make the bomb land driver's license in an envelope CIA affidavit, one arm of the agency were yellow and purple. A govern- postmarked in the District of Colum- once sought clearance for Townley's ment witness, Jose Barra', said he had bia and that a Metro schedule arrived use in "operational capacity". turned over to the FBI an identical in an envelope postmarked in blasting cap to the one that appar- Rockville Yesterday, Edward W. Cannell III, a Marine stationed at the U.S. Embassy ently was used to make th bomb and At first, Mrs. Letelier testified, she Its leg wires were yellow and orange. thought that DINA was opening their in Santiago in the early 1970s, testi- mail. but then decided that it also fied that he saw Townley attend social Under cross-examination, Case said could be the FBI or the CIA. gatherings on six to eight occasions at that blastng caps made by the same The defense has contended that the Marine House in the Chilean capi- company often have different colored Townley actually was a double agent, tal. leg wires. working for both DINA and the CIA, Cannel! said that the weekly "happy Earlier yesterday, Judge Barrington and that the CIA ordered Letelier's hours" also were frequented by per- D. Parker denied defense lawyers' mo- slaying. sonnel who worked in the U.S. embas- tions to acquit defendants Guillermo Mrs. Leteller, who earlier had testi- sy's top secret POL-R division, an Novo Sampol and Alvin Ross Diz, who fied for the prosecution, said that she acronym that he said stood for "politi- are charged with the Letelier killing. was afraid "of being followed by cal research," and allegedly was the Parker denied a similar motion to DINA" while she was in the U.S. But CIA's office in Santiago. acquit the third defendant, Ignacio she said that she did not think that Cannell conceded under corss-ex- Novo Sampol, on charges that he lied "DINA alone" could have performed aminaton that he had never seen to a grant jury investigating the Lete- the mail-opening operation and that Townley actually talking to anyone lier killing, but reserved judgment on an American agency might have been from the POL-R division at the happy a motion to dismiss a charge that Ig- involved. hours, nor had he seen Townley enter nacio Novo failed to tell U.S. authori- Townley testified earlier in the trial the POL-R offices at the embassy. ties about the Letelier murder. .

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