Mitnick's Trial Delayed
   by Douglas Thomas 
   8:25 a.m.  4.Dec.98.PST

   LOS ANGELES -- A US District Court judge on Thursday approved a
   three-month trial delay in the case of accused computer cracker Kevin
   Mitnick. The trial, originally set to begin 19 January, has been
   pushed back to 20 April.

   Mitnick, in custody since 1995, is facing a 25-count federal
   indictment for allegedly copying proprietary software from the
   computers of cellular telephone manufacturers.

   Mitnick's defense requested more time based on the government's
   failure to comply with a discovery order issued by the court in
   June. In that order, the government was told to turn over witness
   statements and to provide copies of the 10 gigabytes of electronic
   evidence that is to be used against Mitnick in trial.

   In a motion filed last week, the defense argued that the government's
   failure to produce relevant evidence made it impossible to prepare
   Mitnick's defense. Assistant US Attorney David Schindler agreed to the
   continuance without argument.

   US District Court Judge Mariana Pfaelzer expressed her disapproval
   with the request for a delay. "The court wants to go to trial," she
   told Mitnick and his attorney, echoing her previous statement that she
   was "very, very anxious try this case."

   Pfaelzer indicated further disapproval with the defense filing,
   directing her comments specifically at Don Randolph, Mitnick's
   attorney.

   "I don't like the way you write at all, Mr. Randolph," Pfaelzer said,
   referring to his reply to the prosecution's latest filing.

   Several other issues regarding evidence and discovery appear to have
   been negotiated by opposing counsels, including the government's
   production of an exhibit list and the remainder of discovery, which
   centers on providing Mitnick with access to the electronic evidence
   for review.

   After delays of nearly six months, Mitnick was recently issued a
   laptop computer to review the evidence against him in electronic form.
   The computer is the first that he has been allowed to touch in the
   nearly four years he has been in custody.

   His computer time will be restricted to business hours at the
   detention center, and will be closely supervised. He will not have
   access to the encrypted files that the government has reportedly not
   been able to decipher.

   The 1,400 page collection of witness statements, presented to the
   defense last week was "only surprising in terms of its lack of
   surprises," according to Randolph.

   There was one glaring omission, however: Tsutomu Shimomura, the
   computer expert who played a central role in exposing Mitnick,
   apparently will not be a part of the government's case.

   Shimomura, along with New York Times writer John Markoff, popularized
   the story of Mitnick's case in their 1996 book Takedown. The book is
   now in production as a Miramax film.

   Schindler downplayed Shimomura's absence, saying "our case is
   independent of the public perceptions or misperceptions." This
   suggests that the prosecution intends to focus instead on the
   statements of the "victims alleged in the indictment."

   According to Randolph, Pfaelzer's rulings Thursday were a victory for
   the defense.

   "We got everything we asked for," Randolph said, including the trial
   continuance, the electronic discovery, an agreement about supervision,
   and a commitment from government attorneys to produce their exhibit
   list within a week.

   Randolph added that there was a "certain amount of irony" to the way
   this case has proceeded, noting that the court is often "critical of
   defense requests" while always seeming to grant them.