Part 1:
Here at the Pellicano trial, things have livened up with defendant and resident computer geek Kevin Kachikian taking the stand to talk about his days working on the telesleuth program with former boss, Anthony Pellicano. Mr. Kachikian, sporting a friendly, youthful looking non-descript v-neck sweater, white shirt and his signature birkenstocks and socks, looks like the computer nerd who tends to avoid both eye contact and polite conversation with the rest of the office. Sitting up on the stand, Mr. Kachikian admitted that he was nervous and that he's never been particularly social and that he's an introverted person. It wasn't something that really needed saying after he spoke about a childhood that included building a replica robot of Star War's R2D2. And the, unlike other kids growing up in Orange County, Mr. Kachikian focused on working on the rides at Disneyland rather than on actually going on the rides at Disneyland. Yep, Mr. Kachikian was your typical kid growing up in the O.C., except for the part about going to the beach and hooking up with chicks. Based on his testimony, Mr. Kachikian was the kind of O.C. guy who preferred to spend his teenage years figuring out the programming and software design for the new apple computers. The computer wiz testified that he hooked up with Mr. Pellicano because the private detective expressed a desire to market his telesleuth program to law enforcement. Adam Braun, Mr. Kachikian's attorney, told the Judge at the break that he expects that his client will be on the stand for most of the day.
Part 2:
So, it's been three hours straight of listening to defendant and computer technology expert Kevin Kachikian explaining the inner workings of Telesleuth. At first, Mr. Kachikian came across as somewhat engaging, friendly and charmingly nerdy as he explained that he'd gone to work for Mr. Pellicano to help him develop computer software for the use of law enforcement. But three hours later, it seems as if his charm has worn off and his sweater ensemble that first made him seem approachable, now reminds me of the ensembles worn by the Mendendez brothers. And, while his attorney, Adam Braun, has done a nice job of bringing out Mr. Kachikian human, albeit nerdy side, everyone has definitely heard enough about how the telesleuth program works, how Mr. Kachikian helped Mr. Pellicano and how Mr. Kachikian didn't come up with any of the concepts for telesleuth--it was all Mr. Pellicano's idea.
We're on a break right now and will be returning to watch a video of telesleuth in action through the use of a clip from the Rock Hudson and Doris Day classic film, Pillow Talk. It's a welcome relief from the constant droning of Mr. Braun's voice and his empty promises to be "brief" and "direct." At this point, whenever Mr. Braun uses phrases in his questions to Mr. Kachikian like "just briefly" or "very quickly" or "briefly refer," we all know that we're in for some of the longest monologues that we've heard in this trial. (Warning...if you invite Mr. Braun over for dinner and he starts out a story with "very briefly," if you care at all about your guests, tell them to flee.) Mr. Kachikian seems to think that class is in session and it's his job to explain to us how he installed features in Telesleuth that would only be useful to law enforcement. And, as Mr. Braun has gotten Mr. Kachikian to point out more times than most human beings could stand, if Mr. Pellicano had wanted just your average wiretapping crappy device, he could have picked one up at radio shack.
Frankly, Mr. Kachikian has been a truly amiable witness, who seems more like a confusing computer/science teacher than a wiretapping and conspiracy defendant. But, we must all remember that this is merely direct examination and sometime in this century, Mr. Saunders will get a chance to cross him---if Mr. Saunders is still awake by then. At this point, it seems as if Mr. Saunders just let Mr. Braun introduce something into evidence because he's been bored into a stupor and his ability to object has been impaired. Right now, Mr. Saunders is sucking down a cup of coffee, so perhaps, he will resume his constant objections after the break--and hopefully after we get to see the movie clip. We've definitely earned it. If the judge wasn't resting her cheek on her hand all the time, I'm sure her head would come crashing down on the bench. She's definitely mastered the art of sleeping with her eyes open. Wish I knew how.
Read all the coverage from inside the Pellicano courtroom