From: CNN
In: Santa Monica, Calif.
Posted 8-20-97

Subject: Pretrial Hearing Set In McDougal Embezzlement Case

A judge today set a Sept. 10 pretrial hearing for Whitewater figure Susan McDougal, who faces charges she embezzled $150,000 from conductor Zubin Mehta and his wife when she worked for them as an assistant. No trial date has been set.

McDougal is in custody in a federal detention facility in Los Angeles for a Sept. 9, 1996, civil contempt citation relating to her refusal to testify before a grand jury looking into the Whitewater affair.

Attorneys are expected to discuss any remaining motions and discovery issues at the Sept. 10 hearing. The judge said a trial date would be set within 60 days of that hearing.

Mark Geragos, McDougal's attorney, says jury selection could tentatively begin Nov. 10.

McDougal was held in a federal detention facility in Carswell, Texas until November 1996 when she was transferred to Los Angeles to face the embezzlement charges. After complaining about conditions in a county jail, she was recently moved to the federal facility.