The most certain change will be the defense's ability to call a handful of witnesses who invoked their Fifth Amendment rights during the first trial. The statute of limitations on the conspiracy charges against others in the Abramoff scandal expires this month, five years after the last alleged criminal actions occurred in October 2004. That means anyone not yet indicted for conspiracy in the scandal by the end of October is unlikely to be indicted, and Fifth Amendment rights no longer apply.

But for some, the legal issues may bleed over into the end of the tax year in April, because someone who received gifts from Ring should have reported that income on tax forms. That's why Judge Ellen Huvelle has delayed the retrial until June, and she could further delay it if all the legal issues aren't worked out by the summer.

The case will not go to retrial "before I can clear everybody I think are fair witnesses," Huvelle said during Monday's hearing.

She said that the court's conference with the jury after the mistrial was declared last week showed that the jury's deliberations were tripped up by the fact that witnesses were missing.

"There are holes, and the holes are being created by these people pleading the Fifth," Huvelle said.