Pellicano Trial: Waiting for Bert and Stan Ornellas Testifies

All in all, the day belonged to Mr. Saunders as he inflicted a punishing cross-examination on former Sgt. Arneson that lasted hours. Before Mr. Arneson even finished his answers, Mr. Saunders was throwing yet another document on the projector--showing the jury over and over again how Mr. Arneson provided Mr. Pellicano with DMV and criminal histories for hundreds of names. (The final figure thrown out by Mr. Saunders was 300 and Mr. Arneson didn't really object to the number.) Mr. Saunders drilled away at Mr. Arneson, asking over and over again about a letter in which Mr. Arneson lied to his superior officer. Mr. Saunders then hammered Mr. Arneson about the officer's contention that Mr. Pellicano had been one of his sources when the officer was still at the LAPD. And after Mr. Arneson repeatedly denied signing a bankruptcy petition and failed to explain his own letters referencing the petition, Mr. Saunders finished him off with "Is this all just a big misunderstanding Sir? Or is this perjury, Sir?" The question was objected to by Mr. Hummel and sustained, but Mr. Saunders' point was made.

After five hours of testimony by Mr. Arneson, the lead case agent, Stan Ornellas, finally took the stand. Under questioning by Mr. Hummel, Mr. Ornellas was a very professional witness, brief and clipped in all of his response to Mr. Hummel's questions. Mr. Hummel did manage to establish that before Mr. Arneson's name surface in connection with a November, 2002 search of Mr. Pellicano's office, Mr. Ornellas and Mr. Arneson were working on a joint investigation into bookmaking in Los Angeles. Apparently, there was a meeting in October of 2002 which included not only Mr. Ornellas, but also Agent Mosser. Agent Mosser also worked on the Pellicano investigation and assisting the government with its case against all the defendants. When Mr. Ornellas indicated that Mr. Mosser had been present at a meeting with Mr. Arneson regarding a joint investigation between the F.B.I. and LAPD, Mr. Hummel said with mock surprise, "This agent Mosser?" pointing to the agent in court.

NEXT UP TOMORROW--jury instructions. The jury is off tomorrow and the court will be dealing with jury instructions. And then on Friday, Mr. Ornellas will re-take the stand and Mr. Hummel is expected to call Bert Fields. But given how slowly things progressed today, we can probably expect Mr. Ornellas to take up residence on the stand for at least a few hours on Friday.

STAY TUNED FOR POSTING TOMORROW....I'LL BE FILLING IN A FEW INTERESTING DETAILS.

Read all the coverage from inside the Pellicano courtroom