Another Pellicano ex-employee took the stand this morning to chat about ex-telephone employee and wiretapping defendant Ray Turner as well as other happenings in the Pellicano office. The ex-employee, Gaye Palazzo, appeared scattered, confused and a bit sleepy when replying to prosecutor Lally's questions. The form of Mr. Lally's questions didn't really help matters. He repeatedly asked Ms. Palazzo what she'd been "tasked" with doing while working for Mr. Pellicano from 1995-1999 and then again from 2000 to 2001. Ms. Palazzo repeatedly wondered aloud at what Mr. Lally meant by the word tasked, finally trying to respond when he directly asked her "what is it you did for Mr. Pellicano."
But even once she got the whole "tasked" thing, Ms. Palazzo tended not to remember anything except that she had a relationship with defendant Ray Turner, that 98% of it was physical and that, they "messed around in the closet." As for wiretapping, she didn't remember that. She also didn't remember when she talked to government agents, what she said to them, what she testified before the grand jury or what exactly Mr. Turner was doing at Mr. Pellicano's offices besides messing around in the phone closet with her.
And then there was her problem with remembering names. Mr. Lally spent about four questions trying to get her to remember former Sgt. Mark Arneson's name. The questioning became so painful for everyone that Mr. Hummel finally shouted out, "Why don't you tell her his name? Maybe that will refresh her recollection." Ms. Soo Hoo who spent a good deal of her cross-examination eliciting nothing from Ms. Palazzo but the recollection that she'd worked for Mr. Pellicano, slept with Mr. Turner and talked to the government, tried unsuccessfully to refresh Ms. Palazzo's recollection about the matter of Mr. Turner's alleged wiretapping. When the Judge wasn't correcting the form of Ms. Soo Hoo's endless and rambling questions, Ms. Soo Hoo wondered if Ms. Palazzo ever had any pillow talk with Mr. Turner about his alleged wiretapping. Sadly, this line of questioning revealed that Mr. Turner's pillow talk with Ms. Palazzo consisted of chatting in the phone closet with her after they'd messed around and it didn't seem as if he'd a.) taken her to dinner or b.) introduced her to any of his friends. In fact, it seemed as if Ms. Palazzo knew little about Mr. Turner--except maybe that he looks a bit like Tony Parker and carried some tools around his slim waist.
Ms. Palazzo recalled being at Mr. Pellicano's offices, sending out some 1099 forms to Mr. Turner, but then she drew a blank on all that wiretapping stuff. Yeah, she listened to some wiretapped conversations, but beyond that, she stuck with her usual mantra "I can't remember," "it was ten years ago," and "where am I?"
As exciting as it was to learn that just about everyone working for Pellicano was sleeping with everyone else working for Mr. Pellicano and most of the action occurred in the office, most of the spectators today have been bored to the point of spending most of the morning glancing at the clock and waiting for the Judge to declare a break. NEXT UP, waiting for Mr. Ovitz to take the stand and hoping for a witness that remembers something. Ah, probably not going to be Mr. Ovitz. But hope springs eternal.