Silberman Judge Rejects Bid to Dismiss Case Because of Informant

A federal judge Friday rejected a claim by Richard T. Silberman’s lawyers that FBI agents committed a grave error in building the money-laundering case against the prominent San Diego businessman by using an informant with a purportedly lengthy history of violence.

U. S. District Judge J. Lawrence Irving refused to dismiss the charges against Silberman because of the use of the informant, Robert Benjamin, even though defense attorneys had argued that the practice involved “outrageous” government conduct.

Irving also refused to order prosecutors and FBI agents to turn over to defense lawyers any more information on Benjamin or to hold a special hearing on the defense contentions, the judge’s law clerk said Friday.

Irving’s ruling marked the latest in a series of decisions he has issued over the past month rejecting every significant pretrial defense effort to strike any of the seven counts against Silberman, who served as a top aide to then-Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr.

Silberman, reputed mobster Chris Petti and three other men are accused of laundering $300,000 that an undercover FBI agent allegedly characterized as the proceeds of Colombian drug dealing.

Silberman is scheduled to stand trial alone April 25. Petti and the three others are scheduled to be tried July 17.

At a hearing this week, Silberman’s San Francisco-based defense attorneys had argued that Benjamin, the government’s key informant in the case, has such a lengthy history of threats and violence that the case had to be dismissed.

At the hearing, lawyer James J. Brosnahan said Benjamin’s record of violence dates to 1969, called him “psychotic, schizophrenic (and) dangerous” and claimed it was a gross error to use him against Silberman, who has no criminal record.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Charles F. Gorder, the lead prosecutor in the case, said at the hearing that Brosnahan’s allegations were largely “wild allegations” that were based on claims from Benjamin’s ex-wife and stepson. Prosecutors believe that neither is particularly credible, Gorder said.

It was through Benjamin, a convicted felon who had become a cooperating witness for the FBI, that Silberman met the undercover FBI agent, according to prosecutors.

Irving said at the hearing that he was not prepared to rule at the time because both Brosnahan and Gorder had given him new material about Benjamin to review. On Friday, Irving called both lawyers and informally told them he was rejecting the defense contentions, adding that he would file a formal written order later, the judge’s law clerk said.

The clerk did not elaborate on the reasons behind the ruling.

Brosnahan declined to comment on Irving’s ruling. Gorder could not be reached for comment.

With the primary defense pretrial motions concluded, the next major hearing in the case is set for April 10: a defense request to move the trial to Los Angeles.

Defense attorneys contend that Silberman cannot get a fair trial in San Diego because there has been so much publicity about the case since he was arrested last April 7 in a Mission Bay hotel room.