For Harding, Different Venue, Different Judges : Jurisprudence: Tonya may wind up in jail. She could lose her eligibility to compete. Or she could skate away from all of the accusations.

After an eighth place finish in the Olympics, Tonya Harding may face even harsher judgment back home.

Two investigations into her alleged role in the attack on Nancy Kerrigan are to be completed in the next month.

She could wind up in jail. She could lose her eligibility to compete. Or she could skate away from all of the accusations.

The U.S. Figure Skating Assn. plans a hearing March 9 to determine whether her membership should be revoked for ethics violations stemming from the Kerrigan attack.

A criminal investigation in Portland grinds on in an “orderly and professional” fashion, as lead prosecutor Norm Frink puts it. A grand jury has been hearing testimony and gathering evidence for more than a month in the Kerrigan case, and it is expected to return indictments by March 21.

Frink said that charges could be filed either in Multnomah County in Portland; in Wayne County in Detroit, where the attack occurred; or possibly in a federal court.

“That is an open question that has not yet been resolved,” Frink said Friday.

He obtained a delay in the deadline by the Multnomah County grand jury because it appeared unlikely that Harding would be able to cooperate until the Olympics were over and the figure skating hearing had been completed.

Harding, however, would like to avoid the figure skating hearing altogether. Her attorneys have asked for an indefinite delay in the hearing.

Dennis Rawlinson, one of her lawyers and the husband of her coach, said in Norway that a settlement was possible. That comment drew a sharp reaction from John Bennett, the Portland attorney who has been gathering evidence for the figure skating association.

“No one has approached me and I know nothing about that, just what I read in the newspaper,” Bennett said. “I know Mr. Rawlinson does not represent her in relation to the United States Figure Skating Assn. and I thought his comments were interesting in that regard.”

Rawlinson has removed himself from the Harding legal team in the figure skating investigation, citing a potential conflict of interest because his wife is an association member.

A special five-member panel has found reasonable cause to believe Harding was involved with or knew of the plot to assault Kerrigan. The hearing, expected to last three days, will determine if Harding’s membership should be revoked, an action that would disqualify her from the world championships March 22-27 in Chiba, Japan.

It was a competition in China that provided the genesis for the plot to assault Kerrigan, according to Harding’s ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly. He said he and Harding were upset with the low marks she received there in December and became convinced that she had no shot at winning the U.S. championship as long as Kerrigan was there.

Gillooly has admitted he helped engineer the plot that resulted in the assault on Kerrigan. She was clubbed above the right knee with a metal police baton Jan. 6 in Detroit prior to the U.S. championships.

Harding went on to win the competition in Kerrigan’s absence, although Kerrigan was named to the Olympic team anyway and won the silver medal. Harding, who filed suit to stay on the U.S. team after revelations about her alleged involvement became known, went to Norway and won nothing.

Gillooly has pleaded guilty to racketeering in a deal with prosecutors, saying that Harding was in on the plot and gave the final go-ahead. She denies any prior knowledge. But she admits she found out when she returned from Detroit that people around her were involved and that she did not immediately come to authorities.

She acknowledges she lied during the initial part of her 10 1/2-hour interview with the FBI on Jan. 18, then changed her story and implicated Gillooly when confronted by her interrogators.

Lying to investigators is itself a crime, but Harding could face more serious racketeering or conspiracy charges if the grand jury believes there is sufficient evidence to prove she was in on the plot.

Gillooly and Harding’s occasional bodyguard, Shawn Eckardt, have implicated Harding, but both could be shaky witnesses because they have been known to lie in the past -- Gillooly to FBI investigators in Detroit, and Eckardt in wild claims made on his resume.

As far as hard evidence goes, investigators have a note found in a restaurant trash bin that included the name of the suburban Boston arena where Kerrigan practices and her practice times.

Gillooly has said he watched Harding write down the times after she obtained the information from a free-lance skating writer in Pennsylvania. Several sources have said the handwriting matches that of Harding. The Pennsylvania writer also has confirmed that Harding called her to get the information.

The attack was to have been carried out in Massachusetts, but that plan fell through, according to those already charged in the case.

Investigators also have telephone records that show several calls to Eckardt from Harding’s hotel around the time of the attack.

Harding’s attorneys have said there are reasonable explanations for the evidence, although Frink has said he wishes they would tell him what they are.

A Portland television station also has said Harding has failed two of three lie-detector tests, although those results are not admissible in court.

Gillooly has taken a lie-detector test as well, and his attorney, Ron Hoevet, has said he would make the results available to the figure skating association if asked. Judge Donald Londer has refused to allow Gillooly to go to Colorado Springs for the figure skating association’s hearing, raising the possibility that the session might be switched to Portland.

If Harding faces any criminal charges, Weaver has laid the groundwork for using the “battered wife syndrome” as a possible defense, a tactic that was successful in the Lorena Bobbitt case.

He mentioned that possibility during a hearing on Harding’s lawsuit against the U.S. Olympic Committee that led to her being allowed to compete in the Winter Games. Harding also tearfully recalled being beaten by Gillooly during her interview on “Eye to Eye With Connie Chung.”

Just where Harding will live when she returns is unknown. She had been staying with her friends John and Stephanie Quintero, but the management at the apartment building, fed up with all the attention, reportedly wants that arrangement to end.

Harding apparently has plenty of money to find other living quarters. The syndicated TV show “Inside Edition” reportedly has paid her $500,000 for a series of exclusive interviews.

In fact, Harding and Gillooly both apparently have gotten some of the riches that, if his story is to be believed, they so desperately wanted.

Each night prior to the Olympics skating finale, Gillooly could be found on another show, “A Current Affair,” telling the sordid details of the couple’s long, stormy relationship.

Although the Olympic drama is over and many Americans may have had their fill of the Tonya and Nancy soap opera, she’s coming back to reclaim her place beneath a cloud of suspicion.

More than seven weeks after the whack heard ‘round the world, the final chapter is far from written.