Judge Declares Mistrial In Hale Case
Whitewater figure's heart problems derail a trial
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AllPolitics, April 30) -- A judge declared a mistrial Thursday in an insurance-fraud case against Whitewater figure David Hale because he remains in the hospital. Jury selection for a new trial is set to begin July 8.
"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,"
said Pulaski County Circuit Judge David Bogard.
Hale has been hospitalized, complaining of chest pains, for the past week, but is due to be released on Monday. His lawyer, David Bowden, told The Associated Press
said he might try to block the new trial with a claim that
Hale was unconstitutionally being subjected to double jeopardy.
Hale, a key witness in the 1996 Whitewater trial, 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.
In the past month, Hale has been the target of allegations he was paid by a conservative publisher while cooperating with Whitewater prosecutors.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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