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Pellicano Trial: The Jury Has The Case
As promised, Mr. Saunders (and his buddy Mr. Lally who wore matching suits for this final day of trial) got the last word. It was all Mr. Saunders in the last stretch of this trial, taking his final opportunity to argue against almost every single point brought up by the defense. He said that he wasn't going to do that--but, he couldn't quite resist. He's only human, after all. But honestly, the key thing that happened during Mr. Saunders' closing is that it finally became clear exactly what the government actually thinks that it's accomplishing by trying to convict Mr. Pellicano and his merry band of alleged co-conspirators. Mr. Saunders said it all at the end of his final rebuttal--"This isn't a case about Hollywood...Sylvester Stallone, Brad Grey or even Michael Ovitz," he explained to the courtroom. "This is a case about greed and the perversion of the justice system." See, now that's what I thought in the beginning as well, way back when the F.B.I. first raided Mr. Pellicano's offices. But then, things went differently than most of the people in this town expected. Because the general perception was that this case actually was about greed and the perversion of the justice system (that just happened to occur in Hollywood of all places), we expected that those who'd abused and perverted this system of justice would be prosecuted. But, Mr. Saunders had a different perspective on the issue which he finally shared with us in the closing moments of this trial and six year investigation. "This is about Bo Zenga having the same rights in a courtroom as Brad Grey," he said with conviction. "This is about Larry Nagler [Mr. Stallone's attorney] having the same right to have confidential conversations with his clients as Bert Fields." Okay, again, that's what I thought. And then, the big finish, "this is a case about people who believed that justice could be bought for a $25,000 non-refundable retained." Now, again, that's what we all thought, but then why didn't government prosecute all these people who thought that? Wait a minute...wait a minute, it's coming, ah yes, no one prosecuted those people because they're all too rich and too powerful to go after and put in prison. So, one is left to conclude that even though Mr. Pellicano and his alleged criminal enterprise might be out of commission, the people who thought they could buy just justice $25,000 retainer were absolutely right. Not only did they think they could do it, they actually did it and they got away with it.
And yes, Mr. Saunders did tell us that it wasn't the government's fault that some of these people were able to buy justice for $25,000 non-refundable retainers and not face any consequences. He did make the point that he'd decided not to go after the clients in this case and that was because of different reasons--statute of limitations problems, the fact that some of the incriminating conversations were found by the F.B.I. after they'd cut deals with clients (oh well) and then, because every case needs witnesses and sometimes, you have to use some of the people who were involved in criminal activity. (Some of the time?) But, his major argument and central stated reason for putting his focus on Mr. Pellicano and some of his sources of information: "the government attacked not the demand, but the supply." And by going after former Sgt. Arneson, who Mr. Saunders characterized as part of Mr. Pellicano's RICO machine, he was busy shutting down the suppliers of illegally obtained information. His goal was to get the jury to look at the bigger picture--the fact that the government went after the illegal machine and shut that machine down. He compared the government's choice to not go after the clients, but rather Mr. Pellicano and friends to the choice often made by law enforcement to not go after the johns in a prostitution ring, but rather the prostitutes. Therefore, we can all understand--and I hope this is of some comfort to Mr. Shandling and Mr. Zenga and Ms. Doucett and Mr. Stallone and Mr. Bernier and Mr. Casey and everyone else who knows better than anyone that justice can be bought in this town for $25,000--that the government made a conscious choice to prosecute Mr. Pellicano and his merry gang of alleged co-conspirators rather than to go after his clients or the lawyers like Mr. Fields and others who hired him again and again and again.
