◆ SpookStack

of one nationally syndicated columnist that his assistants had been able to view tapes and transcripts that a federal judge had ordered sealed. Had they caused prejudice in any of these cases, such knowing violations of an order of the United States District Court would surely have precipi- tated criminal contempt charges. However, since the colum- nist in question was read by very few of the jurors, and had obviously influenced none of them, the time and effort required by such an investigation and possible prosecutions. would not be justified. Government employees should be aware, however, that to receive something of value from that columnist or from any member of the news media in return for making available to them documents, tapes or testimony sealed by court order, might very well make them guilty not only of contempt but also of violating some of the same sections of the criminal code -- bribery, crimi- nal gratuity and conflict of interest -- that proved: the undoing of the Abscam defendants themselves. 25/ Judge Fullam also seemed to be considerably influenced - by what he assumed to be the adverse consequences of the "coaching" incident involving Senator Williams. See section VI-B-1, supra. His information about that incident was limited, however, to what others had said about it, for he did not then have the benefit of Senator Williams" own testimony. One wonders whether the incident would have carried as much impact in his due process calculus had Judge Fullam then been enlightened by Senator Williams' testimony that he was not influenced by Weinberg's "coaching". 26/ Latin: "in the very act of committing the offense. {lit., in blazing crime, i.e., in the heat of the evil deed]'' The Random House Dictionary of the English. Language, The Unabridged Edition. (1971). - 2 Omer st mene: ey eee TERRE See CAA ERR NRE EHR ERNRARArERN ESA Bre pS Ae temamenver : * TTT teers seen a er ne ee I a .