MEDIA HOAXED BY WOMAN POSING AS WHITEWATER JUROR.

Byline: Kelley Kissel Associated Press

A woman who represented herself as a Whitewater juror and said her pretrial suspicions influenced her vote admitted Saturday that she never sat on the jury - she just had the same name as a panel member.

Janice Greer's allegations had caused an outcry among defense lawyers, who suggested it could be grounds for reversal of the conviction of James and Susan McDougal, former business partners of President and Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Gov. Jim Guy Tucker.

The Janice Greer who was not on the jury said Saturday she got tired of being called by the media after the convictions were announced and decided to play along. Later Saturday, she said she did not play along and never made the comments attributed to her.

``I didn't say what was printed in that article,'' she said, referring to an AP story.

Greer's lawyer said that Greer tried to find the juror Janice Greer at the hospital where she works so she could refer the calls to her. But she could not be reached and another employee at the hospital told the non-juror to make up stories to placate the callers.

``She was just told to tell them whatever they wanted to hear and that would make them go away,'' Greer's lawyer Jim Jackson said.

``The quotes in the Friday wire report were correct but she never indicted she was a juror,'' Jackson said. ``She tried explaining as these various calls came in that she was not the Janice Greer that was the juror.''

Jackson said he could not be sure if his client, a 32-year-old convenience store clerk, told The Associated Press that she was not the juror, ``She doesn't remember what she said,'' he said.

In two separate phone interviews, an AP reporter asked Ms. Greer about her reasons for her vote. She discussed the case knowledgeably, describing testimony and the role it played in her decision. The reporter doesn't recall if he asked Greer directly if she was a juror on the Whitewater case.

After talking to a woman Tuesday and Wednesday, The Associated Press reported Thursday that Ms. Greer said a news article she read shortly before the trial seemed to implicate the defendants and it ``probably played a little bit of a part'' in her verdict. Greer also broke ranks with other jurors by saying she thought the President and Mrs. Clinton were involved.

Ms. Greer also said she spoke to other news organizations about the trial.

Despite numerous efforts to contact her, the Janice Greer who served on the jury has refused comment and could not be reached Saturday. She is a 47-year-old licensed practical nurse from Traskwood, a rural area just southeast of Benton.

Tucker and the McDougals were convicted in the fraud and conspiracy trial Tuesday. After Greer's remarks were published, lawyers for tucker and Mrs. McDougal said they might use the remarks in seeking a new trial.