So, that government decision to go after Mr. Pellicano (and Mr. Turner and Mr. Arneson and Mr. Kachikian and for some still unexplained reason, Mr. Nicherie) has got to make someone feel better about the justice system here in town. The people who abused the system and paid millions to keep the Pellicano machine functioning--and that would be the people who basically make up the very top echelons of society on both coasts and particularly here in Los Angeles including many of the town's top attorneys--all of those guys and gals are never going to do anything illegal again because they now know that they'll end up punished. Oh wait, that's not true. They now know that they're free to go and find themselves another criminal enterprise and get back to business as usual since none of them got prosecuted. And the lesson is--and I hope that Mr. Christensen who is still practicing is listening--you need to make sure that the private eye who is doing wiretapping for you isn't all recording you. (Mr. Christensen has plead not guilty and has denied all knowledge of any illegal wiretapping activity by Mr. Pellicano on his or his client's behalf.) As for Mr. Pellicano's alleged victims--those people who spent most of their time on the stand authenticating DMV and criminal history runs done by Mr. Pellicano instead of actually getting to tell the jury the horrible things that happened to them because of those runs--those people whose privacy was invaded and who got lost in litigation because the other side knew all of their private and confidential legal information, well, those guys are going to have to be content with the fact that Pellicano is gone and that the rich people in this town are going to have to pay someone else to set up a new system. It's good to finally have some clarity on this issue.
It's clear that Mr. Saunders gets what happened here. He knows that these rich people were abusing the legal system and he knows that it was a disgusting abuse of the process and that a lot of people took advantage of what Mr. Pellicano and friends had to offer. It's just that he's obviously got a different perspective on how to fix the problem. He didn't think that the way to destroy the perversion of the legal system was to indict the lawyers and the clients who abused that system by paying Mr. Pellicano to do all sorts of illegal and often horrible things to their adversaries. Mr. Saunders thought that the better way to deal with this problem. Based on Mr. Saunders final comments about how he was trying to clean up the legal system by shutting down Mr. Pellicano, I can only guess that he thought if the government destroyed and dismantled this one corrupt private investigation organization with its sophisticated technology and well placed sources, then it would send a message to all these wealthy clients and lawyers who think they're above the law. And then, and I have to confess that I'm just guessing here, they'd be more cautious about hiring a similar private eye and his merry band of friends to replace Mr. Pellicano. It's a nice thought and a noble quest, even if it's not terribly realistic.
Frankly, all Mr. Saunders had to do to understand how little effect this trial has had on the people who hired Mr. Pellicano is to spend one evening at a westside party listening to them chat about how they're still hiring many of the attorneys who they know clearly used Mr. Pellicano for wiretapping. Some of these wealthy movers and shakers in Los Angeles think, if anything, that those attorneys that used Mr. Pellicano are the kind of advocates they want working for them--it's almost as if using Mr. Pellicano has been come a calling card for additional business for some of these litigators.
The thing that's really annoying about this case and seems to be lost on everyone is that the people who perverted this system along with Mr. Pellicano--those rich and famous upstanding citizens of this community--very few of them have publicly expressed any remorse for what they'd done to their enemies or in some cases, even admitted to doing anything wrong at all. Brad Grey, who has denied knowing that Mr. Pellicano did anything illegal on his behalf in either the Shandling case or the Zenga case, only admitted to paying Mr. Pellicano quite a bit more than his $25,00 retainer to work for him on both cases. He told the jury that he had no idea that Mr. Pellicano was wiretapping and that all dealings about the case with Mr. Pellicano were done by his attorney, Bert Fields. And then, Mr. Grey, walked off the stand and back to his job as the head of Paramount Studios without so much as an apology to either Mr. Shandling or Mr. Zenga. After all, what does he have to apologize for? He wasn't indicted or accused of any crime by the government. As for Mr. Fields, he never even made an appearance in court, but then why would he? As Mr. Saunders told the jury, this was about destroying the heart of Mr. Pellicano's enterprise and going after people who perverted the justice system. So, why would Mr. Fields, who merely told Mr. Grey, Adam Sender, Ken Starr and Andrew Stevens to hire Mr. Pellicano have to do with the prosecution's case? For that matter, what was Mr. Ovitz doing in court either? He just hired Mr. Pellicano to get dirt on people like Anita Busch, Bernard Weinraub, David Geffen, Ron Meyer and a list of others. Yes, Mr. Pellicano worked for him, but he didn't know what he was doing and that was enough for the government to not charge him with any crime.
