Ex-player grilled in testimony

SANTA ANA -- A key prosecution witness in an insider trading case testified this week that he was guilty but allowed his lawyer to tell a jury otherwise last year.

Former baseball player Doug Decinces, now testifying against his former co-defendant in a deal with the U.S. attorney's office, told the jury that he knew his defense attorney, Kenneth B. Julian of Manatt Phelps and Phillps LLP, was wrong when he told a jury last year that he was innocent.

The testimony occurred during cross examination from Richard Marmaro of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affliates that began Wednesday and ended Thursday.

Marmaro's defense of DeCinces' former friend, corporate CEO James Mazzo, involves jurors trusting Mazzo over DeCinces, and the veteran trial attorney assailed the former Major League Baseball player's credibility from the first question.

Noting that he'd stuck with the position for eight years, Marmaro asked DeCinces if he and his lawyer consistently said he didn't buy stock in Advanced Medical Optics based on proprietary information about its sale to Abbott Laboratories, which occurred in 2009. DeCinces said the jury that convicted him last year heard "truthful evidence" and tried to distance himself from Julian's arguments, saying, "I cannot control what my attorney says."

Reached later Thursday, Julian said, "All of my arguments were made based on what the evidence showed in the trial."

DeCinces had answered Marmaro's questions amid overruled objections from Assistant U.S. attorney Jennifer L. Waier and, from the audience, Julian, who told U.S. District Judge Andrew J. Guilford that DeCinces' answers would violate their attorney-client privilege. Guildford overruled Julian's objection.

During the continued cross-examination Marmaro said to Decinces: "Now, that lie that was told was told in your presence, is that correct?"

Waier objected, saying, "This calls for constitutional issues," but Guilford overruled and DeCinces answered "yes."

Marmaro tried to show that DeCinces is wrongfully claiming to be guilty so he can help convict his former friend and avoid a lengthy prison sentence.

Marmaro maintains what DeCinces and Julian argued in the first trial that DeCinces bought Advanced stock at the advice of his friend and neighbor Dick Pickup, a renowned Orange County investor who partnered with DeCinces on various investments including his Strawberry Farms golf course and the Ruby's restaurant chain.

Marmaro went through trades made by DeCinces' friends and the criminal actions that followed, including the case against lawyer F. Scott Jackson, name partner at Jackson Tidus ALC,in Irvine. Jackson was indicted with DeCinces. His charges were dropped in a plea deal in 2016. DeCinces on Thursday described Jackson, who bought Advanced stock while eating breakfast with DeCinces, as a "very large gambler."

"You knew he was kind of compulsive, correct?" Marmaro asked.

"Yeah, very compulsive," DeCinces answered.

At one point, Marmaro focused on the fact that DeCinces bought Advanced stock in his grandchildren's names. "The real reason you put the trades in your grandchildren's accounts was because at the time, you didn't believe you were doing anything illegal. Isn't that right?" Marmaro asked.

"I felt that I had enough other information, but at the same token, I was making trades on the private information that Jim had disclosed to me at that time, so I knew that was wrong," DeCinces said, referring to Mazzo.

Marmaro also questioned DeCinces about his deal with the U.S. attorney's office, which calls for prosecutors to recommend a significantly reduced sentence than what DeCinces faces under U.S. sentencing guidelines.

DeCinces' offense level for his conviction was 24, which gave him a standard sentencing range of 51 to 63 months. According to documents provided to Marmaro by the U.S. attorney's office, prosecutors offered him a two-point reduction for acceptance of responsibility that knocked him down to 41 to 51 months, then offered another two-point reduction as a variance under United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220 (2005) that put him at 33 to 41 months. Then, despite already offering a reduction for cooperation, prosecutors offered a further reduction of four points if DeCinces cooperated after his initial interview, which put him at 21 to 27 months.

Prosecutors promised to recommend the low end of the range, and they also promised to recommend another reduction that would put the low end at zero months in prison. DeCinces said he believes there's only an outside chance he'd avoid prison. United States v. DeCinces, CR12-00269 (C.D. Cal., filed Nov. 28, 2012).

The trial went about a half hour longer than scheduled Thursday so DeCinces could finish testifying because he's to be in Texas next week for a civil trial in a patent lawsuit in which his online ticketing company CEATS is a plaintiff. CEATS, Inc., v. Ticket Network Inc and Ticket Software LLC, CV15-01470 (N.D. Texas, filed Aug. 28, 2015).

Marmaro's final question echoed what he said in his opening statement about the case being a credibility contest.

"Am I correct, sir, that with regard to those four conversations, it's your word against Jim Mazzo's?" Marmaro asked.

"Yes," DeCinces answered.