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Nancy Grace
Nancy Grace Mysteries: The Trial of O.J. Simpson
Aired January 24, 2014 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: Tonight on NANCY GRACE MYSTERIES, from NFL superstar to actor, from commercial pitchman...
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O.J. SIMPSON, NFL PLAYER Take it from O.J. Simpson, there`s only one superstar in rent-a-car!
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ANNOUNCER: ... to the trial of the century...
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JOHNNIE COCHRAN, SIMPSON`S ATTORNEY: Remember these words. If it doesn`t fit, you must acquit.
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ANNOUNCER: We take you inside the O.J. Simpson case.
NANCY GRACE, HOST: It was a Saturday night, June 11, Brentwood, California. Neighbors heard a howling and barking of dogs around 10:15 to 10:40-ish that night, 10:15 PM. They did not attribute anything nefarious or evil to that. It was a couple hours later, a little after midnight, that the bodies of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson were found.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After being questioned for more than three hours about the deaths of his ex-wife, Nicole Simpson, and a man identified as Ronald Goldman, O.J. Simpson left Los Angeles police headquarters. Outside, he was hounded by reporters but had nothing to say. His attorney, Howard Weitzman, said Simpson is not a suspect in the case and was fond of his ex-wife.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They seemed to get along on a more than cordial basis. The kids came first with respect to how they related to each other, and I know that he always referred to her as one of the world`s great mothers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But at a news conference held by LAPD, police said Simpson was not off the hook yet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, obviously, we`re not going to rule anyone out, and we will pursue whoever we need to pursue until we bring the party to justice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Nicole Brown was still wearing the little black dress that she had had on the night before when she went to dinner with her family at Bella Luna. And she was lying on her side, scooched up as if she were trying to protect herself, against one of the bottom steps leading up to the home, and one of her legs were jackknifed out from under her, up under a fence.
She was nearly decapitated. Her throat was slit from ear to ear. Actually, only the skin at the nape of the neck, the back of the neck, was holding her head on. Her neck bone had actually been nicked with the knife, the cut went that far through her neck.
The other murder victim was 25-year-old Ronald Lyle Goldman, Ron Goldman. Many legal eagles like myself believe that Goldman was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. And many believe that he had simply done an act of kindness, that being returning a pair of glasses that had been inadvertently left at the restaurant back to Nicole Brown that evening.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The bodies were found around midnight early Monday on a sidewalk outside Nicole Simpson`s condominium, a few miles from where O.J. Simpson lives. Police have not revealed how the two were killed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a horrendous crime. We have two people dead at the scene.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A co-worker of Goldman confirmed that Goldman and Nicole Simpson were friends, and on the night of the murder, Goldman was returning a pair of glasses that belonged to Nicole Simpson.
Earlier in the day, when he had been taken in for questioning by police, Simpson was initially handcuffed. But after his attorney talked to police officers, the handcuffs were taken off.
On Monday, LAPD crime lab technicians went through O.J.`s home and collected samples from a driveway. Officials would not say what they were looking for. But late Monday, detectives removed a pair of men`s tennis shoes from O.J.`s home. His attorney says on Sunday, O.J. Simpson and his former wife attended a dance recital for their daughter in Los Angeles.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s obviously shocked and upset and just wants to do whatever we can do to find out who did this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Authorities say Simpson left Los Angeles later that night on a flight to Chicago. The following day, police searched the hotel room Simpson stayed in near Chicago`s O`Hare airport. When contacted by police about his wife`s death, authorities say Simpson returned to Los Angeles voluntarily. Late Monday, after being questioned by police, Simpson returned to his Los Angeles home. Police would not give details but said they expect a timely conclusion of this case.