As for Mr. Arneson, well, the government wasn't as kind. They said that he had to know what he was doing because he worked with Mr. Pellicano, doing runs, for years. And, Mr. Kachikian also worked with Mr. Pellicano for years on Telesleuth and then there was Ray Turner, who also worked with Mr. Pellicano for years. (I'm still trying to figure out why Mr. Nicherie got charged for listening to wiretaps when all those other guys who did the same thing got a pass. Maybe, just maybe, it's because he's not rich and he didn't have a lawyer when he talked to the F.B.I. Or as his attorney, Mr. Semenza so eloquently argued, it's because the real client had the cash and the pull to get herself a deal with the government.)
Clearly, certain people who worked with Mr. Pellicano for years were held accountable for knowing certain things about what he did and other people, who also worked with Mr. Pellicano for years were believed by the government when they said they knew nothing about what Mr. Pellicano was doing. What's wrong with this pictures? And why aren't more people outraged by what's happened here? Why don't more of the town's movers and shakers give a damn that the legal system was for sale? Are they so sure that they won't end up the wrong end of the next Pellicano? Maybe, they are. But the good thing is that even though we still have to worry about the rich and powerful abusing the system and setting up another allegedly criminal enterprise to deal with their enemies, we know that at least Mr. Pellicano, who by his own admission did most of the information gathering and "the winning" at any cost will end up in prison for the rest of his life as well as his merry band of alleged information gatherers who were busy trying to make some extra bucks like the poor telephone worker, the police officer, the computer technician and again for some reason, Abner Nicherie. Those guys--who sadly can be replaced in a minute by other poor guys looking to make a buck- it's likely that those guys won't be around to bother anyone. Oddly enough, that doesn't really make me feel like anyone who sues someone powerful in this town will have the same legal rights as the powerful people whose authority they dare to challenge.
And so, the jury has the case. The prosecutors and the defense attorneys have shaken hands and I'm sitting in the hallway wondering about how so many people who broke the law walked away from this mess without so much as a scratch.
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who the heck is robert booth nichol? why did anita busch testify about his links to seagal and ovitz?
doesn't sound like a real name? any clue?
People who have never been wiretapped may have trouble understanding how much agony that puts a person through. If the peice of shit is doing it to make you shut up about something by getting dirt on you then they are already "blackening you up" to discredit and alienate you from people who might otherwise believe what you have to say. Then you get smeared to everyone that schmuck turns to for additional help because he HAS TO make a case as to why he would ordinarily turn to authorities and how a warrant would surely be deserved under the circumstance, but how it's complicated due to other factors, that people might be harmed, blah, blah, lie, lie. It's all the total bullshit posing of a criminal.
Getting wiretapped and getting smeared go together in a one two punch that is called "witness intimidation." Add off duty police sitting outside the house doing "surveillance" (blatantly letting their presence be known to scare you) and now the witness is practically hysterical. It is a criminal racket.
Psychopaths always blame the victim. So, don't hold your breath for remorse. I do hope there is justice for the many victims in this case.
The only justice will be their bad karma. I applaud Alison for being so brave to write about the prosecution of Anthony Pellicano's wiretapping crimes for various celebrity clients that invaded the privacy, stalked, harrassed and threatened perhaps hundreds of innocent Americans. Anyone who even comments here could be in danger for doing so and I applaud you for your comment about victims. I too have suffered the same invasive treatment over eight long years by a Hollywierd player and his henchmen using the same tactics, tapping, threats and trying to get me fired from every job by their manipulation. I documented these crimes into a diary and now see many similarities brought out in court. Pellicano may not be the only one out there doing these wiretaps and bugs in ones home. I have collected photos and license plates and reported to closed ears. They can also intercept your calls and have others impersonate you. This is not going away because anyone can be monitored today with all the technology available. How unjust that the real perpetrators "the clients" and their recommending "crooked lawyers" are not being prosecuted along with Mr. Pellicano and co-criminals. All silenced victims should rise up and ban together because we will be a force to be reckoned with from here on end.
Don't worry, there is no need to fear these people anymore.
People who trade in intimidation always end up intimidated themselves. It is the way of the world, the universal truth of bullies.
So, do not be surprised if those who tormented and maligned you only scurry away when you run into them. You can intimidate anyone, but only for a little while and never forever. People have a way of shoving back against bullies and when they do they show them for the gutless lowlifes that they truly are.
