http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/16684.html


   Mitnick: 'I Am Tired of Delays'
   by Douglas Thomas 
   2:09 p.m.  7.Dec.98.PST

   LOS ANGELES -- Alleged computer cracker Kevin Mitnick said a
   three-month delay in the start of his trial will still not give his
   defense adequate time to review the government's case against him.

   "I don't think it is possible to be ready by April 20th," Mitnick said
   in a telephone interview Saturday from the Los Angeles Metropolitan
   Detention Center. The interview was one of the first Mitnick has
   granted to media since his arrest in February 1995.

   "I don't like being stuck here in jail -- especially without a bail
   hearing," Mitnick added.

   On Thursday, a US District Court judge rescheduled the trial from 19
   January to 20 April in order to give attorneys more time to prepare.

   Mitnick faces a 25-count federal indictment for allegedly copying
   proprietary software from the computer companies. The charges against
   him include 14 counts of wire fraud, eight counts of illegal
   possession of computer files and passwords, and one count each of
   unauthorized access to a federal computer, damaging a computer, and
   unlawfully intercepting electronic communications.

   Mitnick appealed the refusal of his bail hearing to the US Supreme
   Court, but it declined to hear the case in August.

   After years of delays, in June he waived his right to a speedy trial
   as a condition of having the date pushed back.

   "Nobody understands," he lamented on Saturday. "I'm basically being
   forced to do it."

   Mitnick attributes the delay to the government's withholding of
   evidence in order to gain a tactical advantage in court. "I have one
   of two choices: go to trial with an attorney who isn't prepared to
   competently represent me or waive my right to a speedy trial."

   One of the primary issues for Mitnick's defense team is the
   government's delay in sharing evidence it will present against
   Mitnick. The process, known as discovery, allows the defense to begin
   preparing for trial. The government was ordered by the court in June
   to make complete discovery to the defense.

   Last week, government attorneys supplied Mitnick's defense counsel
   with 1,400 pages of witness statements, and they have made
   preparations for Mitnick to review nearly 10 gigabytes of electronic
   evidence. The material arrived five months after the court's original
   order and less than a week before the 5 December filing deadline for
   pretrial motions.

   The defense attributed the delay to the government's failure to
   provide information to them in a timely manner. In a 2 December brief,
   the prosecutors called that claim "misleading."

   The government, however, was almost 30 days late in submitting the
   witness statements to the defense and still has not produced an
   exhibit list as required by a court order from last June.

   The defense also said there were problems with the electronic
   evidence being prepared for review by Mitnick. Many of the files on
   two laptops seized from Mitnick were stored in a compressed format.
   The government has decompressed those files but in such a way that
   their original directory and file structures have become
   unrecognizable.

   Further, the computer to be used to review that evidence must be
   inspected by the defense's experts, and the details of the protective
   order which will cover the electronic evidence has not yet been worked
   out.

   Ironing out these details could mean further delays, which Mitnick
   sees as another obstacle to his preparation for trial. "I've waited
   long enough, and I am really frustrated," he said.

   Mitnick's defense team, which includes attorney Don Randolph and his
   assistant attorney Greg Vinson, have an enormous task ahead of them.
   In addition to reviewing the evidence, Mitnick's lawyers need to
   arrange interviews with scores of witnesses and prepare questions in
   response to witness statements.

   The list spans the globe, including principal witnesses in Japan,
   Finland, Great Britain, and Canada. Mitnick's team still needs to
   review nearly all of the electronic data, hire expert witnesses and an
   investigator, and conduct their own witness interviews in order to
   submit pretrial motions before an early March filing deadline.