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GRACE: Blood was everywhere. There were bloody footprints. There were bloody -- drops of blood. The victims were covered in blood. The pavement was covered in blood, the driveway, the walkway area. And there was a dark leather glove soaked in blood discovered under a plant where it had obviously landed during this incredibly vicious and deadly assault.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First to O.J., wherever you are, for the sake of your family, for the sake of your children, please surrender immediately. Surrender to any law enforcement official at any police station, but please do it immediately.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m not saying that he wouldn`t be a flight risk. I mean, it`s going to be -- I`m very confident we`re going to find O.J. Simpson because this is a man who can`t hide too easily. I mean, his face is well known to millions of people throughout the world.
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GRACE: Five days later, Orenthal James Simpson is charged with two counts of murder with special circumstances. Translation -- special circumstances means the state has the option of seeking the death penalty against him.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At this time, (INAUDIBLE) plead guilty or not guilty?
SIMPSON: Not guilty.
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GRACE: Now, according to police, Simpson agreed to surrender himself. But that day, they have a press conference in which they are angrily declaring Simpson reneges on his deal. He does not surrender himself. Thus begins the low-speed chase with the white Bronco. In it, A.C. or Al Cowlings, who had long been Simpson`s henchman, and O.J. Simpson, O.J. Simpson apparently holding himself hostage with a gun at his head, claiming he was going to commit suicide.
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LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": OK, I`m going to have to interrupt this call. I understand we`re going to go to a live picture in Los Angeles, is that correct? OK. This is Interstate 5, and this is courtesy of KCAL, one of our LA affiliates. Police believe that O.J. Simpson is in that car. OK. Police believe else in that vehicle. Let`s pick up what the KCAL broadcaster is saying.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... at this point, that the officers would do just about whatever they do in any type of a pursuit.
KING: Now they`re telling me that they -- they believe that this vehicle is registered to Al Cowlings, one of O.J.`s oldest friends, a teammate at Southern Cal. And they believe that Al Cowlings was the other person they`re looking for, who was with O.J. earlier today. They believe that this is the car. We do not know this is the car.
The California Highway Patrol has another helicopter -- could be a police helicopter is trailing it. They`re going south through Orange County, but nobody is pulling this car over. And we can only guess as to why not. They may fear that there are arms in that car. They may fear that Simpson may harm himself.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: O.J., wherever you are, for the sake of your family, for the sake of your children, please surrender immediately.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This letter was written by O.J. today. "To whom it may concern. First, everyone understand I had nothing to do with Nicole`s murder. I loved her, always have and always will. If we had a problem, it`s because I loved her so much. I can`t go on. No matter what the outcome, people will look and point. I can`t take that. I can`t subject my children to that. This way, they can move on and go on with their lives. Please, if I`ve done anything worthwhile in my life, let my kids live in peace from you, the press. I`ve had a good life. I`m proud of how I lived. My mama taught me to do unto others. I treated people the way I wanted to be treated."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: O.J. Simpson is scheduled to be arraigned Monday morning for the murders of his ex-wife Nicole and her friend, Ron Goldman. He remains under a 24-hour suicide watch, but neighbors, friends and family are standing by him. They say he wasn`t trying to escape when he led police on a 60-mile freeway chase Friday night.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, what are they going, 35, 40 miles an hour? I mean, he wanted to see and he wanted to talk to his mother.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Simpson`s friend, Al Cowlings, gave the same explanation to police in a 911 call from his car phone.
A.J. COWLINGS, FRIEND OF O.J. SIMPSON: Right now, (INAUDIBLE) OK, but you got to tell the police just to back off. He`s still alive, but he`s got a gun to his head.
911 OPERATOR: OK, hold on a minute. Monica?
COWLINGS: He just want to see his mother! Let me take him to the house.
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GRACE: Now, immediately pleas began being transmitted across the airwaves. Shapiro, the attorney, goes on the air and begs Simpson -- of course, we know he`s not watching TV, that he`s holding himself hostage in a white Bronco. And there are about 10 million people, I guess, watching the chase. So I don`t understand the public plea except to engender sympathy for Simpson.
