Sue Hartigan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Whitewater convict Susan McDougal,
imprisoned for 20 months, should be freed because she has done
more
time than her co-defendants and may have her conviction
overturned, her
lawyer said Wednesday.
In court papers, lawyer Mark Geragos asked a federal judge to
reduce
Mrs. McDougal's two-year prison sentence to probation.
``Susan has done more time than anybody connected with this
investigation,'' he said. ``It makes sense to re-sentence her
and let her out
at this point.''
His motion argued that Mrs. McDougal deserves leniency because
of
recent reports that Whitewater prosecutors knew a key witness
against
her received payments from a conservative publisher.
``The allegations, if true, would undoubtedly lead to the
overturning of
her conviction,'' Geragos said.
Geragos also argued that Mrs. McDougal, 43, deserved a break
because of failing health and the ``barbarous conditions'' she
endured for
seven months in a Los Angeles County jail.
He said she was kept in leg and arm shackles while visiting
with her
attorneys, chained to a toilet for hours and housed with
convicted
murderers and molesters.
Mrs. McDougal was sentenced in 1996 to two years in prison for
fraud
relating to an illegal $300,000 loan she received. She began
serving that
sentence in March after completing an 18-month civil contempt
term for
refusing to talk to the Whitewater grand jury.
She has served more time than her ex-husband James McDougal,
who
died after less than a year in prison, and former Gov. Jim Guy
Tucker,
who was sentenced to home detention. All three were convicted
in the
same trial.
On Monday, Mrs. McDougal was indicted on an obstruction of
justice
charge and two criminal contempt counts for refusing to talk
to grand
jurors about the 1980s business dealings of President Clinton
and the first
lady.
The criminal contempt charges carry an open-ended prison term
set by a
federal judge. Obstruction of justice carries a maximum
10-year prison
term.
Debbie Gershman, a spokeswoman for Whitewater prosecutor
Kenneth
Starr, said prosecutors had not seen a copy of Geragos'
motion.
``We will be responding by pleading in court,'' she 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
