Pellicano Trial News: Another Move to Mistrial Over Perjury Claim

Seemingly still pumped from destroying Mr. Arneson's credibility on the stand, Mr. Saunders made the mistake of loudly telling Mr. Hummel that he was going to charge Mr. Arneson with perjury before all of the jurors had left the courtroom. As the jurors were still filing out, much of the audience heard Mr. Saunders tell Mr. Hummel that he was going to charge Mr. Arneson with perjury based on the former LAPD officer's testimony on the stand today. Perhaps it was the rush of adrenaline from pummeling Mr. Arneson on the stand, but Mr. Saunders actually talked about bringing additional charges--specifically perjury--against a defendant while at least four jurors were still in the room.

During the break, both Mr. Saunders and Mr. Hummel were besieged by reporters trying to find out if Mr. Arneson was going to be charged with perjury today and the exact nature of what Mr. Saunders had told Mr. Hummel as the jury filed out. Both lawyers refused to comment on the incident.

Back in the courtroom after the break, Mr. Hummel moved for a mistrial on the grounds that Mr. Saunders had loudly voiced his intent to charge his client with perjury while jurors were still in the room and his client was still on the stand. (Mr. Arneson doesn't leave the witness stand until the jury has left the room.) The Judge brought in the jury and asked for a show of hands as to who'd heard an exchange between Mr. Saunders and Mr. Hummel. One juror raised her hand and admitted (without the other jurors present) to hearing Mr. Saunders say the word perjury. In just one loud, angry threat, Mr. Saunders had put six years of investigation and what seems like six years of trial in jeopardy. It was an extraordinary mistake--a reckless, unnecessary action at a really bad time. If memory serves, I think we had a motion for a mistrial just yesterday. It's hard to recall since it seems like years since Mr. Saunders started his painfully and unnecessarily long cross examination of Mr. Arneson. Frankly, Mr. Saunders' cross could have used a good editor... Mr. Arneson's credibility was destroyed yesterday. And yet, we had hours of additional cross this morning, demonstrating that not only did Mr. Arneson illegally look up information from LAPD databases, but he had hideous financial problems, a divorce and a parasitic relationship with Mr. Pellicano that continually put his job in jeopardy.

So, back to the mistrial motion du jour. The juror said that she'd heard the word perjury, but that she was still ready to give her judgment and forget that she heard the word perjury. And, she said that she didn't think any of the other jurors had heard anything. The defense didn't seem convinced nor did the many reporters in the back of the room who'd also heard the word "perjury" along with the word "charge" and the word "today." The Judge denied the motion, gave the jury an instruction to disregard anything that counsel says to each other. So, I guess that means that if Mr. Saunders threatens to send any of the other defendants to prison for lying on the stand, they should all just ignore that statement because it's not evidence, it's just chit chat among co-workers.

Right now, Mr. Hummel is facing the daunting task of rehabilitating Mr. Arneson's credibility. NEXT UP, AGENT STAN ORNELLAS. Mr. Ornellas will be taking the stand for the second time this week--making him a recurring character in the drama that is the Pellicano trial.

Read all the coverage from inside the Pellicano courtroom