No mistrial for ex-LAPD sergeant

A federal judge Monday denied former Los Angeles Police Sgt. Mark Arneson’s request for a mistrial on charges of racketeering and illegal access to law enforcement databases to get information for private detective Anthony Pellicano.

Arneson is one of four co-defendants on trial with Pellicano. The private eye faces numerous counts of wiretapping and racketeering.

Arneson’s attorney, Chad Hummel, argued that his client had been irrevocably tainted by accusations from federal prosecutors, who had been trying to attack his overall credibility by alleging that he lied about filing a fraudulent bankruptcy petition.

“They were relentless, ruthless in the cross-examination,” Hummel said about the prosecution’s nearly hourlong grilling of Arneson two weeks ago. Arneson repeatedly denied he filed the petition that misstated his occupation and income, and insisted the signature on the document was not his.

“They left the jury with the impression that Mr. Arneson could not be believed,” Hummel said Monday.

Judge Dale S. Fischer said she would strike Arneson’s extensive testimony under cross-examination about the bankruptcy petition and the scheduled foreclosure of his home.

Fischer’s ruling was in response to a prosecution witness, Phyllis Miller, who testified Friday that she had written a letter to help Arneson get a refinanced loan on his house. She also said she knew that Arneson had filed for bankruptcy.

But Hummel pounced on her testimony and ended up getting Miller to admit that it looked like her husband’s handwriting on the Arneson bankruptcy petition.

To make matters worse for the government, Hummel told the judge that the witness’ husband is serving an 11-year prison term for forgery and fraud.

Once it was established that the prosecution’s assertions about the bankruptcy were tainted, Hummel argued that it wasn’t enough to simply ask the jury to disregard the testimony.

The prosecutor had pounded Arneson so hard that the damage was irrevocable.

“Your honor, I submit there’s only one remedy for Mr. Arneson, and that is a mistrial,” Hummel said. “We cannot overcome this prejudice.”

Prosecutor Daniel Saunders, who had administered the blistering cross-examination of Arneson, said he had legitimate reasons for pursuing questions about the bankruptcy.

“The contact information in the loan file is his,” Saunders said.

He added that they had a letter, signed by Arneson, to a loan company official that referred to his bankruptcy.

Fischer said she also would strike from the record Miller’s direct testimony, but leave in Hummel’s revelatory cross-examination of her.

A lawyer representing Miller said she would take the stand again and answer questions if asked.

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carla.hall@latimes.com