New indictment names Pellicano in wiretapping

Former private investigator Anthony Pellicano and five codefendants pleaded not guilty Monday to a new wiretapping and racketeering indictment after a contentious hearing over potentially crucial evidence.

Throughout the 90-minute hearing before U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer, federal prosecutors and defense attorneys clashed over whether the government has turned over a mountain of tapes, FBI interviews and other evidence in a timely manner.

Prosecutors and defense lawyers also argued over the grounds for the original FBI search of Pellicano’s Sunset Strip offices almost five years ago.

The dispute over evidence has surfaced time and again in the Pellicano case and looms more important than ever with the trial scheduled to begin in August.

At the urging of defense attorneys, the judge agreed that the government should share the evidence it collected in a separate prosecution of Pellicano for possession of explosives to see if it includes evidence being used in the wiretapping case. The request was based on assertions that Pellicano’s previous defense team was not given all the evidence the government collected in its searches of the private investigator’s offices -- a charge the government has denied.

Fisher also directed authorities to explain, if possible, what happened to the first FBI affidavit used to obtain a search warrant for Pellicano’s offices.

Defense attorneys have raised suspicions about why the document has not been found, but prosecutors have repeatedly noted that the affidavit was never officially filed with the court and that the search warrant affidavit that was used has been turned over to the defense.

The judge also said she will review FBI reports relating to a confidential witness in the case before deciding whether they should be turned over to the defense. Defense attorneys have argued that the reports could shed new light on the witness’ role in the case; prosecutors have said the only reports not already provided to defense lawyers deal with other investigations involving the confidential witness, not the prosecution of Pellicano and his co-defendants.

Fischer refused a defense request to have another judge or magistrate review hundreds of tapes collected from Pellicano’s offices to see whether they should be introduced at the trial. Authorities have previously said the tapes do not relate to the 110-count indictment against Pellicano and the others.

The judge also declined a request by the attorney for former LAPD Sgt. Mark Arneson for an inventory of the evidence collected from the Police Department by the FBI.

Lawyer Chad Hummel made the request after discovering that an internal LAPD audit showed that other officers used a police database to gain confidential information about Pellicano’s alleged targets. Arneson has pleaded not guilty to providing that information to Pellicano.

Before Fischer’s ruling, prosecutors told the judge that authorities had no evidence that anyone at the LAPD other than Arneson had run the names of Pellicano’s alleged targets on the police database.

They also said they have recordings of Arneson telling Pellicano he could run the names of individuals on his days off by simply going to the LAPD and accessing its computer.

greg.krikorian@latimes.com