Sue Hartigan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Key Whitewater witness David Hale goes on trial
in Arkansas today
after Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas refused to block the state
from pursuing charges of
lying to insurance regulators against him.
Hale goes on trial in Pulaski County Circuit Court in Arkansas on
charges of filing a false or
misleading statement about an insurance company the state said he owned.
Hale argued a plea agreement and immunity granted to him by Whitewater
prosecutors in 1994
should protect him in the state case. He also claimed the case was
political payback by his
opponents for his cooperation with independent counsel Kenneth Starr's
investigation.
Thomas refused Tuesday to intervene to block the state action. A federal
appeals court last week
also refused to block Hale's trial.
Hale provided key testimony that resulted in the conviction of James and
Susan McDougal, the
partners with President Clinton, then governor of Arkansas, and Hillary
Rodham Clinton in the failed
Whitewater real estate development. Also convicted was then-Arkansas
Gov. Jim Guy Tucker.
Starr last week asked Attorney General Janet Reno to work out an
arrangement with his office to
investigate allegations that Hale while cooperating with the
investigation had taken cash and other
benefits from conservative groups seeking to discredit Clinton.
Starr told Reno he has developed several proposed alternatives so a
"complete, thorough and
unbiased investigation" can be conducted, but he did not elaborate on
the proposals.
--
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