Shapiro Robert L. - The search for justice: a defense attorneys brief on the O.J. Simpson case

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Copyright 1996 by Robert L. Shapiro

978-1-63168-255-1

This edition published in 2019 by Graymalkin Media

www.graymalkin.com

For Line11, Brent, and Grant

June. 12. Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Lyle Goldman are stabbed to death, their bodies found in the front courtyard of the former s Brentwood condominium on Bundy Drive.

June. 13. In Chicago, O.J. Simpson is notified of his former wife s death. He returns to Los Angeles from a Hertz business trip, is temporarily handcuffed, and taken downtown by police for questioning. That evening, Robert Shapiro is contacted on Simpson s behalf and asked to become defense counsel.

June. 16. The funerals of the victims are held.

June. 17. As he s about to be arrested for murder, O.J. slips out of Robert Kardashian s home and goes on Bronco ride with friend A.C. Cowlings. When he returns to his home on Rockingham, Simpson is taken into custody.

June. 24. Grand jury recused.

July. 8. Six-day preliminary hearing results: Judge Kathleen Kennedy-Powell rules there is ample evidence for O.J. Simpson to stand trial on two counts of first-degree murder.

July. 22. O.J. pleads absolutely 100 percent not guilty to the charges. Judge Lance A. Ito assigned to hear case.

Aug. 18. Defense counsel files motion to obtain personnel records of Detective Mark Fuhrman.

Sept. 2. District attorney files motion to sequester jury.

Sept. 9. District attorney announces that the People will not seek the death penalty.

Sept. 19. Although Judge Ito finds that detectives acted with a reckless disregard for the truth, he upholds the legality of the search of Simpson s home.

Sept. 26. First day of jury selection. Process will ultimately take five weeks.

NOV. 3. Jury panel selected: eight black, one white, one Hispanic, two mixed race; eight women, four men.

Dec. 8. Alternate jury selected.

Jan. 4. Defense waives Kelly-Frye hearing, which would have challenged prosecution s DNA evidence.

Jan. 11. The jury is sequestered. Hearing held re defense arguments against admissibility of domestic-abuse evidence.

Jan. 13. Prosecutor Christopher Darden and defense attorney Johnnie Cochran have heated exchange over racist language, specifically the n word, regarding the upcoming testimony of Mark Fuhrman.

Jan. 24. First day of trial. Prosecutors Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden deliver opening arguments.

Jan. 25. Johnnie Cochran makes opening statement for the defense.

Jan. 27. O.J. Simpson s book, I Want to Tell You, is published.

Feb. 3. Nicole Brown s sister Denise testifies to O.J. s mistreatment of her sister.

Feb. 12. Jurors, judge, and attorneys for both prosecution and defense take field trip to O.J. s home and Bundy Drive crime scene.

Marc. 15. Detective Mark Fuhrman, cross-examined by defense attorney F. Lee Bailey, adamantly denies using the word nigger at any time in previous ten years.

April 11. L.A.P.D. criminalist Dennis Fung testifies. Under cross-examination by defense attorney Barry Scheck, he concedes litany of procedural errors.

Apri. 21. After three sheriff s deputies are reassigned, jurors protest, at first refusing to come to court, later showing up dressed in black.

May. 4. Wrongful death suit filed on behalf of Frederick Goldman and Kim Goldman, Ron Goldman s father and sister.

May. 10. DNA testimony begins with testimony of Dr. Robin Cotton.

May. 15. O.J. tries on the bloody gloves in front of the jury. They don t fit.

July. 6. The prosecution rests its case against O.J. Simpson.

July. 10. Arnelle Simpson, O.J. s daughter, is first witness called in defense case.

Aug. 15. Controversy over possible conflict of interest re Judge Ito, his wife, L.A.P.D. captain Margaret York, and Mark Fuhrman tapes. Marcia Clark asks Ito to recuse himself from Simpson trial.

Aug. 16. Clark changes her mind on Ito recusal. In turn, Ito will ask a second judge to rule on relevancy of Captain York s testimony.

Aug. 18. Superior court judge John Reid rules that Captain York is not relevant to Simpson trial and need not testify.

Aug. 29. Portions of Fuhrman tapes are played in court, with jury absent.

Aug. 31. Judge Ito rules that jury will hear only two excerpts of controversial tapes. Attorney Robert Tourtelot, who represented Fuhrman in potential lawsuit against Shapiro, resigns as Fuhrman s lawyer.

Sept. 5. The jury hears excerpts from Fuhrman tapes.

Sept. 6. With jury absent, Mark Fuhrman appears on stand, invoking his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.

Sept. 7. The defense announces that O.J. Simpson won t testify on his own behalf and requests that the judge instruct jury as to reason for Fuhrman s further nonappearance. Judge agrees, but prosecution objects. The question goes to appeals court.

Sept. 8. Appeals court rejects Ito s jury instruction.

Sept. 11. Defense refuses to rest their case due to the unresolved question of judge s instruction to jury re Fuhrman. In an unprecedented move, Ito orders prosecution to begin its rebuttal.

Sept. 18. Prosecution conditionally rests its case.

Sept. 19. Detective Vannatter is cross-examined by Shapiro on statements he made to mob informants, the Fiato brothers, about why police went to O.J. s residence.

Sept. 21. Ito gives jury the option of finding O.J. guilty of second-degree murder.

Sept. 22. Both defense and prosecution rest their cases. In a statement to judge waiving his right to testify, O.J. says, I did not, could not, and would not have committed this crime. Judge Ito gives jury instructions.

Sept. 2. and 27. Clark and Darden deliver prosecution s closing arguments.

Sept. 2. and 28. Cochran and Scheck deliver defense s closing arguments. Cochran makes controversial statements to the jury comparing Fuhrman to Hitler, which creates furor both inside the courtroom and out.

Sept. 29. The case goes to the jury.

Oct. 2. After less than four hours, jury announces that it has reached a verdict.

Oct. 3. Jury finds O.J. Simpson not guilty of two counts of murder.