Judge, Citing Iran Arms Sale, Calls for Release of Man in Export Case

ATLANTA — A federal judge, citing the American arms sale to Iran, has recommended the release of a man he sentenced for conspiring to ship weapons to Chile and Iran.

In a Dec. 10 letter to the U.S. Parole Commission in Dallas, U.S. District Judge Robert L. Vining recommended the immediate release of Lemuel L. Stevens III of Marietta, Ga.

“I am extremely concerned about revelations which have recently come to light regarding dealings by the United States government itself with the government of Iran, including the sale of arms to that country,” Vining wrote. “Mr. Stevens was prosecuted for doing little more than what the government was doing at a time that it was prosecuting Mr. Stevens.”

Major Impact Seen

Stevens’ lawyer, Robert Stubbs, predicted that the letter will carry a lot of weight with the commission, which holds a preliminary parole hearing this week.

Stevens, a former arms broker and president of the Marietta, Ga.,-based International Services and Logistics Ltd., pleaded guilty in September, 1985, to two counts of export law violations and is serving a three-year term at the minimum-security federal prison camp in Big Spring, Tex.

He and two Hong Kong businessmen were charged with conspiring to send military aircraft parts to Chile and 21 gyroscopes to Iran. The gyroscopes are used in the navigation systems of F-14 jet fighters.

One of the businessmen, John J. McTavish, was sentenced to five years in prison and is appealing his conviction.

Marietta lawyer Edward C. Stone, who was jury foreman at the McTavish trial, said earlier this month that knowledge of the Administration’s Iranian dealings might have changed the jury’s mind.