News Scrapbook 1984

San Diego, CA ISon Diego Co.) San Diego Union ICir. D. 217,3241 !Cir. S. 339,7881

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\V,atergate hero still pursues justice ~y Rivi~lor Between teaching a criminal pro- which were patterned after the "Things get bad," he said, "when S ta rr Vmter cedure class at USD, working on eth- Watergate probe. there's a gap between the people and With more than a trace of deja vu, ics problems for the American Bar He could not help but note the sim- the people who are supposed to Samuel Dash was savoring the elec- Association and preparing a case for ilanlles between Romero Barcelo's govern them, when the J)<'Ople who lion returns from Puerto Rico. the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, downfall and Richard Nixon's. govern begin to think that they have Da h, on the UQ!_versity ?f San Dash has spent the last few months "In Watergate," Dash said, "the the power separate from the people Diego law school faculty lh1s semes- advising the Puerto Rican Senate on public in the millions responded to and that the government belongs to -tt'r as a vts1tmg profe~sor, was how to conduct an investigation into the hearings by their telegrams and them. beaming in his cluttered office next alleged corruption by Puerto Rico's letters to the White House and Con- "That happened in Mr. Nixon's ad- to the law library stacks as he dis- Gov. Carlos Romero Barcelo. gress. ministration. He really believed he played a recent front page from a On Nov. 6 - three days after the "It was only through this response owned the government - that the Puerto Rican newspaper. newspaper article - the cilizens of that Congress had the guts to initiate Justice Department, the CIA and the A photograph of Dash took up half Puerto Rico turned out the governor the impeachment process or the spe- FBI belonged to him and he could of the page of the tabloid, and the of the commonwealth. cial prosecutor could ultimately use them as devices to go against his banner headline read: "Investigador The vote followed the Puerto prosecute these people. It took the enemies." de Watergate crit1ca a Romero y al Rican Senate's invesligation and tel- knowledge of the people in power "When the people are fully in- FBI ' evised public hearings on an alleged that the people who voted for them formed and really know what hap-

pens," Dash said, "they have this sense of outrage and they'll respond to it and act as participating citizens. "Vigilance is the only thing that is going to keep us a democracy and that vigilance can only be uaran-

knew what was going on and wanted proper law enforcement." Dash, 59, who speaks with an in- ten.~e ardor in dLScussing the Consti- tution and the Bill of Rights, said an informed electorate and an account- able, responsible government are es- sential to a participatory democracy.

cover-up by Romero Barcelo's ad- ministration mvolving the slaying of three young Puerto Ricans by police. "They impeached the governor by the election process," Dash said, not- ing a direct relation between the election returns and the Senate's in- vestigalion and televised hearings,

The proud smile evidenced that propelled to national fame 11 years earlier by bts role of chief counsel to the U.S. Senate Watergate Da h - hgbt. He continues to take pride in having a role m making the system of laws ma democratic society work. Committee - still relishes the spot-

S m D h of W ter

probe fame: a visiting professor.

age B-8

See DASH on

.Ja h: ~Watergate protago . ist still pursues justice Continued rrom B-1 t person to ever bead a large city's defense attorney for about five years ever m .. ~kmg_ time off occasion- our system of Jaw 1s the concept the "most noble work done by the d af th r an inform d public" • • • Prosecutl·on agency. before the Ford Foundation tapped ally for VISltmg stints_ at schools_ su_ch which places legal protection above law" is on the side of the defense. Under Pennsylvama Jaw, a distnct him again. . ~s USD _and cond~chng legal mqu1r- the emotions of the community. We ''Ifs the defense lawyer who really attorney vacancy is filled by the trial This time it was to direct the Phil- 1es and_ mve!lt1gations mto such con- have freedom as a society because protect.,; our basic rights," be said.

