SANTA MONICA, July 14: After another delay, a judge set a firm date for the embezzlement trial of Whitewater figure Susan McDougal.Mcdougal, accused of embezzling $150,000 while working for famed conductor Zubin Mehta and his wife, Nancy, between 1989 and 1992, must appear in court on July 24, superior court judge Steven Suzukawa said yesterday.
The case has been delayed while Mcdougal served time in prison for contempt after refusing to testify before a grand jury probing allegations of fraud in the Whitewater land deal involving President Bill Clinton and his wife.Mcdougal was not in court on Monday as her attorney Mark Geragos asked for another delay on the basis that prosecutors belatedly turned over 1,000 new documents in the case last week.
Deputy district attorney Jeffrey Semow sought a warrant for her arrest, which Uzukawa denied.
``She is absolutely anxious to get to trial,'' Geragos told reporters. She wants to get this behind her, and I don't blame her.''
Mcdougal has pleaded innocent tocharges including grand theft, check forgery, and fraudulent use of credit cards. She is accused of making unauthorised personal purchases and charging them to her employers.
Geragos said the newly disclosed documents include indications that other members of Mehta's household staff wrote checks on Mehta's account.
Mcdougal was released from an Arkansas prison on June 25 because of medical concerns about her spine. She had served three-and-a-half months of a two-year prison sentence for her 1996 fraud-related convictions in the Whitewater investigation.
Before beginning that sentence, she served 18 months on a civil contempt of court citation for refusing to answer questions before a Whitewater grand jury.
She faces trial on September 28 in federal court in Little Rock, Arkansas, on two contempt counts and an obstruction of justice charge. The charges came after she refused to answer questions about the Clintons, saying that the prosecutors were pursuing a political witch-hunt against the President.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.