Arkansas Judge Calls Mistrial in Case Against Banker Hale

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. —  A judge declared a mistrial Thursday in the state case against Whitewater figure David Hale, saying Hale’s prolonged hospitalization had placed an unreasonable burden on jurors.

Circuit Judge David Bogard scheduled jury selection for a new trial for July 8.

Hale, 56, remained hospitalized, a week after he complained of chest pains about an hour before opening arguments were to start. His attorney said he was scheduled to leave the hospital Monday.

Hale is charged with lying to state insurance regulators about the solvency of a burial-insurance company the state says he owned.

Hale’s lawyer, David Bowden, argued against the mistrial.

Prosecutor Larry Jegley sought the mistrial because one of his witnesses cannot return from Africa to Arkansas until July.

Hale was one of the main witnesses in the 1996 Whitewater trial of then-Gov. Jim Guy Tucker and James and Susan McDougal. All three were convicted.

The McDougals were President Clinton’s business partners.

More recently, Hale has been in the news because of allegations that he was paid by a conservative publisher while cooperating with Whitewater prosecutors.

Hale served 21 months in prison after pleading guilty to fraud in the Whitewater case and was released in March. He argued unsuccessfully that immunity granted in his federal plea agreement should have shielded him from state prosecution.