Trials: The Fat Man's Song

In the old joke, the opera is not over until the fat lady sings. In the trial of John De Lorean for conspiracy to distribute co caine, one courtroom observer noted last week, "It all comes down to the fat man." The fat man is James Timothy Hoffman, the Government informant who helped orchestrate the video taped hotel-room negotiations in October 1982 that are key to the Government's charges against De Lorean. Defense Lawyer Howard Weitzman, having rattled a previous Government witness, predicted confidently, "I'm going to chop Hoffman up into little pieces."

After 14 days on the stand in Los Angeles, however, Hoffman was still unchopped. He gave lengthy testimony and shot off an occasional "Incorrect" or "That's not what I said" when he thought Weitzman was misleading him. Above all he was candid. Why had he become a Government informer? "To stay out of jail." Hadn't he evaded income taxes for seven years? "Yes." At one point Hoffman became so eloquent that even the most skeptical onlookers were impressed. Money was of course a factor in his Government work, he allowed, but so was "the small amount of respect" he received from the agents who directed him. "I enjoyed the feeling of doing something that was worthwhile."