NFL Bans Collins for One Year

Two-time Cy Young Award winner Denny McLain has asked that U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Kovachevich step aside because she is prejudiced against him, but federal prosecutors said the move is a ploy to delay his Sept. 7 racketeering retrial.

Kovachevich sentenced McLain to 23 years in prison in 1985 after a jury convicted him of racketeering, conspiracy and extortion involving loan sharking, bookmaking and cocaine dealing. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the conviction in August 1987 in an opinion critical of the judge’s handling of the four-month trial. McLain served 29 months of his sentence at an Alabama federal prison and is free on $200,000 bail.