Private Detectives

Tossing a legal hand grenade into an already-contentious case, celebrity sleuth Anthony Pellicano on Friday demanded and won the right to act as his own lawyer in his upcoming trial on wiretapping and racketeering charges. U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer tried to talk Pellicano out of his plan, but he would not relent. "I urge you to let me appoint counsel for you," Fischer implored in federal court in downtown Los Angeles. "You're very kind, your honor, but no, thank you," Pellicano said.

Sentencing was set for June 20 in the case of a private investigator who pleaded guilty to identity theft and conspiracy charges in the federal investigation of Hewlett-Packard Co.'s ill-fated boardroom spying probe. Bryan Wagner, 29, of Littleton, Colo., pleaded guilty to the two felony counts during his initial appearance in San Jose federal court.

Days after persuading a judge to let him represent himself at trial, indicted private investigator Anthony Pellicano is again poised to use private lawyers in his defense against federal charges of racketeering and wiretapping. San Francisco attorney Steven F. Gruel said Tuesday that he and Los Angeles lawyer Michael Artan hoped to be named Pellicano's counsel. A judge granted Pellicano permission to represent himself 12 days ago.

Defense attorneys for a codefendant of indicted private investigator Anthony Pellicano have accused federal agents pursuing a wiretapping case against the pair of leaking confidential information. In a motion filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, lawyers for entertainment attorney Terry Christensen call on the court to force New York Times reporters David Halbfinger and Allison Hope Weiner to reveal the names of their sources for a report published Jan. 11 in the newspaper.

A federal judge Monday said she would personally review the government's investigation into the disclosure of confidential documents in the Anthony Pellicano wiretapping case, amid claims that the latest leak was triggered by a previously unreported FBI interview of billionaire Kirk Kerkorian. U.S. District Judge Dale S.

A former Hewlett-Packard Co. private investigator will have state charges that he posed as a reporter to get telephone records dropped because he pleaded guilty to similar federal counts, a California prosecutor said. Bryan Wagner, 29, of Littleton, Colo., was the first person to plead guilty to federal charges of identity theft and conspiracy stemming from the Palo Alto-based company's investigation of boardroom leaks. California Atty. Gen.

The latest and perhaps final federal indictment in the long-running Anthony Pellicano investigation raised new allegations Wednesday about how the onetime Hollywood private eye conspired with attorney Terry Christensen to wiretap the ex-wife of billionaire Kirk Kerkorian. While it did not charge any new defendants, the grand jury indictment named two new victims of Pellicano's alleged racketeering.

State prosecutors on Wednesday charged a San Joaquin, Calif., private investigator with forging and falsifying documents to help four death row inmates in what authorities called one of the largest frauds on the justice system in California history.

A Los Angeles judge Wednesday ordered a private investigator who worked for high-profile criminal defendants including Michael Jackson and Winona Ryder to stand trial for allegedly conspiring to pay off an alleged rape victim. Superior Court Judge Lance A. Ito ruled there was sufficient evidence to try Bradley G. Miller, along with George Izquierdo, a Realtor whose son is charged with the rape, and Camilo Valentin, Izquierdo's employee.

Nearly a year after confidential FBI documents in the wiretap and racketeering case of Anthony Pellicano were disclosed, defense attorneys have stepped up their push for a federal judge to independently investigate who leaked the evidence to the New York Times. Times reporters David M. Halbfinger and Allison Hope Weiner used the reports to write several stories about Hollywood bigwigs, including attorney Bert Fields, former agent Michael Ovitz and others, who have not been charged in the case.