Sports Bribery Mistrial Declared, New Date Set

Defense lawyers, who earlier refused to ask for a mistrial for former Tulane basketball star John (Hot Rod) Williams, changed their minds Thursday, asked for a mistrial and got it.

Judge Alvin Oser scheduled a new trial on sports bribery charges against Williams to start Sept. 9.

Assistant District Attorney Bruce Whittaker said he would appeal the mistrial order.

Defense lawyer Michael Green, who lost a bid to have charges against Williams dismissed Thursday morning, said he asked for the mistrial because of repeated violations of court orders by the prosecution and the possible effects of a long recess on the jury.

Oser had ordered prosecutors several times to turn over to him for inspection all evidence, statements, transcripts and the like, so he could determine whether they contained anything that might help prove Williams innocent.

Williams, 24, is charged with three counts of sports bribery and two counts of taking bribes to shave points while he was playing at Tulane last season. He faces a maximum sentence of 17 years in prison and $35,000 in fines if convicted on all five counts.

Green said Thursday that in the preceding 24 hours he had come into possession of a picture of star prosecution witness Gary Kranz posing with a mound of cocaine.

During that same time, he said, he learned of the existence of tape recordings that could contain conflicting statements by other prosecution witnesses.

“The withholding of crucial pieces of evidence has caused my client to be deprived of his right to a fair trial,” Green said.

“It hurts me to say that the office of any prosecutor would take a course of action that would force me to ask for a mistrial,” he said.

Green asked Wednesday that Oser dismiss all charges against Williams because of dirty tricks by prosecutors, but Oser declined to do that Thursday morning.

Tuesday, Oser ordered a mistrial from the bench because of the prosecutor’s misconduct, but he revoked that order before the day’s session ended.

Thursday, Whittaker objected to a mistrial, saying, “That evidence does nothing to prove Williams innocent.”