John Wesley Dean III   (born October 14, 1938) is an American former attorney who served as   White House Counsel   for U.S. President   Richard Nixon   from July 1970 until April 1973. Dean is known for his role in the cover-up of the   Watergate scandal   and his subsequent testimony to Congress as a witness. His guilty plea to a single   felony   in exchange for becoming a key witness for the prosecution ultimately resulted in a reduced sentence, which he served at   Fort Holabird   outside   Baltimore , Maryland. After his plea, he was   disbarred . Shortly after the  Watergate hearings , Dean wrote about his experiences in a series of books and toured the United States to lecture. He later became a commentator on contemporary politics, a book author, and a columnist for FindLaw's  Writ . Dean had originally been a proponent of  Goldwater conservatism , but he later became a critic of the  Re...