ad info

CNN.com
 MAIN PAGE
 WORLD
 ASIANOW
 U.S.
 U.S. LOCAL
 ALLPOLITICS
  TIME
  analysis
  community
 WEATHER
 BUSINESS
 SPORTS
 TECHNOLOGY
 NATURE
 ENTERTAINMENT
 BOOKS
 TRAVEL
 FOOD
 HEALTH
 STYLE
 IN-DEPTH

 custom news
 Headline News brief
 daily almanac
 CNN networks
 on-air transcripts
 news quiz

 CNN WEB SITES:
CNN Websites
 TIME INC. SITES:
 MORE SERVICES:
 video on demand
 video archive
 audio on demand
 news email services
 free email accounts
 desktop headlines
 pointcast
 pagenet

 DISCUSSION:
 message boards
 chat
 feedback

 SITE GUIDES:
 help
 contents
 search

 FASTER ACCESS:
 europe
 japan

 WEB SERVICES:
 TIME on politics Congressional Quarterly CNN/AllPolitics CNN/AllPolitics - Storypage, with TIME and Congressional Quarterly

McDougal jury breaks for weekend

SANTA MONICA, California (AllPolitics, Nov. 20) -- With no verdict after two days of deliberations, jurors in the Susan McDougal embezzlement trial were sent home Friday evening with instructions to return on Monday.

McDougal, 43, is accused of stealing $50,000 from conductor Zubin Mehta and his wife, Nancy, while she worked as their bookkeeper.

Susan McDougal

The jury, composed of nine women and three men, will resume at 9 a.m. PST Monday.

As they deliberated, McDougal read a book, "A Short History of a Small Place," sent to her while she was in jail.

In final arguments Wednesday, the day the case went to the jury, the prosecutor called McDougal a "con woman" who manipulated her employer in order to steal her money.

The defense concluded its closing arguments Tuesday afternoon, contending that Nancy Mehta's testimony against McDougal was unbelievable, and that there is plenty of reasonable doubt to justify an innocent verdict.

No matter the outcome of her embezzlement trial, which is in its 11th week, McDougal will have a three-month break before facing her next trial in Little Rock, Arkansas.

At the request of McDougal's attorney, U.S. District Court Judge George Howard Jr. in Little Rock has rescheduled her criminal contempt trial for February 16. It had been set for November 30. Howard's staff is preparing for a trial lasting up to three weeks.

She faces two counts of criminal contempt and one count of obstruction of justice for refusing to answer questions from prosecutors for Independent Counsel Ken Starr, and from grand jurors.

McDougal has insisted her steadfast refusal to cooperate stems from her belief Starr wants her to lie about then-Gov. Bill Clinton's role in business dealings in Arkansas in the 1980s.


MORE STORIES:

Friday, November 20, 1998

Search CNN/AllPolitics by infoseek
          Enter keyword(s)       go    help


© 1998 Cable News Network, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.
Who we are.