Steele takes the stand Friday. We've got to put our heads together to decide what to do. McDougal's attorney Mark Geragos says he is putting Steele on the stand in an attempt to demonstrate the Independent Counsel showed a pattern of indicting individuals who refused to tell the story Starr's prosecutors wanted to hear. Geragos said Steele's testimony will bolster McDougal's case that she refused to testify before a grand jury because McDougal feared being indicted if she told the truth. Steele, who is the final defense witness, is expected to be on the stand all day Friday.
Prosecutors plan to call rebuttal witnesses early next week.
Both sides predict the McDougal case will be in the jury's hands by Wednesday or Thursday of next week. On Wednesday, Claudia Riley, a longtime friend of the McDougals, testified that McDougal's late ex-husband Jim wanted her in 1996 to cooperate with the special prosecutor's investigation of President Bill Clinton. Last November, a jury in California found McDougal not guilty of nine counts of embezzlement and failure to file tax returns, relating to the Mehta's allegations. Riley also told the jury that during that same conference call, Starr's prosecutors offered to recommend that McDougal be placed on probation for her Whitewater convictions. Inc. All Rights Reserved.