Denny McLain Is to Be Tried for a Third Time

Former Detroit Tigers pitcher Denny McLain, currently free on bond and working in Fort Wayne, Ind., will be tried for a third time on federal charges of cocaine trafficking and loan sharking, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Tampa, Fla., said Tuesday.

District Judge Elizabeth Kovachevich, who was cited for judicial error in an August ruling that overturned McLain’s 1985 conviction, will hear the Jan. 4 trial in Tampa, Fla.

McLain’s first trial ended in a mistrial.

“I knew it was coming, but it’s a chilling feeling,” McLain said. “I trust and hope to God that we can get this thing resolved before we go to trial. When is enough enough?”

Arnold Levine, McLain’s attorney, said he plans to discuss with prosecutors a plea bargain under which McLain would plead guilty to a gambling charge and be sentenced to the time he has already served. Before his conviction was overturned, McLain served 29 months of a 23-year sentence in the Federal Correctional Institute in Talladega, Ala.

Terry Zitek, chief prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Tampa, said he doesn’t think McLain should go free.

In 1984, McLain was accused of possessing 28 pounds of cocaine with an estimated street value of $3 million, and of conspiring to import 400 pounds of cocaine with an estimated value of more than $90 million.

McLain also is accused of charging interest rates of 150% while working for a Florida-based mortgage lender, and threatening to cut off a nightclub owner’s ears to collect a debt.

McLain, who retired from baseball in 1972, was the last 30-game winner in the major leagues.