Pellicano, lawyer convicted of conspiracy

updated 10:48 p.m. ET Sept. 3, 2008

LOS ANGELES - Former Hollywood private eye Anthony Pellicano and his entertainment lawyer co-defendant were convicted Friday of charges linked to the wiretapping of billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian’s former wife in a child support battle.

Pellicano and attorney Terry Christensen were each convicted of conspiracy to commit wiretapping. Pellicano was also convicted of wiretapping and Christensen was convicted of aiding and abetting a wiretap.

“We are disappointed, think the jury is wrong, and we will be appealing,” said Patricia Glaser, Christensen’s attorney and law partner.

Pellicano and Christensen were accused of recording Lisa Bonder Kerkorian’s phone conversations in an effort to disprove her claims that MGM mogul Kirk Kerkorian was the father of her young daughter.

Each of the 64-year-old defendants faces up to 10 years in federal prison and $500,000 in fines when sentenced Sept. 24 by U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer.

Pellicano was convicted of illegal wiretapping and racketeering in a separate case earlier this year. He was remanded back to jail after the latest verdicts were announced.

Christensen, who is free on $100,000 bond, was ordered to surrender his passport and instructed not to travel outside of central California without permission.

The jury began deliberating Wednesday but had to start again Thursday when Fischer dismissed one juror for making questionable comments about the severity of the charges in the jury room and then lying about making them.

The case was built on recorded conversations between Pellicano and Christensen in which prosecutors said they discussed Bonder Kerkorian’s private phone calls. Jurors heard a playback of several conversations during deliberations.

Glaser stressed to jurors that no actual recordings of the phone calls were ever recovered.

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