But Shapiro begs Simpson to honor the deal, turn himself in for the sake of Simpson`s friends and family. Somewhere during all this, a suicide letter emerges, and it is read by attorney Kardashian on the air.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please, just toss it out. You`re scaring everybody, man. The kids need you.
SIMPSON: (INAUDIBLE) to say goodbye to my kids.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Listen, no, we`re not going to say goodbye to your kids. You`re going to see them again. You want to see them again. Please, you`re scaring us, you`re scaring them. There`s a lot of people that love you. Don`t throw it all away.
SIMPSON: Oh!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don`t throw it all away.
SIMPSON: I can`t take this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes, you can. Yes, you can. You got your whole family out here.
SIMPSON: I can`t...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) man, don`t throw this away. Don`t do this. They love you. Don`t do it, O.J. It`s going to work itself out. It`s going to work. O.J.?
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GRACE: This letter, ostensibly a suicide letter, says, basically, Remember O.J., the great. It`s all about O.J. Simpson. That`s what it`s about. Remember me the way I was, this happy, carefree guy, this great athlete. Thank you for making my life special, and I hope I made yours special, too.
Well, he certainly made a lot of people`s lives special because those murders have gone down in the halls of infamy.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The DA`s office is still building its case against Simpson. Garcetti knows it will be a challenge to find an objective jury.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have a national hero. I, as an undergraduate, went to USC. O.J. Simpson was a hero of mine. There was a beauty, a grace about him. He was very successful. People don`t want to believe that he could possibly have done this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A pathologist working with Simpson`s lawyer agrees the case must be decided on the evidence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just because leaks have come out that the evidence is overwhelming doesn`t mean it`s true. I think if 90 percent of people have already prejudged his guilt or innocence, that`s a damning statement about the American legal justice system.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At the University of Southern California, where O.J. Simpson rose to football fame, coaches aren`t taking any chances. Simpson`s old jersey and his 1968 Heisman trophy have been temporarily removed from display for safekeeping.
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SIMPSON: There was no shadowy figure coming down the driveway and going across the driveway. That`s what Marcia Clark told you. That`s not what Alan Park (ph) told you.
KING: O.J., how would you -- would you describe yourself as relieved, angry, what?
SIMPSON: A little bit of everything. I think my basic anger -- and this is the last thing I`m going to say before I leave. My basic anger is these misconceptions. My basic anger is people I`ve heard that have followed the case, I`ve heard experts say, This was the testimony today, and that wasn`t the testimony today.
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GRACE: You`ve got Cowlings driving and Simpson holding a gun to his head, we think. And finally, with Cowlings brokering it, Simpson agrees to get out of the vehicle.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, just toss the gun. Who is that out there? Just toss it. He`s just trying to help. He`s just trying to help, man. He`s just trying to help. Juice, come on. Just toss it. It`s OK. Hey. Hey, man, don`t! Juice, come on! Juice? Juice?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The people in the FOX helicopter, even though they are shooting the pictures that you see now, can with the naked eye see a little bit better than the camera can, and they say that O.J. Simpson has been taken out of that Bronco and put into the police car that if you`ll recall, when it was a little bit lighter, you saw parked right behind the Bronco in the driveway at O.J. Simpson`s home in Brentwood. So it appears that this is, knock on wood, hopefully over, that O.J. Simpson has surrendered.
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GRACE: Police take him not to jail, but back to his place so he can relax, get something to drink, get himself together. So that`s how that went down.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that`s what made the Simpson trial special. She was beautiful, he was a football hero, a television star and rich. It was a trial about the rich and famous, and America devoured it, millions rapt in front of television sets. And that may be how historians remember it. They may mention that the defense used race as a tactic, that the trial somewhat mirrored the tensions which divide Americans. But the trial didn`t change anything between whites and blacks. The lesson may simply be, if you want to learn about America in 1995, examine the drama it couldn`t resist. Bruce Morton, CNN, Washington.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ron and Nicole were butchered by their client! Do any of you believe otherwise? You have seen the evidence in this trial. It is overwhelming!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m fed up, and my emotions are up to here. Over and above the loss of my brother, I have all this other crap to deal with. These last few days have pushed me to the edge. I have never been more offended, OK, by the actions on behalf of the defense. The first comment was their sympathy on behalf of Simpson and the defense team that they feel for us and our family. Ridiculous, OK? Any human being, any true professional, would have extended themselves to us in the last year if they had true sympathy for us.
