Anthony Pellicano

While his defense lawyer watched, intent but helpless to stop it, former Los Angeles Police Department Sgt. Mark Arneson underwent an eviscerating cross-examination on Wednesday at the federal trial of private detective Anthony Pellicano. Assistant U.S. Atty.

Entertainment lawyer Bert Fields will not testify today in the trial of Los Angeles private detective Anthony Pellicano. Chad Hummel, the defense attorney for former Los Angeles Police Department Sgt. Mark Arneson, a co-defendant, had planned earlier to call the well-known lawyer but decided against it Thursday. "The reasons are confidential," Hummel said. Fields' testimony has been eagerly awaited by trial observers. Fields' attorney, Brian Sun, said it was Hummel's decision not to call Fields, who had employed Pellicano on multiple occasions.

A now-retired FBI agent was grilled Friday on why he didn't investigate legitimate jobs former Los Angeles Police Sgt. Mark Arneson may have worked for Hollywood private eye Anthony Pellicano. Arneson, 54, in earlier testimony admitted that he did "cross the line" by snooping in police files for Pellicano, who is on trial on wiretapping and racketeering charges. Arneson maintained that the $195,000 Pellicano paid him was for legal services, including guarding the detective's Hollywood clients.

Editor's note: Rachel Abramowitz will be periodically checking in on the trial of Anthony Pellicano -- former private eye to the stars, who faces 79 counts of racketeering, wiretapping, conspiracy and other federal charges -- and writing about what the case means to Hollywood.

Pellicano trial: An article about the Anthony Pellicano trial in Monday's Calendar section said, "It was 'Waiting for Godot' week at the Pellicano trial," and added that "Godot wasn't a Brechtian invocation of God but of esquire Bertram Fields, famed Hollywood mega-lawyer, and Pellicano's benefactor." "Waiting for Godot" was written by Samuel Beckett, not Bertolt Brecht.

Keeping to his carefully cultivated image as the man who prizes loyalty above all else, Los Angeles private detective Anthony Pellicano told a federal judge Wednesday that he would not take the stand to defend himself against charges of wiretapping and racketeering if it meant talking about his clients. "I am not -- Mr. Pellicano is not going to discuss conversations with his clients," said Pellicano, who is representing himself in the trial. "It's not going to happen. Ever.

In the courtroom drama starring Los Angeles private detective Anthony Pellicano, they are the supporting players -- the disgraced cop, the one-time Las Vegas businessman, the former phone company technician and the computer whiz. It is Pellicano who faces the most counts and casts the biggest shadow over the trial, now in its eighth week.

In a Perry Mason-like turn of events, federal prosecutors in the criminal trial of private detective Anthony Pellicano put a witness on the stand Friday to further impeach Pellicano's co-defendant, former Police Sgt. Mark Arneson -- only to have Arneson's attorney impeach the witness and raise the specter of a mistrial for the former cop. Pellicano is facing multiple counts of wiretapping and racketeering. Arneson, one of four co-defendants, faces charges of racketeering and illegal access of law enforcement databases to get confidential information for Pellicano.

A federal judge Monday denied former Los Angeles Police Sgt. Mark Arneson's request for a mistrial on charges of racketeering and illegal access to law enforcement databases to get information for private detective Anthony Pellicano. Arneson is one of four co-defendants on trial with Pellicano. The private eye faces numerous counts of wiretapping and racketeering.

After all the testimony about Anthony Pellicano -- the industry titans who said he loyally helped them during troubled times, the harassed men and women who recalled being targeted at their most vulnerable times -- a federal prosecutor, in arguments Tuesday, reduced him from a powerful private detective to a "very well-connected and very well-paid thug." Masquerading as a legitimate private investigation agency, Pellicano's business "was nothing more than a criminal organization," Assistant U.S.