L.A. lawyer Terry Christensen to be tried separately from Pellicano

Prominent Los Angeles entertainment attorney Terry N. Christensen will be tried separately from private investigator Anthony Pellicano and his other co-defendants, a federal judge ruled today as final details began to fall in place for Hollywood’s big wire-tapping trial next week.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer removes the only marquee name from the list of defendants in the long-awaited trial, which is set to start Feb. 27.

“We are very pleased with the decision,” attorney Terree Bowers said outside the courtroom, standing next to a beaming Christensen. “We have said for a while that he should not be [prosecuted] with the other people and we are grateful that the court has agreed.”

Prosecutors had no comment on the judge’s ruling, one of just a few to go against the government in the case.

The Pellicano investigation, with its hints of celebrity secrets and skullduggery in executive suites, has long riveted Los Angeles’ legal and entertainment circles. Christensen, 67, was one of more than a dozen people charged in an FBI probe – into the alleged bribery of law enforcement officers, high-tech eavesdropping, blackmail, witness intimidation and other bids to corrupt the judicial system – that has centered on investigator-to-the-stars Pellicano.

Christensen is accused of paying Pellicano $100,000 to wiretap the former wife of Christensen’s longtime client, Kirk Kerkorian, to gain a tactical edge in a bitter child-support case between the billionaire investor and his wife, Lisa Bonder Kerkorian.

Christensen had long helped Kerkorian, one of the nation’s richest people and a Hollywood fixture for more than 30 years, oversee a vast empire that includes the MGM Grand and Bellagio hotels and, until last year, the MGM studio.

According to the indictment, the wiretapping of Lisa Kerkorian began March 15, 2002, when an attorney called Pellicano and told him to contact Christensen about “going after” the wife’s attorney in the child-custody dispute. During snippets of alleged conversations included in the indictment, Pellicano alluded to eavesdropping on conversations between Lisa Kerkorian and her attorneys that could help Christensen with a court hearing. Pellicano also told Christensen to “be careful” about the information he was receiving from the private eye because “there is only one way for me to know this,” the indictment said.

From the outset, however, Christensen insisted that he had never participated in wiretapping and turned to Pellicano only to investigate death threats and extortion attempts that arose against Kirk Kerkorian and his young daughter during the child-support battle.

His attorneys argued that even presuming the indictment was right, Christensen’s role in the scheme was minimal, spanning three months – from March to May 2002 – and only two of 111 counts in the federal indictment, one each of conspiracy and wire-tapping. Christensen was not included in the racketeering counts against Pellicano and his other co-defendants, including a Los Angeles police officer and a telephone company employee, they pointed out.

In the last several months, as a mountain of government documents and tapes were shared with defense attorneys, Christensen’s lawyers said that trying him with the other defendants would prejudice his chances at acquittal.

“This is a big win for the Christensen defense,” said Loyola Law School professor Laurie Levenson, who has closely followed the case.

The former federal prosecutor noted that Pellicano is now acting as his own lawyer and could stumble at trial.

Levenson also said that by ensuring Pellicano goes first, Christensen will be able to look over the strengths and weaknesses of the government’s overall case. “So his defense will have more information and more information is usually helpful in pursuing your case,” she said.

The trial of Pellicano and his remaining three co-defendants is expected to last perhaps two months. Christensen’s trial will begin after that case ends.

In the court hearing today, the judge admonished prosecutors and defense attorneys to refrain at trial from the recent sniping that has been evident in court papers and pretrial proceedings.

“You all need to step back here… . It appears that personalities have gotten in the way of professionalism,” Fischer told the attorneys, later reminding them to remember that “law is a profession and not a game.”

greg.krikorian@latimes.com