14 ч 8 июл 1994 г. - Preliminary hearing day 6

Описание:

The six-day preliminary hearing ends with Judge Kathleen Kennedy-Powell ruling there is sufficient evidence for O.J. Simpson to stand trial on two counts of first-degree murder.

JUDGE ORDERS O.J. SIMPSON TO STAND TRIAL
By Christine Spolar and Sharon La Franiere
July 9, 1994

"LOS ANGELES, JULY 8 -- O.J. Simpson faces trial on two counts of first-degree murder after a judge's ruling today that the prosecution has sufficient evidence to accuse the former football superstar of killing his ex-wife and her male friend.

Concluding a six-day preliminary hearing that offered an often-tantalizingly, incomplete and uncertain preview of the trial to come, Municipal Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy-Powell ordered a grim-faced Simpson to stand and said she had found "ample evidence to establish strong suspicions" that he had killed Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald L. Goldman.

Simpson, who this morning had wiped his eyes and sighed when crime analysts described in clinical detail the wounds suffered by the two victims, tilted his head silently as the judge ordered him returned to jail without bail. Simpson's arraignment on the charges, which could result in the death penalty if he is convicted, was set for July 22, but no date was set for his trial.

The ruling climaxed a day in which prosecutors sought, for the first time, to link Simpson directly to the murder scene with expert testimony that matched bloodstains there with characteristics of his blood type. Gregory Matheson, head of the Los Angeles police serology laboratory, told the court only 0.43 percent of the population that his lab has tested could be matched to that combination of blood enzymes and type.

But Simpson's defense lawyers hammered away at Matheson's statistics and techniques, eliciting his admission that 40,000 to 80,000 people in the Los Angeles area had the same genetic markers in their blood as those found in drops on the sidewalk near the bodies outside Nicole Simpson's Brentwood town house.

Defense attorney Robert L. Shapiro also cast doubts on the testimony of deputy medical examiner Irwin Golden, who conceded he could place the time of the murders only within a three-hour range, between 9 p.m. and midnight June 12.

The prosecution has contended that Simpson, who turns 47 Saturday, committed the stabbings outside his ex-wife's town house around 10 p.m., leaving enough time for him to return to his house two miles away and catch a limousine to the airport at 11 p.m. for a business trip to Chicago. The defense has sought to put the time of death after 11.

The preliminary hearing ended when the prosecution rested its case with clinical testimony from a Los Angeles County medical examiner who methodically described the deep slashes and wounds he found on Brown's and Goldman's bodies.

Simpson grimaced repeatedly at the description of the gashes on his 35-year-old ex-wife's head and neck, one so deep that it cut slightly into her spine. Goldman's father left the courtroom before the medical examiner described at least 18 wounds, four of which could have been fatal, that the 25-year-old waiter suffered from his head to his thigh. Goldman's younger sister, Kimberly, who stayed in the courtroom, sobbed quietly.

Simpson's attorneys produced no witnesses and twice before closing arguments asked that the charges be dismissed. Kennedy-Powell declined both times.

In his summation, Shapiro portrayed the prosecution's presentation as a dubious circumstantial case. He noted that expert witnesses could not fix the age of the bloodstains nor say conclusively whether they belonged to Simpson. He criticized the professionalism of its criminal evidence experts and the police, contending they had botched much of the evidence-gathering process.

He challenged the prosecution's basic scenario directly, arguing that no one, in an hour's time, could murder two people, get back to a house two miles away, rid himself of bloody clothing and shoes and be ready to hop in a limousine to catch an airplane to Chicago.

Shapiro also questioned the prosecution's contention that Simpson, in the process of committing the crime, lost one bloody glove at the crime scene and left its match behind his guest house. Shapiro said it defied logic to assume a murderer attempting to conceal the crime would dispose of the weapon and blood-covered clothing but leave a matching glove at his own home.

Shapiro insisted that the prosecutors could not rule out the possibility of two murderers and that they raced to the wrong conclusion.

"This is a case that everybody has come to an immediate and unrealistic conclusion," Shapiro argued. "This is a case that is not ready to come to court."

