LA Lawyer Christensen Sentenced to 3 Years in Wiretapping Case

[WSJ_law_blog]

Today was one of reckoning for prominent Los Angeles attorney Terry Christensen. He was sentenced to three years in federal prison and fined $250,000 for conspiring with Hollywood private investigator Anthony Pellicano (pictured) to wiretap billionaire Kirk Kerkorian’s former wife, for which Christensen was convicted in August. Click here for the LA Times story; here for all the LB coverage on L’Affaire Pellicano, which goes back years. Yes, years.

Christensen, 67, who was an attorney for Kerkorian, was accused of hiring Pellicano to listen in on the phone conversations of Lisa Bonder Kerkorian during a bitterly fought child support case. The lawyer and investigator were each charged with two felony counts relating to the alleged wiretap. In the end, notes the LAT, Christensen was the only one to be indicted among a number of marquee entertainment attorneys who used Pellicano’s services.

U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer on Monday ordered Christensen to serve three years of supervised release after his prison term. He will remain free pending an appeal.

According to the LAT, Fischer said before issuing her sentence that Christensen had not taken responsibility or expressed remorse for his criminal actions that had “marred the legal profession” and “cast a shadow of distrust over the legal system.”

Terree Bowers, an attorney for Christensen, said his client’s conviction had been enough punishment and argued for a sentence of home confinement. “This has been a humiliating experience for him, and he is mortified,” Bowers said, noting that Christensen left the law firm he founded and has been suspended by the state bar. “The message has gone out loud and clear.”