Sue Hartigan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: David Hale Trial Declared Mistrial > LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- A judge declared a mistrial > today in the state case against David Hale, saying the > Whitewater figure's prolonged hospital stay was > imposing an unreasonable burden on jurors. > > Pulaski County Circuit Judge David Bogard called the > jurors to court to tell them they were off the case. > Then he set jury selection for a new trial to begin > July 8. > > Hale lawyer David Bowden, who had argued against the > mistrial, said he might try to block the rescheduled > trial with a claim that Hale was unconstitutionally > being subjected to double jeopardy. > > Hale remained at Baptist Medical Center today, a week > after he complained of heart troubles and went to the > hospital about an hour before opening arguments were to > start. > > He is charged with causing a false or misleading > statement to be filed with state insurance regulators > about the solvency of a burial-insurance company the > state says he owned. > > Hale lawyer David Bowden said his client is to be > released from the hospital Monday. But prosecutor Larry > Jegley, who asked for the mistrial, has said one of his > witnesses cannot return from Africa to Arkansas until > July because of business concerns. > > ``It is an imposition to the jury to bring them into a > case like this, to put them off for one week, then to > say come back in two or three months....solely because > of the absence of the defendant,'' the judge said. > > Hale was one of the main witnesses in the 1996 > Whitewater trial of then-Gov. Jim Guy Tucker and > President Clinton's business partners, James and Susan > McDougal. All three were convicted. > > More recently, Hale has been in the news because of > allegations that he was paid by a conservative > publisher while cooperating with Whitewater > prosecutors. > > Hale served 21 months of a 28-month sentence after > pleading guilty to fraud and was released in March. He > remains on three years' probation. He argued > unsuccessfully that immunity granted in his federal > plea agreement should have shielded him from state > prosecution. > > Hale was charged in the state case in July 1996, but > his trial has been delayed because of health reasons > and numerous procedural battles. He had a defibrillator > installed last summer, which doctors say has not > controlled his irregular heart beat during stress, > Bowden said. > > Doctors plan to reprogram the device and have placed > Hale on new, more powerful medicine to control his > heart problems, Bowden said. -- Two rules in life: 1. Don't tell people everything you know. 2. Subscribe/Unsubscribe, email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the body of the message enter: subscribe/unsubscribe law-issues