Whatever they did, said, or wrote about you was all about shutting you up and there is solace in knowing that the truth always comes out in the wash. Whatever power you think they have over you is false power just as counterfeit as Pellicano's "honor". That illusion of power, that self-entitled smirk that goes with wiretapping and character assassination, has been wiped clean from many scumbag faces who are now looking over their shoulders, forevermore, from their natural state of fear. If they have a box of tapes of you, wherever it is hidden, believe me it is beating like the Tell-Tale Heart.
And they will never be able to trust each other as it is virtually guaranteed that one of them will end up wearing a wire. You were tormented for 8 years, they will shit themselves for 10. Do not fear the trash.
What an absolute waste of taxpayer dollars, court time, and years worth of useless efforts all to satisfy the egos of the AUSA'S office. I thought these guys - and the FBI group that spent the past 6 years on this case - were also supposed to be the ones protecting us from terrorist activity? Maybe when all this is done they can actually spend their time on more important issues. I guess the Pellicano case was far more important than our safety.
There are not many people in this world that truly keep their word. Pellicano is a one of a kind. Whatever people may say about him, you have respect that he has honor...and a whole lot of people in this city should be kissing his butt right now. When all those individuals who admitted guilt (but of course were not prosecuted) got up on the stand they should have come up with a new term for their testimony. Instead of "taking the 5th"....they "took the Sargeant Schultz": I KNOW NOTHING. Amazing that the jurors haven't been shaking the heads every day, and wondering why they've been forced to sit through all this ridiculous testimony. If it were anyone else, or in any other city , do you think this would have even gotten the attention of law enforcement?
Law Enforcement were and are paid off and hired by sleazy unprofessional Pellicano type private investigator/pimps and also work off duty to stalk and harrass people who for some slight or rejection to the egos of Hollywood. Mr. Pellicano has no honor for he is an audio thug!
Mr. Pellicano has been smirking in court and thinks it's funny that he destroyed people by setting them up, having them followed by cops 24/7, repeating conversations to mock them, ruin their cars and tires and TERRORIZE THEM. We all heard rape and murder on those audio tapes in court!
All in the name of silence! So their "clients" can freely abuse, rape and murder and control all their court cases. They couldn't win otherwise and so therefore all their wins in the past don't count.
In other states, police cannot work off duty in that capacity and the laws should be changed in Los Angeles.
I predict Pellicano makes an 11th hour plea deal before the jury finishes deliberations. DOJ in DC will step in an offer time served if he pleads guilty to lesser charges, maybe a global plea to include the state charge as well. It is the best solution to the problem presented if jury comes back with not guilty because of the potential for a massive lawsuit against the government. It is the only way for DOJ to save face for this ridiculous case.
That would be an interesting scenario. However, I think Pellicano is half crazy, which makes him such an interesting character. He would never accept a deal. I still predict that a 4 defendants will be acquitted. The jury will start out with some counts in which they will agree to "maybe" convict, then they will acquit on other counts and realize that the "maybe" counts no longer hold given their decision to acquit on other counts. In the end they will decide that done of the counts have been proven beyond a reasonable doubt and will render a not guilty verdict on all counts.
There, there, don't fret. It takes most of us a bit of time to understand how justice works in this "country of laws."
The hugely rich and powerful get away with (almost) everything.
But watch them throw the book at some three time loser who stole a pack of cupcakes. He gets life.
Every now and then a famous angry miscreant gets shoved into jail (Mike Tyson) to show us that "the system works."
You see, it's not that hard to understand. You just have to learn to speak and read in code.
Justice for all = Rich are protected. Poor are fucked.
God bless America.
I have read each of your posts on this. Compliments. I went from not knowing so much about the case. Reading about the trial, I also did some supplemental reading. I agree with your strange feeling about why so many walk upstream while their little net offers this group for some ceremonial justice? I feel like the best message here would be not guilty across the board. Are they that brave or that disgusted? What is the real agenda of these particular prosecutions? I predict some jurors will be really conflicted, extremely, about which way to go. Your posts have been just great and we have the verdict to be served up, or is that over-easy? Will convictions in this case lead to some high profile civil suits? Is there any measurable fallout in this case...?
