Chad Hummel

Roman Polanski v. L.A. Superior Court: Act 3

For someone who's declared his intention to never return to the United States, Roman Polanski is certainly keen on clearing his name in Los Angeles court. The 75-year-old film auteur (Repulsion, Chinatown, The Pianist) fled the country for voluntary European exile in 1978 after an L.A. judge indicat ... More >>

Day of Wrath: Anthony Pellicano's Co-defendants Get Sentenced

When they put the cuffs on Ray Turner the convictions that had ended the Anthony Pellicano trial last May suddenly seemed real. On Tuesday afternoon the racketeering verdicts now acquired the metallic sound of consequences and finality -- coming after federal Judge Dale Fischer, having read Turner h ... More >>

Roman Polanski's Catch-22

Next Wednesday fugitive film director Roman Polanski will get a hearing in Superior Court on his lawyers' request to have longstanding charges stemming from his having sex with a minor dismissed. How a judge will rule on the motion, given that the alleged crime occurred 32 years ago, is anyone's gue ... More >>

Pellicano-Christensen Case Goes to Jury

Pellicano Juror Reveals Inner Workings

Juror No. 7 speaks out on Anthony Pellicano, Anita Busch and Christian values

Guilty As Charged: Anthony Pellicano trial ends with prosecution victory

Anthony Pellicano, onetime “P.I. to the Stars,” was convicted today of 76 of the 77 counts he faced for racketeering, wire fraud and identity theft. As Judge Dale Fischer began reading the first of the jury’s guilty verdicts at 12:15 p.m., Pellicano displayed the stoic bravado he showed throu ... More >>

Pellicano Trial’s Restless Defense

Today defense attorneys in the racketeering trial of Anthony Pellicano and four co-defendants began their closing arguments, with lead-off hitter Chad Hummel attacking prosecutor Daniel Saunders’ Tuesday closer on two fronts. Hummel reliably tried to exploit the government’s court pratfall of la ... More >>

Pellicano Trial Bombshell

Witness shocker throws trial in turmoil For days Chad Hummel had been uncharacteristically quiet as the trial of famed private eye Anthony Pellicano and four codefendants wound down this week. Normally Hummel’s baritoned objections could be heard ricocheting off the walls on behalf of his clien ... More >>

Pellicano Trial Enters Home Stretch

Killing Fields testimony

Pellicano Trial's Freaky Friday

Pellicano Defense Finishes Its First Week It’s a crime to lie to the FBI, so I won’t: The courtroom was bored to tears with Friday's appearance by its former special agent, Stanley Ornellas. A big man with a brutal face and soft voice, Ornellas was the bureau’s lead investigator into the case ... More >>

Pellicano Trial Prosecutors Rest Their Case

The color of dirt

Ex-Cop Gets Third Degree

Pellicano Briefs Team Pellicano is now taking its turn at bat, but the past few days of the defense’s case have seemed like prosecution by other means. Last Friday co-defendant Mark Arneson took the witness stand on his own behalf and the affable, three-hour colloquy between Arneson and his attor ... More >>

Pellicano Defense Goes on the Offense

Sparky remembers to forget On Thursday the prosecution’s guns in the racketeering trial of Anthony Pellicano and four co-defendants fell silent as the government rested its case-in-chief that afternoon. Friday morning came and spectators filled Courtroom 890 in the Roybal Federal Building to watc ... More >>

Pellicano Trial reveals Hollywood's Top Bottom Feeders

The Sleaze Factor-y

Chris Rock Guest-Stars at the Pellicano Circus

For once Chris Rock played the straight man. From the moment he stepped into court Friday to testify at Anthony Pellicano’s racketeering trial, Rock appeared somber and apprehensive. With hands clasped behind his back, he looked like a condemned man walking to the electric chair. Rock, wearing a d ... More >>

Sex and Nerds Invade Pellicano Trial

'Tis pity she was a whore

Anthony Pellicano’s Female Trouble

Cheetahs never prosper In a Dickensian twist, Anthony Pellicano was confronted this past week by women whose lives he had touched over the years – although the ladies in question might claim “blighted” is a more appropriate word. Tuesday saw L.A. assistant district attorney Karla Kerlin take ... More >>

Anthony Pellicano's Gang of Five Stand Trial

It isn't racket science