Jury retires in Watergate defamation trial

The jury has retired in the $5.1m defamation lawsuit against Watergate burglar G Gordon Liddy.

70-year-old talk show host is being sued by Ida "Maxie" Wells, a former secretary for the Democratic National Committee.

Wells claims that Liddy falsely accused him of procuring prostitutes for the DNC in the early 1970s.

Before the jury retired Liddy's attorney accused former White House counsel John Dean of using the case to squash theories that suggest he organized the break-in.

The conventional theory is that the Watergate burglars were sent to DNC headquarters in 1972 to find political intelligence for President Richard Nixon's re-election campaign.

Liddy told jurors he now believes the group was sent to find photos of call girls, including Dean's future wife, Maureen, that were kept in the desk of Ida Wells, then a young DNC secretary.

Wells testified that the only thing in her desk were "office supplies, hand lotion and reports." She is the one who sued Liddy for publicly linking her to the alleged call-girl ring.

Liddy's testimony was his first about the particulars of the botched break-in. He refused to testify during his 1973 trial and was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison. He had served four years and four months when President Jimmy Carter commuted his sentence.

John and Maureen Dean have denied Liddy's call-girl theory, and both sued Liddy and others for libel in 1992. The case against Liddy was dismissed last year, though it can be refiled.

Wells' attorney, David Dorsen, said Liddy's hatred of Dean has blinded him to the truth about his client.