You are right. Iran-contra was so long ago I had to look it up too.
Imagine that you're Clines, then read this:
Elliott Abrams. Pardoned by the President. Had been sentenced to 2 yrs probation and 100 hrs community service.
Alan Fiers, Jr. Pardoned by the President. Had been sentenced to 1 yr probation and 100 hrs community service.
Robert MacFarlane. Pardoned by the President. Had been sentenced to 2 yrs probation, $20,000 in fines, and 200 hrs community service.
Clair George. Pardoned by the President. Convicted on 2 counts, pardoned before sentencing. Maximum penalty for each count was 5 yrs in prison and $250,000 in fines.
Duane Clarridge. Pardoned by the President. Charged with 7 counts, pardoned before trial. Maximum penalty for each count was 5 yrs in prison and $250,000 in fines.
Caspar Weinberger. Pardoned by the President. Charged with 4 counts, pardoned before trial. Maximum penalty for each count was 5 yrs in prison and $250,000 in fines.
John Poindexter. Conviction vacated on legal technicality - possible effect of immunized Congressional testimony on trial witnesses. Poindexter had been sentenced to 6 months in prison on each of 5 counts, to be served concurrently. Indep Counsel declined to prosecute a 2nd time.
Oliver North. Conviction vacated on legal technicality - possible effect of immunized Congressional testimony on trial witnesses. North had been sentenced to a 3-yr suspended prison term, 2 yrs probation, $150,000 in fines, and 1,200 hrs community service. Indep Counsel declined to prosecute a 2nd time.
Joseph Fernandez. Case dismissed due to the G.H.W. Bush administration's decision not to declassify material needed for the trial.
Richard Secord. 2 yrs probation.
Carl Channell. 2 yrs probation.
Albert Hakim. 2 yrs probation, $5,000 in fines.
Richard Miller. 2 yrs probation, 120 hrs community service.
Thomas Clines. 16 months in prison, $40,000 in fines, plus the cost of his prosecution.
These are all 14 people indicted for Iran-contra related crimes, together with the disposition of their cases, from the Summary of Prosecutions in Indep Counsel Walsh's report. All the pardons were issued by Pres. G.H.W. Bush in 1992, less than a month before he left office.
wow. This Clines must have been rankled up at the way he was treated. He would have felt he was abandoned by his fellow cabalists and left out to dry by the first Pres Bush. Everybody was well taken care of but him.
He was ruined, but the others were not. Many of them have even since held high posts of trust in govt and business.