Th1rty-lo11r years ago, Sam Dash h<·c m a lawyer. Just about ever mce, he ha. been at or near th fore- front of legal · ues m the criminal JU. lice ystem, both h re and abro d, Th N w J y nativ graduated with honor from Harvard Law hool m 1950 and then took a teach- mg position with Northwestern Uni• ver 1ty School of Law. Concurrently he undertook his first joh of inve -ti- ativ work: an undercorer look at Chicago's municipal Judges for the Chicago Crime Commission. "I went to the mumcipal judges and told then I was a new young law teach r and I was going to teach cr1mmal law and I didn't know any- thin about it," Dash recalls, "I a ked them if I could sit up clos to them and learn from them There wa nothing they would like more than teachmg a law teacher So they !el me 1t up clo e a d appar• ntly m e they thought I was naive and didn't know, they did everything m front of me " The r ult was a w eview arti• cle that drsclosed corruption on the Chicago bench called '·Cracks in the I-'oundation of Criminal Justice.'' Da h left the Northwestern teach- mg post to JOm the U.S. Justice De- partment as a trial attorney m the appellate tion, but he wasn't there long before he got ''a call out of the blue" from the new reform-mmded di trict attorney of Philadelphia, Richard on Dilworth. The Harvard law dean had commended Da h to him Dilworth a ked Da h - Just two years out of law school - to become chief f the appeals division in the Philad pbia district attorney's office. Alter a year, Dilworth promoted Dash to first a ·istant d1stnct attor- ney. When Dilworth resigned to run for mayor in 1954, Dash, then 29, be- cam d1 trict attorney - the young-

"He's the first guardian of tho e

we not only respect the rule of law and hold it sacred but we have set up in our constitutional system and Jaws protecting our Constitution a higher value for that than, say, convicting To him t e protections guaranteed in the Bill of Rights are essential to maintaining basic freedoms in this "I have no compassion for the criminal," he said. "Nevertheless, I haven't figured out a way to take away a criminal's Fourth Amend- .ible searches and seizures, Fifth Amendment's right against self-in- crimination and Sixth Amendment right to counsel - and not take them away from myself and from all the the guilty.'· country.

trovers1es as Watergate. Even before Watergate, Dash was asked to conouct inquiries_ in Nort_h- ern Ireland and observe trials of dis- sidents in tbe Soviet Union for the International League of Human You know, I did do tbmgs before Watergate," Dash observed in a re- R1~. ts. . .

adelphia Council for Community Ad- vancement - an early poverty pro- gram that was designed to "do some- thing for the left-out people of the ghettos." Among other things, Dash coordinated school and legal aid pro- grams with the mayor's office, city agencies and public welfare agen- Later, the Ford Foundation asked him to survey law schools in the Da b concluded that Jaw school scholarship was rather limited and what was Jacking was a center de- the legal system a tu lly worked. With tbe Ford Foundation putting up a $1 million grant, Georgetown University Law Center was interest- ed, and Dash was recruited to estab- I h he Institute of Crir.1inal Law edure al Georgetown. He has been a law profe or t ere cies. country. voted to empirical and P

judges of the city. Dash was the unanimous choice of the Court of After serving two years, Da h said he was approached by the Democrat- ic Party boss in Philadelphia and of- fered party support m the upcoming election if be would run the office the way the party wanted him to. Dash said he declined the offer and left the office in 1956 He joined a civJI law firm in Phila- delphia, but found he didn't enjoy the practice. When the Ford Foundation asked him to undertake a national study on wiretapping, Dash readily accepted after securing a leave of absence from the law finn. After two years of research, Dash wrote "The Eavesdroppers" - with 441 pages, the first exha1Stive report on wiretapping. He said it has influ- enced enactment of Jaw and court decisions on the object. Rather than return to the civil law firm, he decided to practice criminal law. He and another former prosecu- tor became partners m firm that spe- cialized in criminal ca "I wasn't as excited about repre- senting clients whose only problems were whether they were going to make more money or not," sh said. "I could do that, but ii didn't turn me on. "I remember when I came back time to time to the (civil) firm during my wiretap investigation, they asked me to speak about what I was doing, Afterward the semor partner would come up to me and sa;· • how come when you work on our clients' business your eyes don't lig t up as they do when you're talking about the wiretap investigation?' "I said, 'Maybe that tells us something.' " • • • Dash practiced criminal law as a Common Pleas judges.

things.