Allison
You should look into Tom Gores. He has plenty juicy stories attached to him.
Allison,
Great journalism. I have followed your writings on this case since the beginning.
I am surprised you did not write more about Tom Gores than you did!. There is alot more to that guy than what came out about his personal life. It is good and juicy and shouldnt be too hard to figure out for you. It would make some great articles.
I hope it wasnt his "advicer" M. B. that scared you, be sitting next you.
Anyways, keep up the good work.
All is on Hope, Weiner. Saunders went after Pellicano and not the lawyers because the lawyers will get him his big break in Hollywood. Saunders should be fired for wasting taxpayers money to mount his starring role. I hope the lawyers who destroyed people's lives get what they deserve.
Pelicano is a fool. He should have taken down the bad guys and helped all the people the lawyers hurt. That should have been his penance. Do for the vulnerable victims of the lawyers and their sleazy pr guys what you use to do for the abusive powerful clients. That Mr. Pellicano is honor. Not taking the fall for a bunch of evil men who should be disbarred.
You're right.
Pellicano is being rowed out to sea. Lawyers are at the oars. They're all smiling and winking at him as the concrete dries around his ankles. He thinks he's on a journey with friends, but there will come a point and soon when he hits the water, sinks and has to watch the boat row away.
He is about to enter a deep state or irrelevance. The powerful forces who got to maintain legal distance from this won't be pleased with a movie or tell all book. What they'll want is for him to go away and stop putting his stink on them. They will want him to be forgotten. Notice that this trial hasn't been mentioned on Entertainment Tonight (Paramount). There are people who can make it gone and they'll want to keep it gone.
Pellicano has served time and can do time, but can he handle irrelevance, a reversion to being a nobody who can't get people on the phone? How ill he see his clients years from now, the elite who visited their pal in the clink before the trial, but have avoided him like the plague in the aftermath. Won't that "blacken them up" in his mind, maybe then he'll get past the fake honor he is working and with great remorse, which the public loves, tell the truth.
If Pellicano flips he lives forever. If he doesn't he will be forgotten.
Pellicano would be a hero if he put the lawyers in jail. The statute are not up on obstruction of justice for them or Saunders for that matter who made a sweetheart deal with Hollywood and has been kissing everyone's ass for his own last shot at fame and fortune.
it is shameful.
No lawyer in his or her right mind condones illegal activity. Did they know that Pellicano was wiretapping, no? Did they suspect? Sure, but in the end they did not know for sure, thus they had plausible deniability . The lawyers involved would have been very hard to prosecute with the exception of Christensen who was incredibly stupid.
It really is no different than Bush's war in Iraq. Prove that he knew that there were no WMD's, you can't, he has plausible deniability . Do I think that he knew there were no WMD's in Iraq? Of course.
No lessons were learned, life goes on. C’est la vie.
In a way I am sorry it is over. One of the few blogs on here that was entertaining.
brilliant writing and analysis.
I think Mr. Saunders and the FBI did a great job under difficult circumstances. In fact I think they really shined and can be proud of what they've done.
I think the rich and powerful of Hollywood who got away with it this time will probably be WAY too mistrustful of the other wiretapping thug operations in Hollywood to jump back into the taping-smear jobbing-witness intimidation and extortion schemes they once enjoyed. Instead they will settle for being less effective litigators because that will be much better a life for them than getting royally busted talking to some compromised wiretapping lowlife who is wearing a wire for the FBI. Even if they have known the skeazoid for decades and belong to the same church they won't be able to trust that they aren't being set up. I don't think they'll stomach the risk.
Just like that last scene in the movie Wallstreet there will exist a vision of getting totally screwed by a trusted crook. Likewise the skeazeballs will be afraid that there will be a sequel to all of this. The one thing illegal wiretappers must fear the most are legal wiretaps placed on them due to good information, and who knows what has shaken loose from an investigation this big. It would not surprise me if the lowlifes are paranoid of each other, especially with their long time fellow travelers, who will all be blips on FBI radar screens for years and years to come.
You've done a wonderful job. I'm going to miss these postings.
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