11 h 32 m, 11 set 1995 ano - Judge Ito orders prosecution to begin rebuttal

Descrição:

ITO ORDERS REBUTTAL BEFORE DEFENSE RESTS
By William Claiborne September 12, 1995

"Fearful of losing more members of his restless jury, Judge Lance A. Ito today ordered the prosecution in the O.J. Simpson murder trial to begin its rebuttal even though the defense has not yet rested its own case.

Prosecutors were forced to begin calling rebuttal witnesses after lead defense attorney Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. refused to rest Simpson's case until he receives a ruling on his planned appeal of Ito's refusal to force a key prosecution witness to testify again.

The prosecution began its rebuttal with a parade of sports photographers who identified video clips and still photographs of Simpson broadcasting sideline commentaries at National Football League games while wearing leather gloves similar to those found at the scene where his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald L. Goldman, were slain June 12, 1994.

Some of the gloves depicted appeared to fit Simpson's hands poorly, which prosecutor Marcia Clark suggested was similar to the poor fit of the murder scene gloves when the celebrity defendant tried them on in court earlier in the trial. One of the photographers, Mark Kruger, said he had contacted the prosecution about his photographs after he heard testimony that the murder scene gloves did not fit Simpson properly.

Earlier today, the judge rejected five "remedies" proposed by the defense to make up for former detective Mark Fuhrman's invocation last week of his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination when asked a series of questions about his earlier testimony in the case, including if he had manufactured or planted evidence against Simpson.

Defense attorney Gerald Uelmen argued that by allowing Fuhrman to invoke the Fifth Amendment, Ito in effect had deprived Simpson of his constitutional right to cross-examine the former detective on his testimony last March. The most critical point: Fuhrman's discovery of a bloody glove behind Simpson's house that matched a glove found at the scene where Nicole Simpson and Goldman were killed.

Ito rejected defense motions to strike all references to the glove from previous testimony or to grant Fuhrman immunity from prosecution to force him to testify. The judge also refused a defense request that he instruct the jury that Fuhrman had refused to testify.

Cochran then told Ito that the defense could not rest its case until it received a ruling from the state Second District Court of Appeal. Earlier, defense lawyers had said they planned to end their case on a dramatic note with the jury being informed that Fuhrman had invoked the Fifth Amendment.

Cochran referred cryptically to "critical new witnesses" and "startling evidence" that he might now present in an extended defense case. He said the "new information" might be available Wednesday.

But Ito said he was "mindful first and foremost" of his increasingly stressed-out jury, which has already lost 10 members and has only two alternates remaining. The judge said he would exercise the discretion allowed him under the law and order the prosecution to begin its rebuttal. When it is finished, the defense will finish its case, he said.

Uelmen earlier had argued that Fuhrman's testimony had been impeached by the disclosure of tape-recorded interviews he made with North Carolina screenwriter Laura Hart McKinny, in which the detective boasted of planting evidence and framing suspects and used the racial epithet "nigger" -- which the detective had claimed under oath he had not used in 10 years. On the basis of that impeachment, Uelmen said, the defense should be entitled to confront Fuhrman again on the witness stand in front of the predominantly black jury.

The defense asked Ito to grant one or all of five possible "remedies" to Fuhrman's refusal to testify. They included: * That the judge strike the portion of Fuhrman's testimony dealing with the discovery of the glove and instruct the jury to disregard the glove itself. But Ito said Fuhrman had already been exhaustively questioned about finding the glove in six days of direct and cross-examination. * That Ito grant Fuhrman immunity from prosecution for perjury or other offenses stemming from the taped interviews. Ito ruled he had no legal authority to grant such immunity. * That Ito issue a modified instruction to the jury to the effect that Fuhrman was unavailable to testify because he had invoked the Fifth Amendment, but that the jury should draw no inference from that. Ito ruled that he has no authority for issuing such an instruction.

Ito also rejected a defense motion to present to jurors additional excerpts from the McKinny tapes, beyond the two brief excerpts in which Fuhrman used the racial epithet. Clark argued that the five options presented by the defense were part of a "game to get {Fuhrman} back in front of the jury and parade him around." Simpson's lawyers, she said, were seeking to "make a circus out of this trial."

Clark conceded that Fuhrman's sworn denials in March of having used the epithet "nigger" had been thoroughly impeached by the McKinny tapes, but that his testimony about finding incriminating evidence against Simpson had remained intact.

Referring to the impeachment of Fuhrman on the issue of racial slurs, Clark said, "They won, your honor. But that's not enough. They want to go further. They want to rub the jurors' noses in it."


Sourced from:
The Washington Post

Https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1995/09/12/ito-orders-rebuttal-before-defense-rests/13a23d52-7df1-47a3-9523-b64b08e50353/

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