"Unless we have strong defen lawyers who are willing to stand up for individuals, these rights might only become museum pieces which we go look at on the Fourth of July. eyebrows go up when I say it - a defense lawyer is as much a law enforcement offic r as a prosecutor or a policeman. because he enforces the law of the Bill of Rights." That's the message Dash gave to about 50 members of San Diego's Criminal Defense Lawyers Club the other night at the University Club. that the defense lawyers that m the over- whelming number of case they don't "You're all losers,'' he said, He still received a standing ovatio:-..--:: win 'Td like to think and sometimes Never mind that Da, reminded

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cent interview.

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is proud of his

Although Dash

record as Phildelphia's district attor- ney _ where he had a 99 percent

convic on rate _ and his role in the ment protection against unreason-

search on how Watergate investigation, he most clearly JS identified as a criminal de-

fense attorney.

When he talks about the role of

the Bill of

defense lawyers and

rest of us."

Rights it's easy to understand why. Ask Sam Dash why he wanted to become a lawyer and he'll say: "What has always interested me in

Hence, according to Dash, some of

oceanside, CA (San Diego Co.) Blade Tribune

La Jolla, CA (San Diego Co.) La Jolla Light (Cir. W. 9,293)

(D. 28,548) (S. 29,914)

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._]I/len • p_ c. B r Scenic designs on display LA JOLLA - "Designs for the Stage, " an exhibition of the scenic designs of Ralph Funicello and Richard Seger, is at the Uviv~of San Diego J::Qunders Si,~lle'rK" now thro~h Dec. 21. o<:_ Founders Gallery hours e week- days from noon to 5p.m. and noon to 7 p.m. _on Wednesdays. There is no ad- miss10n. "Designs for the Stage" will be repre_sented by models, renderings, drawrngs and photographs which tra_ce the creative concept from ten- tatt\·e sketches through drafting and painter's elevations to scale working models and photographs of the f1mshed production. For additional information, contact professor Therese Whitcomb 260- 4600, ext. 4261. ' ~

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P. C. B ,. • • George Pflaum- Lyn Hughes ?-tt ~t;"" ,=..

All Hallows Catholic Church was the setting for the marriage Oct. 13 of George Albert POaum Ill and Lyn hancis Hughes. Monsignor~ Patrick Fox, J.B. Eagen and the Rev. William Spr- inger officiated. The bride is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Hughes of La Jolla and the bridegroom is the son of Mrs. Richard Kelly of La Jolla and the late George A. Pflaum Jr. For her wedding the bride wore an Edwardian-styled gown of off-white tissue satin. Lee Ryan attended as her sister's matron of honor and the couple's sisters, Dana Hughes and Jane Pflaum were bndesma1ds, along with Joanne Fletcher and Debra Gurriere. Peter Hopley served as best man . Ushers were the bride's brother, Peter Hughes, and Ted Peterson, John Farr and Peter Atwood. Following a reception at the church hall, the couple honey- mooned in New Mexico. They will live in Pasadena.

Son Diego, CA ISon Diego Co.) San Diego Union ICir. D. 217,32-41 !Cir. S. 339,7881

Jlll~.. ·•

r,,. 1888

P. C. B

Mr. and Mrs. George Pflaum from UCLA where she \\as affiliated with Sigma Kappa mrority. She is employed as a company super- visor m Los Angeles. The bridegroom, a salesman in Los Angeles, graduated from the !Jnivcrsity of San Diego and at tends graduate school at USC. ./.'. The bride graduated

t~/f!or revenge against

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Th~~

ball t am w1 try to stay on the win- n track and exact some revenge Saturday when the Toreros host Azusa Pacific at Torero Stadium at 1:30 p.m Last week, USO won its first game, edgmg UC-Santa Barbara 31-28. The 1-6-1 Tor ros lost 34-7 to Azusa Pa- cific (3-4) two weeks ago. ....--::::

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