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GRACE: Let`s talk about the bloody glove. There are actually two bloody gloves. The one found underneath a plant on the crime scene had the victims` blood, both of them, Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman, plus O.J. Simpson`s blood. Plus a long blond hair belonging to Nicole Brown was on that glove found at the murder scene. That was the left-hand glove.
Then cops had to wonder, what happened to the other glove, the right- hand glove? They didn`t wonder for very long because that glove was found behind O.J. Simpson`s guest house at his own home. That glove contained blood of Nicole Brown, blood of Ron Goldman, blood of O.J. Simpson, fibers, blue fibers from Simpson`s Bronco, fibers from the dark sweatsuit that he wore the night of the killing.
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MARCIA CLARK, PROSECUTOR: It`s going to be up to you, ladies and gentlemen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The case of the former football star turned cold- hearted killer...
CLARK: Two people have been brutally murdered, and the evidence consistently will point to the guilt of only one person as their murder.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... or the case of the loving father and ex- husband wrongly accused.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He likes family. He learned that from his mother. He`s got this close-knit family. He likes that. He loves his children. He didn`t want to lose his wife.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: O.J. Simpson`s friend, Ronald Shipp, gave the jury its first dramatic testimony February 1st.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He kind of jokingly just said, you know, that he - - on the ship (ph), I`ve had some dreams of killing her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Prosecutors sprinkled emotion throughout their case, first from Nicole Brown Simpson`s older sister, Denise, February 6th.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did the defendant say about your sister`s weight while she was pregnant?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He used to called her a fat pig.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A day later, Nicole Brown Simpson`s neighbors set the stage for the prosecution`s killing timetable. June 12th, at about 10:15 PM, he heard a dog barking.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a significant pitch, and as you may recall, I described it at the time as a plaintive wail.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Five more neighbors testified about dogs and barking, which led to the discovery of two bodies around midnight, June 13th.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I could see the person was a lady. She was blond. I could see her arm.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: February 9, main police testimony begins. Detective Tom Lange, on the stand for eight days, would later reject the defense drug-killing theory. March 9th, the main target of the defense conspiracy theory takes the stand. Calm and articulate, the ex-Marine Mark Fuhrman tells the jury he found a glove and that he is not racist.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you say on your oath that you have not addressed any black person as (EXPLETIVE DELETED) or spoken about black people as (EXPLETIVE DELETED) in the past 10 years, Detective Fuhrman.
MARK FUHRMAN, LAPD: That`s what I`m saying, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Simpson`s house guest would later add to the prosecution`s timetable. Brian Kato Kaelin said at about 10:45 PM, he heard thumps on the outside wall of his guest house, where a glove was found. A joking witness when he took the stand was exasperated by the time he left as Marcia Clark declared him a hostile witness.
March 28th, the limousine driver completes the prosecution`s timeline. At about 10:55, he saw something.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 6 foot, 200 pounds.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 6 foot, 200 pounds?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All dark clothing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Criminalist Dennis Fung then testified, admitting numerous mistakes were made during the collection of evidence. Barry Scheck pushes the theory investigators bungled evidence so much, it cannot be held reliable.
BARRY SCHECK, SIMPSON`S ATTORNEY: Where is it, Mr. Fung?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: May 9th, scientist Robin Cotton (ph) turns the courtroom into a classroom, gives a comprehensive overview of DNA, setting the stage for scientific testimony linking Simpson to the crime, from blood on Simpson`s driveway, his Bronco, and at the murder scene.
