Prosecutors in the sports bribery trial of...

Prosecutors in the sports bribery trial of college basketball star John (Hot Rod) Williams said in New Orleans that Williams could never be tried again on charges that he planned to fix three Tulane University basketball games if the mistrial order signed by a judge is allowed to stand.

The prosecutors filed a motion asking Criminal District Judge Alvin V. Oser to soften the language of his mistrial order so the state could try Williams again on two counts of sports bribery and three counts of conspiracy to commit sports bribery.

In his mistrial order, Oser said that the state had intentionally goaded Williams’ lawyers into asking for a mistrial, but the language of Oser’s order follows that of a Supreme Court ruling that says, according to the prosecutors, that if a defendant is provoked into asking for a mistrial, he may never again be tried on the same charges.

Oser set a hearing for next Friday to decide if he will modify his order.