While the prosecutors and defense are busy picking a jury, the town is busy talking about the fact that just about everyone who ever dealt with Anthony Pellicano has been issued a subpoena to testify for the government. They've been told to stand by, since the government probably won't start calling any witnesses until next week. Right now, my sources tell me that a number of famous names are on the Government's extensive witness list, including many of Mr. Pellicano's former clients and some of the people who claim to have been victims of the former detective's wiretapping scheme. According to statements made in court by defense counsel, the government expects to call over 100 witnesses. Expected to testify for the government are former Pellicano clients like Mike Ovitz, the former mega-agent to the stars and Brad Gray, the head of Paramount. Also on the list to testify are some of Pellicano's more well known alleged victims, including Sylvester Stallone, Gary Shandling, Linda Doucett, Bo Zenga, his lawyer and of course, the former New York Times' reporter, Anita Busch. The government is also going to be calling many of Mr. Pellicano's former employees -- including star witness Tarita Virtue. Based on my review of the F.B.I.'s notes of their meetings with the detective's former staff members (these are called 302's), many of these employees are probably going to end up being a major problem for the former detective as well as some of the other defendants. Many of them told the F.B.I. in interviews -- according to the F.B.I. agent's notes, that the former detective often wiretapped his targets. Some told the government that it was their job to listen and transcribe the recordings for their old boss. Other employees are expected to testify about seeing various Pellicano clients listening to tapes in the office.
During the rather tedious process of selecting the jury, one of the defense attorneys actually told the jury that there are likely to be some famous people and actual celebrities testifying. The defense attorney asked the whole group whether any of them would be inclined to give more weight to the testimony of someone famous than they would to someone else testifying. All of the jurors agreed they wouldn't give the testimony of the famous any more weight than that of the regular folks. If that's actually true, that would be a first for Hollywood. I guess that means there won't be a V.I.P. room at the courthouse for the more famous of Mr. Pellicano's clients or for any of his alleged victims.
As for Mr. Pellicano, when he wasn't stretching or taking his glasses off to peruse a memo, he's busy observing the jury and trying to look friendly and pleasant. He's allowing the other defense attorneys to do most of the questioning of the jury. But, he did take a moment this morning to personally address some general questions to the jury. He wanted to know if anyone on the jury would have any feelings about hiring a private investigator who might break the law. He then wanted to know if anybody on the jury might have any feelings about the fact that the United States government has asked telephone companies to provide information for them about subscribers. Apparently, like the rest of America, the jury doesn't seem to mind that their phone companies have been busy providing their government with their private information. And, he then wondered if anybody on the jury might have any opinion or any feelings at all that someone can get information about you either through the internet or data base companies or through a local friend who might have been a law enforcement officer. The jurors didn't seem to have any feelings about that either.
And now, back to jury selection.
UPDATE, 4:06PM: The Pellicano case is off and running. It's only been one day, but they've already picked a jury of four women and eight men. During the selection so far, Mr. Pellicano has exercised only one of his challenges to dismiss a potential juror.
Read more coverage of the Pellicano Trial here.
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