The county coroner, Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran, then testified for nine days, sometimes in minute detail, about each victim`s wounds. He downplayed mistakes made by the pathologists who conducted the autopsies, but in the end, could not rule out the possibility that more than one knife was used.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you certain as to whether the assailant, or as to whether there was one or more assailants regarding Nicole Brown Simpson?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m not certain.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: June 15th, the evidence builds against Simpson as a department store employee testifies about the rarity of the matching gloves. She says Simpson`s former wife once bought two pairs. But prosecutors are dealt a setback in front of the jury. The gloves did not seem to fit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He appears to have pulled the gloves on, counsel.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Four days later, in an effort to distance itself from the ill-fated glove demonstration, the prosecution presents shoeprint evidence. Size 12 shoeprints were found at the murder scene. Simpson wears a size 12. The 58th and final witness for the prosecution`s case in chief testified hair similar to both victims was found on evidence at Simpson`s estate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This portion of hair here that you see came -- identifies (ph) from the Rockingham glove.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: When Simpson was first confronted about the murders, it was noticed that he had a deep cut on his left middle finger. And as we know, his DNA turned up all over the scene in blood.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The defense began with testimony from Simpson`s oldest daughter, one of several witnesses who testified about Simpson`s demeanor before and after the killings. Defense attorneys say the witnesses show it`s not the demeanor of a killer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was just trying to comfort him because he just seemed like he didn`t know what to do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You had never seen him that way before?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Testimony from the defendant`s sisters, Carmelito Duria and Shirley Baker, challenged that of Ron Shipp. They said Shipp was never alone with their brother for him to confide to Shipp about a dreaming of killing his ex-wife.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am absolutely certain, yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: How does the defense get around evidence that obviously proves O.J. Simpson is a double killer? They claim Mark Fuhrman planted the glove found behind Simpson`s guest house. The defense claims that, yes, these gloves do belong to the killer, but that one was taken from the scene, contaminated with Simpson`s blood and placed behind Simpson`s guest house. That`s the defense.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Next, the defense attacked the prosecution`s timeline. Six people testified they heard no barking dogs or saw anything unusual at Nicole Brown`s condo around the time of 10:15 to 10:30 PM. One of those witnesses, Robert Heidstra, testified he heard noise at about 10:35.
ROBERT HEIDSTRA, NEIGHBOR: It was a clear male young adult voice that said, Hey, hey, hey.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But Heidstra also hurt the defense by testifying he saw a Jeep or a Bronco-like vehicle speeding away from the scene just after 10:40 PM.
July 12th, six witnesses testify they saw no cuts on Simpson`s hands during the immediate hours following the murders. Pilot Wayne Stanfield (ph) questioned by F. Lee Bailey.
F. LEE BAILEY, SIMPSON`S ATTORNEY: Did you see any bandages or injuries that caught your attention?
WAYNE STANFIELD, PILOT: No, sir, I didn`t on register that at all.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The doctor who examined Simpson after the killings told the jury Simpson had no cuts or bruises that would indicate he was involved in a recent struggle. But Doctor Robert Heisinga (ph) also hurt the defense.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Doctor, was there any finding made by you which in your opinion would have prevented him from murdering two human beings using a single-edged knife on June 12th of 1994.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Objection.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Overruled. You may answer the question, Doctor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, there was not.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: July 24th, toxicologist Frederick Readers (ph) testified he found the blood preservative EDTA on socks recovered from Simpson`s bedroom. He suggested the blood was planted. Three days later, a blood spatter expert also suggested blood on the socks was planted, based on his observation of the stain. August 2nd, DNA specialist John Gerdes (ph) testified that the LA police crime lab is the worst he`s ever seen, that a regulatory agency would take drastic measures upon inspection.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They would shut the lab down with this level of contamination.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: World-renowned forensic expert Henry Lee completed the attack on the forensic evidence, commanding the attention of the jury. He also supported the theory blood on the socks was planted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Across the crime scene were clearly visible footprints that could easily be traced through, actually, a footprint data bank that exists of thousands and thousands of types of footprints, much like the DNA bank or the fingerprint bank.
