Pellicano Trial May Be Postponed Until February

Federal prosecutors and defense attorneys in the racketeering and wiretapping case of private investigator Anthony Pellicano and six others have agreed to postpone a scheduled trial date until February because the defense needs more time to prepare.

The postponement, described in court papers filed late Wednesday, still must be approved by U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer.

The new schedule would delay the start of the trial four months and give attorneys until October, rather than next Monday, to file pretrial motions regarding such issues as the credibility of expert witnesses and the admissibility of evidence.

The postponement comes as attorneys on both sides of the complex case have been wrangling over the validity of search warrants used to seize tape-recordings and documents from Pellicano’s Sunset Boulevard office in late 2002 and early 2003, and the production of FBI interview reports and other government evidence.

“There are genuine issues surrounding the collection of some of the evidence, if not all of it, in this case,” Pellicano’s attorney, Steven Gruel, a former federal prosecutor, said Thursday in an interview. “And the additional time will be necessary to prepare for the court the justification to suppress the government’s evidence.”

Terree Bowers, another former federal prosecutor who is representing prominent entertainment attorney Terry Christensen, was more blunt, faulting the government for failing to “provide a comprehensive picture of the evidence.”

“We continue to struggle to obtain important information and material that could be used to exonerate our clients,” said Bowers, calling the government’s “piecemeal production of evidence ... very frustrating.”

Christensen has been accused of hiring Pellicano to wiretap the former wife of billionaire Kirk Kerkorian and, through Bowers, has denied wrongdoing.

Citing office policy not to comment on pending cases, federal prosecutors declined to comment. The proposed delay in the trial presents some tactical advantages for both prosecutors and defense counsel.

With more time to prepare challenges to the government’s evidence in the case, defense attorneys may be more successful than they have been in their attempts to strike witnesses and challenge the validity of government search warrants.

So far, Fischer has refused virtually all of their challenges and refused to fault the government for its pace in turning evidence over to the defense.

At the same time, a delay in the start of the trial may help the FBI and U.S. attorneys office complete the decoding of encrypted recordings taken in searches of Pellicano’s offices.

Two months ago, federal prosecutors said they were still trying to decode more than 275 of the 1,300 audio files recovered during the searches.

Since then, authorities have made more progress in decoding those files but will not say how many they still have left to decrypt. Just what the tapes contain remains unclear.

Prosecutors have only acknowledged having “at least one” recording that purportedly represents a wiretapped telephone conversation. They also have alleged that they have tape-recordings of “hundreds of calls” in which Pellicano can be heard speaking to lawyers and other clients about information he allegedly gained from wiretaps.

Some criminal defense attorneys have privately suggested the government will need more examples of actual wiretaps to establish an ongoing conspiracy by Pellicano and his principal co-defendants. But other lawyers versed in such cases contend that the calls in which Pellicano allegedly relays information gained from wiretaps to clients -- coupled with testimony from those who have acknowledged hiring Pellicano to wiretap adversaries -- could prove compelling to juries.

Either way, the additional time will enable authorities to continue assembling evidence.

Thus far, Pellicano and six co-defendants have pleaded not guilty, while seven other defendants have pleaded guilty to counts ranging from lying to authorities to hiring Pellicano to wiretap others.