11h 2min, jul 10, 1995 y - Arnelle Simpson takes the stand

Description:

The defense calls its first witness to the stand; Arnelle Simpson, O.J. Simpson's daughter


SIMPSON APPEARED DISTRAUGHT AFTER SLAYINGS, DAUGHTER SAYS By Nell Henderson July 11, 1995

"O.J. Simpson's attorneys opened his defense today with his older daughter testifying that she had never seen her father as distraught as he appeared on the day after the brutal slayings of his ex-wife and her friend.

"He was very upset, emotional, confused," Arnelle Simpson told jurors, describing her father's voice as they spoke on the telephone moments after police detectives told him Nicole Brown Simpson had been murdered.

She was followed on the witness stand by O.J. Simpson's youngest sister and mother, both of whom described his suffering in loving tones, providing a portrait of a sensitive and grieving man that sharply contrasts with the prosecution's portrayal of Simpson as a murderous ex-husband.

In later conversations the day after the murder, Arnelle Simpson recalled, her father sounded "out-of-control, distraught, emotional." But by that evening, as he sat in a family room at his estate, surrounded by relatives and friends watching television, she said the former football superstar appeared "emotionless. He was numb. He was very quiet, just sitting on the couch, holding my grandmother's hand."

Arnelle Simpson was not allowed to recount her father's words, because they are considered hearsay in court. But her testimony about Simpson's demeanor appeared designed to bolster the defense's depiction of him as grief-stricken and stunned by his ex-wife's slaying.

She also contradicted the damaging testimony of former police officer Ronald Shipp, a friend who claimed O.J. Simpson told him on the night after the murders that he had dreamed of killing his ex-wife. Arnelle Simpson testified that Shipp was never alone with her father that evening.

Arnelle Simpson, 26, the actor's eldest child, is an important defense witness because she was living in a guest house on his estate at the time of the murders on June 12, 1994, was awakened by police early the next morning and can describe her father's behavior during the following hours.

Moreover, while Simpson is unlikely to testify, his poised and sympathetic daughter served as a valuable surrogate on several key issues in the case.

Wearing a yellow linen suit, a white blouse and a tiny jeweled cross dangling from her neck, she spoke in a sad but composed manner, occasionally exchanging smiles with her father across the room while attorneys huddled during sidebar conferences. She is a graduate of Howard University and testified that she attended church on the morning before the murders.

Reminding jurors of her father's days as a sports star, Arnelle Simpson said she was born in December 1968, "the same day my dad won the Heisman trophy."

Prosecutor Marcia Clark used an uncharacteristically soft and gentle tone of voice while questioning Arnelle Simpson, apparently aware that a rough cross-examination could alienate jurors.

Some former jurors have said they were skeptical of the emotional testimony of Denise Brown, who sobbed on the witness stand as she described her sister's troubled marriage. Perhaps mindful of that reaction, defense attorney Johnnie L. Cochran never prompted his witness to tears, instead eliciting mostly "yes" or "no" answers to his questions.

Arnelle Simpson's succinct responses made several points for her father's case. Her description of his demeanor on the day after the murders countered earlier testimony by Shipp, who said that Simpson appeared more disturbed by television news reports that he was a suspect in the slaying than by Nicole Simpson's death. She did say that Simpson "kept talking to the TV, saying I can't believe . . . ' " but Judge Lance A. Ito cut her off before she could quote her father further.

She bolstered the defense case further by testifying: * She never saw blood on the driveway or the foyer of her father's estate on the morning after the murders. That fits with the defense suggestion that police may have planted the blood drops found there which matched Simpson's DNA type. However, her recollection conflicts with testimony of the police and of houseguest Brian "Kato" Kaelin. * She never saw her father wearing a blue-black cotton sweat-outfit, of a type that might have left fibers found at the murder scene. Kaelin testified that Simpson was wearing that type of clothing about 30 minutes before the estimated time of the murders. * Although divorced, O.J. Simpson and Nicole Simpson spent the night at each other's houses frequently in the year before she was murdered outside her town house condominium. That supports the defense explanation for why hairs like O.J. Simpson's were found at the murder scene.

Arnelle Simpson recalled how her father took soup to Nicole Simpson and cared for her when she had pneumonia a few weeks before the slaying, despite the fact that the two had just agreed to give up attempts to reconcile. That contradicts the prosecution depiction of O.J. Simpson as murderously furious at his former wife for spurning him, and supports the defense version of Simpson as a gentle, generous family man.

* She also testified that her father's arthritis forced him to give up playing tennis in the late 1980s. Cochran said in his opening statement that Simpson's crippling affliction made it impossible for him to shuffle cards on the afternoon of the murders, much less overpower and kill two younger, muscular adults.

Simpson's youngest sister Carmelita Simpson-Durio gave a similar description of her brother's emotional state during the family's gathering at his home the evening after the murders. "He was out of it," she said. "He was shocked, dazed. He was just there."

Simpson-Durio also added to the defense attack on Shipp's credibility, describing the former police officer as intoxicated at Simpson's house that night. She said, "I felt he was high."

Simpson's frail mother Eunice Simpson rose from her wheelchair and hobbled slowly to the witness stand, wearing a canary yellow suit. She echoed Simpson-Durio's comments about Shipp, describing him as "spaced." And she said that her son gripped her hand "very tightly" as they sat beside each other that night after the murders. CAPTION: O.J. Simpson's mother Eunice, daughter Arnelle, son Jason, ex-wife Marguerite Simpson Thomas and sister Carmelita Simpson-Durio sit in the front row of the courtroom. At left, Simpson smiles during Arnelle's testimony."


Sourced from:
The Washington Post

Https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1995/07/11/simpson-appeared-distraught-after-slayings-daughter-says/e7944088-b016-4f13-934b-39e7879ad06a/

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