Jones' Lawyers Willing To Delay Trial
Judge threatens lawyers with contempt for releasing documents; former Miss America confirms sexual relationship with Clinton
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AllPolitics, March 31) -- Lawyers for Paula Jones have asked for a possible delay in her lawsuit against President Bill Clinton, if an appeals court would allow evidence gathered on former White House intern Monica Lewinsky to be admitted to the case.
Meanwhile, the judge presiding over the case Tuesday threatened attorneys on both sides with contempt for prematurely releasing documents and for identifying women alleged to have been involved in sexual encounters with the president.
In written arguments filed with the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis Tuesday, Jones' team renewed its fight to keep information related to the Lewinsky investigation, arguing that the trial judge went too far in ruling out the evidence.
Judge Susan Webber Wright in January removed all material related to the investigation of Clinton's relationship with Lewinsky, ruling it "nonessential" to the Jones case.
In seeking reversal of Wright's order, Jones' lawyers wrote, "The district court sacrificed vital evidence on the altar of unverified presidential convenience.
"In short, to appease Mr. Clinton individually as a politician, the district court unjustifiably terminated the Lewinsky discovery to preserve the scheduled trial date," the legal brief argued.
Jones, a former Arkansas state employee, claims then-Gov. Clinton asked her for oral sex in a Little Rock hotel in 1991. She also claims she suffered a hostile work environment as a result of rebuffing his proposition. Clinton has denied any wrongdoing.
Acknowledging that making Lewinsky evidence public in the civil trial could hurt Independent Counsel Ken Starr's secret grand jury proceedings, the lawyers for Jones offered to postpone their case. The attorneys asked that "the trial not be scheduled" until Jones' lawyers could complete gathering the Lewinsky evidence.
It was the Jones lawsuit that led to public allegations that the president had an affair with Lewinsky and asked her to lie about it in sworn testimony in the Jones case. Lewinsky denied the affair in that affidavit. Clinton has also denied any sexual relationship.
The Jones lawsuit also unearthed an allegation that in 1983 then-Gov. Clinton forced himself on a former Miss America. In an interview with the New York Daily News published Tuesday, Elizabeth Ward Gracen rebutted the charge.
Gracen, 37, said she did have sex with Clinton, but it was consensual. A former Miss Arkansas who became Miss America in 1982, Gracen had previously denied any sexual relationship with the president.
In a related development, a report in Tuesday's Chicago Sun-Times says conservative fund-raiser Peter Smith spent $80,000 to publicize sexual misconduct charges against Clinton. Included in the sum were two payments made to two Arkansas state troopers.
Smith said he was driven by a desire to help President George Bush win a second term and his effort was not part of any right-wing conspiracy against Clinton.
Judge threatens lawyer with contempt
The Jones' team appeal is the latest move in the increasingly high-stakes legal maneuvering before the May 27 Jones trial date.
But a clearly irritated Wright issued Tuesday a two-page order in Little Rock, Ark., warning lawyers on both sides she "cannot ignore the fact that the parties have filed a number of contentious pleadings and have perhaps engaged in activities in violation of court orders."
Judge Wright vowed, "Any lawyer or litigant found to be in contempt ... will be subject to the full range of sanctions available to the court".
In her order, Wright appeared particularly annoyed by a motion, filed Saturday by Jones' lawyers, that she has still not received.
That motion, which has been widely reported for three days, accused the president of obstructing justice in the release of papers regarding Kathleen Willey. The motion also included the identity of a woman whom Jones' lawyers claim was allegedly sexually assaulted by Clinton more than 20 years ago.
The court filing sat in a Pine Bluff, Ark., drop box until Monday morning, when it was collected by a court deputy and mailed to Little Rock. At noon Tuesday the court in Little Rock had still not seen the motion.
Meanwhile, Wright had received a responding motion filed with the court late Monday by Clinton attorney Bob Bennett. In that response, Clinton's lawyer asked for a contempt citation against the Jones lawyers for violating her previous gag orders.
On Tuesday Wright warned, "For reasons previously stated to counsel, no party should make public any pleading -- past, present, or future -- which reveals the identify of any 'Jane Doe.'"
There was also some tension among Jones' lawyers over the weekend filing. In a statement, the conservative Rutherford Institute, which is paying Jones' legal bills, said its lawyers had not been consulted beforehand.
Had that happened, "they would have
advised that revealing" the name of the woman "was and is
inappropriate," the institute said.
The judge described herself as "on the verge of ruling" on the motions by the president's lawyers to dismiss Paula Jones' charges.
CNN's Bob Franken and Terry Frieden and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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