Sentence Reduced for Whitewater Figure

President Clinton’s original chief accuser in the Whitewater case walked out of a federal courtroom practically a free man Friday as a reward for helping Whitewater prosecutors.

U.S. District Judge Stephen M. Reasoner reduced David Hale’s prison sentence to time served plus one month of home detention.

The judge also waived a $10,000 fine and said he would consider forgiving a $2-million restitution order on grounds it was unlikely Hale could pay the amount.

Reasoner said Hale could be released from a federal halfway house as soon as processing can be completed, possibly within three days.

Outside the courthouse, Hale said he felt “good” but referred questions to his lawyer, David Bowden, who said only that Hale had a job and would stay in Arkansas.

Hale has served about 20 months of his 28-month term for defrauding the U.S. Small Business Administration through a lending company he owned.

Hale was a part-time judge who owned a small-business investment company backed by the federal government.

In 1993, facing federal indictment for fraud and conspiracy, Hale told authorities that he had been pressured by Clinton to make an improper $300,000 loan to one of Clinton’s partners in the Whitewater real estate project in Arkansas.

Clinton, who was governor at the time, has denied Hale’s claim.