The Pellicano Trial: Tables Turn As Prosecutors Take Stand

Posted by Eriq Gardner

The Pellicano trial came to an abrupt halt yesterday with the jury sent home after one of Pellicano's co-defendants energetically made a motion for a mistrial. Nice try, but no dice.

Chad Hummel, the lawyer for former LAPD Sgt. Mark Arneson, argued that federal prosecutors tried to "coerce a compelled statement" from Arneson about him being the subject of a police internal affairs investigation in 1999. U.S. District Court Judge Dale Fischer briefly entertained the motion but Hummel's impassioned stab at legal fame was unsuccessful.

At the very least, however, the dramatic motion interrupted prosecutors' "blistering cross-examination," in the words of the LA Times, which is about as good a lawyerly move as we can expect. Too bad the jury didn't get to see prosecutors Dan Saunders and Kevin Lally being called to the stand to answer charges of withholding evidence about the IA investigation.

Bert Fields was also hanging around the courtroom yesterday. Sadly he didn't get to testify with the trial halted, but he'll either show up on the stand today or chill in the background, forsaking more billable hours.