Trial Begins Against Whitewater Witness

Whitewater figure David Hale went on trial in Little Rock on a state charge of lying to insurance regulators, despite arguing that he should be immune from prosecution because he cooperated in the Whitewater case. Hale is accused of filing a false or misleading statement with the insurance department about the solvency of a company the state says he owned. The 1996 charge came months after Hale testified in a Whitewater trial against then-Gov. Jim Guy Tucker and President Clinton’s former business partners, Susan and James B. McDougal. All three were convicted.