Reggie trial over. (Hopefully forever)

[Jim Hill <jahill@leasingservice.com>]

Title: Reggie trial over. (Hopefully forever)

Let's hope all of them can get on with their lives.  <Jim

BOSTON (AP) - Dr. Gilbert Mudge was cleared today in the death of Reggie Lewis, the Boston Celtics star who died shooting baskets two months after Mudge said he had a "normal athlete's heart." 

Jurors deliberated for three days. The decision came just moments after Judge Thayer Fremont-Smith reduced from 13 to 12 the number of jurors who had to agree on a verdict. 

Mudge and Lewis' widow, Donna Harris-Lewis, were not in the courtroom when the verdict was read. 

An earlier trial exonerated two doctors who consulted with Mudge, but the jury deadlocked trying to reach a conclusion as to Mudge's liability. 

Jurors were asked to decide whether Mudge provided Lewis with substandard care, and whether that negligence caused the player's death. 

The judge, who presided over both trials, said there was no question in either trial that Mudge was an eminent physician and that Harris-Lewis was a loving and dedicated wife and mother. 

"I hope the time has now come when everybody involved in the case can count their many blessings and move on with their lives," he said. 

It was not immediately known if Harris-Lewis would appeal. 

Lewis collapsed during a 1993 playoff game, and a "dream team" of a dozen doctors diagnosed the problem as a potentially fatal heart arrhythmia. Unhappy with the diagnosis, Lewis and his wife walked out of the hospital and eventually went to Mudge. 

Mudge said Lewis had a benign fainting disorder and would eventually be able to play basketball "without limitation." But on July 27, Lewis collapsed at the Celtics' practice facility and died. 

"He (Mudge) didn't do anything," Neil Rossman, the lawyer for Lewis' widow and children, Reggie Jr. and Reggieana, said during the second trial. "Every one of those days that Lewis was out there he was a dead man walking. It was just a matter of time." 

Mudge contended even though he said publicly Lewis could eventually resume his NBA career, he had not ruled out a heart problem. He also cautioned Lewis to take his medication and not exert himself - instructions his patient ignored, Mudge said. 

Mudge and Harris-Lewis could not immediately be reached for comment. 

Let's hope all of them can get on with their lives.  <Jim