There`s actually a shoeprint bank, and you put the picture in or you describe it, and it narrows down, down, down, down, down, and the person operating that bank can see the known footprint and compare to the crime scene footprint and figure out, make a perfect match of what kind of shoe that is. That`s how that works.
These footprints were size 12 Bruno Magli shoes. Now, Bruno Magli shoes are extremely expensive Italian shoes. Simpson was known to wear them. Alongside the Bruno Magli footprints were blood drops, which means the killer was so drenched in blood, it was actually dripping off his hands or the knife that he was carrying.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lee`s testimony also suggested the possibility of more than one killer. He testified bloody imprints at the crime scene did not match shoes prosecutors claim were worn by the killer.
HENRY LEE, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: I cannot definitely say (INAUDIBLE) shoeprint. It could be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Another witness for the state is Mark Fuhrman. Fuhrman was with the LAPD, and before that time had not been in any sort of trouble whatsoever to speak of. Fuhrman`s significance at trial is that he recovered two of the single most important pieces of evidence there were. One, the bloody glove. Fuhrman found the glove. Second, the socks, the bloody socks Simpson had kicked off at the foot of his bed still lying there on the floor, so arrogant, he wouldn`t think anyone would ever dare come search his home.
Fuhrman recovered the socks. That is why Fuhrman was so brutally attacked at the trial. The defense had to bring down Fuhrman in order to plant seeds of doubt in the jury`s mind, and they brought him down.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More testimony about Mark Fuhrman. Natalie Singer (ph) and three others, including screenwriter Laura Hart McKinney (ph) testified Fuhrman had used the N-word in the past year, contradicting what Fuhrman said on the stand in March.
COCHRAN: Can you tell the jury how many times you counted that he used that word?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Approximately 42.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fuhrman was questioned the next day, the jury not in the courtroom.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you plant or manufacture any evidence in this case?
FUHRMAN: I assert my 5th Amendment privilege.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Defense attorneys wanted to rest their case after the jury was informed about Fuhrman taking the 5th. An appeals court, however, vacated Judge Ito`s order to instruct the jury of Fuhrman`s unavailability. The defense then decided not to rest, and in the meantime, as it sought legal remedy, the judge ordered the prosecution to begin its rebuttal case.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: They painted him as evil, sinister, racist, dug up some video sound where he had used a racial slur years before. And as wrong as that was for Fuhrman to have said, that did not negate the fact that he found that glove in the presence of others and that he recovered those socks.
But the defense had their way with him. They destroyed his character, and it tore the case against O.J. Simpson wide open.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: Stay on the line.
NICOLE BROWN SIMPSON: I don`t want to stay on the line! He`s going to beat (EXPLETIVE DELETED)
911 OPERATOR: Wait a minute!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Friends said they didn`t know how bad it was until he heard the 911 tapes, tapes played after her death.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Los Angeles police officer Robert Riske (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There`s a pool of blood under the victim, the female white, then it flows down towards the sidewalk.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Riske was the first officer at the scene of the grisly killings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. Ultimately, dozens of police officers took part in the initial phase of the crime scene investigation. Those who saw the murder scene testified they saw one glove near the slashed, bloody bodies of the victims.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Then there`s the glove. Of course, Johnnie Cochran picks the strongest evidence and attacks it. The argument he made about the glove is this, that seven hours later, when the glove was shown to everyone, it was still, quote, "sticky with blood." And the argument was, well, if this glove had been part of the crime, the blood would have already been dried by then. Why was it sticky? Inferring that blood had been poured on it by Fuhrman.
