The Nation - News from Sept. 21, 1988

Lawrence E. Walsh, independent counsel in the Iran-Contra case, filed a motion in U.S. District Court in Washington to dismiss a five-count indictment against Joseph F. Fernandez, the former CIA station chief in Costa Rica, because four of the alleged offenses occurred in Virginia, not in the nation’s capital. Walsh would then bring the case in another court. Fernandez refused Friday to waive his right to be tried in Virginia. Fernandez, 51, was indicted June 20 on charges he participated in an illegal conspiracy to arm the Nicaraguan rebels and that he lied about the operation and his role to his CIA superiors and to a presidential commission. Fernandez was questioned at CIA headquarters in Langley, Va.