by David J. Gonzo

Saturday, June 26, 1999 --- New York (APJP) -- This morning's edition of The Baltimore Sun reports that a federal judge (not identified in the article) has ordered Independent Counsel Kenneth Winston Starr to give Maryland State Prosecutor Stephen Montanarelli tape recordings made by former White House employee Linda Tripp of telephone conversations between herself and former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

Montanarelli and a Maryland grand jury are investigating whether Tripp violated Maryland state law by recording conversations with Lewinsky without her consent. The tapes triggered a series of events leading to the exoneration of President Bill Clinton in a Senate impeachment trial earlier this year.

The federal judge's ruling is regarded as an unexpected breakthrough for Montanarelli, who had not been able to obtain the recordings which Tripp had turned over to Starr in exchange for immunity from prosecution in Starr's overreaching and ultimately failed investigation of President Clinton.

While some legal experts believe that Montanarelli could have brought charges without actual tapes, the ruling ordering Starr to give the tapes to Montanarelli is seen as greatly bolstering both the likelihood that the grand jury will return an indictment or indictments against Tripp and making the ability to prosecute such a case easier.

The ruling also presents possible perils for Kenneth Starr, employees of his Office of Independent Counsel, and certain other peripheral figures in the investigation of President Clinton's personal life, in that it is reported that some of the tapes in Starr's possession are not originals but copies, raising issues of what happened to the originals and why the tapes were being copied in the first place.