I don`t know when Fuhrman would have had time to do all this, but that`s the argument the defense made. Not only that, the area around where the glove was found was relatively pristine. Why wasn`t there more blood there, was part of the argument. Cochran also argued there should have been more blood at Simpson`s house if he were the perpetrator. So those are three of the major arguments that O.J. Simpson`s defense made.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was this man, Detective Mark Fuhrman, who seemed to have put the puzzle together when he said he found the matching glove at O.J. Simpson`s estate.
FUHRMAN: It looks similar to the glove on the Bundy scene.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The glove, along with the bloody trail on Simpson`s driveway, was enough to convince one of the lead investigators that Simpson was a bona fide suspect.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`d become a suspect as soon as I saw the glove at the side of the house.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Later it was determined blood was in Simpson`s Bronco, in his bathroom, in the foyer of his home and on a sock found at the foot of his bed. The prosecution tried desperately to keep the jury focused on blood evidence. The defense had other ideas.
COCHRAN: This is the prosecution running scared. They`re trying to develop a theory. They don`t have a theory for this case. They cannot justify their rush to judgment in this case, and they`re grabbing at everything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Numerous members of the Los Angeles Police Department took the witness stand, but the defense focused its primary attack on three, and Detective Mark Fuhrman clearly became the main target.
But the defense didn`t stop there. It raised serious questions about why co-lead detective Tom Lange took a pair of Simpson`s tennis shoes home with him after Simpson had claimed those shoes were the shoes he had worn the night before. Lange testified he put the shoes in the trunk of his car because it was too late that day to book them. Videotape showed Lange putting the shoes in the front seat.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The reason that I obtained those shoes was to have red stains checked for the possibility of blood and to obtain a shoe size.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The defense concluded its three-pronged attack on Detective Philip Vannatter. Vannatter told the jury that Simpson was not a suspect until the bloody glove was discovered at Simpson`s estate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Simpson was no more of a suspect at that point than you were, Mr. Shapiro.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Testimony ended September 22nd.
CLARK: And the people rest.
COCHRAN: And as difficult as it is, the defense does rest at this point.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And after four days of closing arguments...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s not coincidence. There`s something wrong.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I told you there was going to be some smoke. I told you there`d been some smoke. Yesterday, we heard the smoke.
COCHRAN: If it does not fit, you must acquit.
CLARK: He did it. He did it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The case went to the jury. October 2nd, after less than four hours of deliberations, the jury reached a verdict.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: June 13th, `94, was the worst nightmare of my life. This is the second.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In the matter of the people of the state of California versus Orenthal James Simpson, case number VA097211. We the jury in the above-entitled action find the defendant, Orenthal James Simpson, not guilty of the crime of murder in violation of penal code section 187A, a felony upon Nicole Brown Simpson, a human being, as charged in count one of the information.
Superior court of the state of California, county of Los Angeles. In the matter of the people of the state of California versus Orenthal James Simpson, we the jury in the above-entitled action find the defendant, Orenthal James Simpson, not guilty of the crime of murder in violation of penal code section 187A, a felony upon Ronald Lyle Goldman, a human being, as charged in count two of the information.
We the jury in the above-entitled action further find the special circumstance that the defendant, Orenthal James Simpson, has in this case been convicted of at least one crime of murder of the first degree and one or more crimes of murder of the first or second degree to be not true. Signed this 2nd day of October 1995, juror 230.
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, is this your verdict, so say you one, so say you all?
JURY: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Of course there was a civil lawsuit, a wrongful death charge against O.J. Simpson. And by the time that trial was done, Simpson had taken the stand, denied wrongdoing, been cross-examined, proved to be a liar. It came out he made a negative -- negative-22 score on his polygraph. He was ordered to pay the victims` family $33.5 million, which they`ve never seen to this day, and ordered to give back a Warhol painting, his Heisman trophy and other objects.
Later, we learned that there had been a big cover-up, where he had specifically had items removed from his home so he would never have to hand them over to the Goldman family.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In Vegas, he committed a crime, he did it with guns, and he`s going to be where he belongs with others of his kind, and then he can complain there.
END
