U.S. judge postpones Pellicano’s wiretapping trial until August

The highly anticipated federal wiretapping and racketeering trial of Anthony Pellicano and six others was pushed back Monday to next August, over the objections of the imprisoned private investigator.

After a brief hearing, U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer agreed with a request from prosecutors and attorneys for most of Pellicano’s co-defendants that the trial be delayed from its scheduled start in February.

In requesting the delay, lawyers cited the number of defendants and the complexity of the case. Defense attorneys also said they needed more time to pore over the voluminous evidence in the case, including more than 150,000 pages of documents and 440-plus recorded conversations.

At the hearing, Pellicano’s attorney, Steven Gruel, said his client “vigorously objects” to a long delay in the trial. Unlike all but one of his co-defendants, Pellicano has been in custody since February, when a federal grand jury indictment was unsealed charging the onetime private eye and others with engaging in a variety of illegal acts -- including wiretaps -- to give Pellicano’s clients an advantage in legal disputes with others. He and his co-defendants have denied the accusations.

Fischer, citing the arguments of prosecutors and other defense counsel in the case, granted the request to delay the trial. She did, however, shorten the postponement by a month from the September 2007 start date suggested by attorneys from both sides.

Outside court, Gruel expressed disappointment. “We are ready to go to trial,” Gruel said. “It is a shame we have to keep waiting.”

Attorneys for the government and other defendants declined comment.

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