S.F. LAWYER LOSES LAWSUIT AGAINST FORMER CLIENT

Drug Smuggler Hadn'T Acted From Ill Will, Jury Found

San Francisco lawyer Patrick Hallinan suffered a personal defeat yesterday
when a jury rejected his suit accusing a former client of falsely
implicating him in an international drug smuggling ring.

After a three-week trial in a San Francisco Superior Court, a jury found
that convicted drug smuggler Ciro Mancuso did not act out of malice toward
Hallinan when he provided information to federal agents that led to the
lawyer's arrest in 1993. Hallinan was acquitted of all charges two years later.

Hallinan charged that his ex-client, who is serving a nine-year sentence in
a federal penitentiary, lied to the government about Hallinan's involvement
in the drug operation as part of a plea bargain with prosecutors.

Hallinan was seeking $900,000 in damages for the attorney fees he paid to
defend himself as well as the money he lost during the two years he was
forced to close his practice while the charges were pending against him.

Mancuso was a Squaw Valley developer and mastermind of a $140 million
marijuana-smuggling ring. He was arrested on drug charges in 1989. Facing a
life term for drug smuggling, Mancuso struck a plea bargain in which he
agreed to cooperate with prosecutors and accused Hallinan of helping
suppress evidence and launder money.

In exchange, Mancuso, 51, received a reduced sentence and was allowed to
keep $4 million in assets. Hallinan estimates that Mancuso has as much as
$9.5 million in assets, due, in part, to the plea bargain he struck with
prosecutors.

Hallinan had to prove that Mancuso acted with ill will toward him when the
drug dealer set him up for indictment by lying to federal agents.

After yesterday's verdict was announced, jurors told the lawyers that they
believed Mancuso had lied about Hallinan's involvement in the drug operation
in an effort to save himself but was not out to get Hallinan.

``I`m disappointed,'' Hallinan said following the verdict. He said he was
gratified that the jury had found that Mancuso had made a false statement to
federal agents, lending credence to Hallinan's 1995 acquittal.

``They found that Mancuso lied, and I didn't,'' said Hallinan, the brother
of San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan. He said the jurors told
him that they ultimately ruled against him because they found that the
government and not Mancuso made the decision to prosecute him.

Hallinan said he blamed both Mancuso and federal agents, but was barred from
suing the government because it is immune from lawsuits.

The criminal defense lawyer said he is considering whether to appeal the
verdict.

(c)1999 San Francisco Chronicle Page A22