King Could Dodge Jail With A Split Decision

Boxing promoter Don King found himself waiting for a decision Thursday.

Just 90 minutes after a mistrial was declared in King’s insurance fraud case, a federal judge ordered jurors to return to court today for possible further deliberations.

The bizarre reversal, reminiscent of some King-promoted fights, came after prosecutors appealed the mistrial ruling Thursday afternoon.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will decide today if U.S. District Judge Lawrence McKenna ruled too soon when he told both sides the trial was over. Both sides will argue their cases today.

Prosecutors wanted McKenna to instruct the panel to deliberate further; the defense pressed for the mistrial. The jurors were in their fourth day of deliberations.

McKenna, just 90 minutes after announcing the mistrial, told the jurors to return at 9:30 a.m. “I’m going to have to ask you to come back,” he told the jurors, who had earlier announced they were hopelessly deadlocked.

King had smiled widely when word of the mistrial was heard in court, but the spiky-haired promoter had to wait overnight to discover if he has again avoided jail in a federal prosecution.

King was acquitted in a 1985 tax evasion case, and has outlasted three grand jury probes and an FBI sting. He was accused in this case of faking an insurance contract to collect $350,000 in bogus training fees for a canceled 1991 fight.

King, who rose from the gambling halls of Cleveland to become one of the most powerful men in boxing, faces a maximum 45 years in prison and $2.25 million fine if convicted on nine counts of mail fraud.

The 64-year-old promoter, who was visited in court during the trial by former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, testified for three days that his employees had never discussed the Lloyd’s of London insurance policy with him.