House committee votes to subpoena Schilling, not likely to make him come to R.I.

THE R.I. HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE voted unanimously to ask House Speaker Nicholas A. Mattiello for a subpoena to compel 38 Studios founder Curt Schilling to testify for its investigation into the bankruptcy of the video game company.
THE R.I. HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE voted unanimously to ask House Speaker Nicholas A. Mattiello for a subpoena to compel 38 Studios founder Curt Schilling to testify for its investigation into the bankruptcy of the video game company.

PROVIDENCE – The state legislature is likely to subpoena former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling to compel him to testify regarding the demise of 38 Studios LLC, but the summons is unlikely to carry much power outside of the state.

The R.I. House Oversight Committee on Thursday approved a motion to ask House Speaker Nicholas A. Mattiello to subpoena Schilling to testify before the committee.

But unless Schilling makes the decision to come to Rhode Island to testify on his own, the committee’s attorney, Charles T. Knowles, doubts the subpoena will be very effective.

“If there’s a question about it being honored outside of the state, the answer is [somewhere] between no and probably not,” Knowles told the committee.

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The subpoena, if approved by Mattiello, would be delivered directly to a court in Massachusetts where Schilling lives. The out-of-state court would then need to recognize the subpoena, but Knowles says there’s legal precedent indicating it will not.

“Frankly, they will say, ‘No’,” he said.

Despite the legal opinion, however, the committee moved forward and voted 9-0 in favor of approving the motion.

“Just given that Mr. Schilling may be out of the state isn’t going to stop us, or [determine] whether we pursue our subpoenas and get people in front of us,” said Rep. Karen MacBeth, D-Cumberland, who chairs the committee.

MacBeth said the approved motion was the first time ever her committee had exercised the power to subpoena, adding that more were likely to come.

Schilling was the founder of the video game company, 38 Studios, which received a $75 million state-backed loan before going bankrupt in 2012. State taxpayers are still paying back the debt, which by some estimates totaled close to $100 million.

Schilling is currently one of several people being sued by the state to recover some of the money, but he has not yet been deposed for the case.

The Oversight Committee is holding a series of hearings to examine what went wrong with the 38 Studios saga.

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