Prosecutor Marcia Clark argued that the state had established an impressive chain of physical evidence linking Simpson directly to the crime scene.

She said the bloodstains on the walk showed the murderer was injured on the left side, and she reminded the judge that Simpson, when he surrendered to police, had a wound on the middle finger of his left hand. She said Simpson clearly had lied to a limousine driver that night, saying he had been sleeping, when the driver had just seen a figure of roughly Simpson's height and build enter the house. And she said the results of the blood tests and the match of the gloves eliminates "virtually everyone but the defendant" as the murderer.

"The evidence is consistent and very powerful even at this early stage that the defendant has indeed committed every crime that he is charged with," Clark said.

The preliminary hearing was to determine only if adequate grounds existed to try Simpson, who has pleaded not guilty, in the murders. At the trial, the standard of proof will be far more stringent -- 12 jurors must be convinced "beyond a reasonable doubt" -- and both prosecution and defense will have far more time to prepare their arguments.

A mystery envelope that surfaced at the preliminary hearing will follow the case to the trial court. Kennedy-Powell said she would not unseal the large manila envelope, which originally came from Shapiro and was the subject of much speculation over the past week. Peter Arenella, a UCLA law professor who has closely observed the hearing, said the envelope apparently was sent to the lower court by mistake.

After today's ruling, Los Angeles District Attorney Gil Garcetti said he was prepared to go to trial within 60 days of arraignment. Shapiro told reporters he would be working through the weekend, and that the defense team, which includes consultants F. Lee Bailey and Alan M. Dershowitz, would be ready for a trial then.

Garcetti said his office would go through a painstaking standard procedure before deciding whether to seek the death penalty.

Asked about the intense news coverage and public attention the case had generated, Garcetti quipped, "We thought {singer} Michael Jackson was the biggest one."

Garcetti conceded it would be impossible to find 12 people to serve on a jury who were not aware of some of the details of the case, but he said that with proper questioning, "I believe we can find fair, objective jurors."

The final day of the hearing began with the police lab's Matheson testifying that five drops of blood, found near the bodies of Nicole Simpson and Goldman, belonged to neither of the victims but correlated significantly with a blood sample from O.J. Simpson.

Matheson's tests did not reveal results of the more sophisticated blood analysis that the prosecution said it plans to have done. Obtaining those results could take weeks, prosecutors said.

"Could {Simpson} have been the source of the blood drop that was found at the trail at 875 South Bundy," where the bodies were found, prosecutor Clark asked Matheson.

"He can be included in the group of possibilties," Matheson replied. Clark emphasized the possible link by pointing out that the sample "excluded 99.57 percent of the population."

But Gerald Uelmen, Shapiro's co-counsel, raised questions about the integrity of the blood sample, retrieved from a scene that at least one witness described as covered in a "river" of blood, and whether the analyzed drops could have been inadvertently mixed.

Matheson said that if mixed, the sample could apply to a larger population of possible matches -- about 1 percent of the population in Los Angeles, or 80,000 people.

The last witness, deputy medical examiner Golden, provided a vivid description of the knife wounds on both victims. Golden said the wounds on Goldman appeared to be inflicted by a single-blade knife and another forked weapon. One wound in particular, which gouged 5 1/2 inches deep into Goldman's abdomen, did not appear to be caused by the same blade, Golden conceded under questioning from Shapiro.

The deputy medical examiner said both Nicole Simpson and Goldman suffered wounds on their hands that suggested they had struggled against their attacker. Golden said he could not tell from the wounds which victim had been killed first.

Shapiro attempted to damage Golden's credibility by questioning his professionalism in the case. He confronted him with testimony from a lead detective on the case that the deputy medical examiner and he had looked at a knife similar to what the prosecution believed was the murder weapon: a 15-inch stiletto purchased by Simpson in May.

Golden said he had looked at the knife but had no time to match wounds on the body to the blade. "You understand a man is sitting in jail faced with charges of double homicide, do you not?" Shapiro asked. He added: "When do you suggest doing these tests?" Golden responded: "Now."

Special correspondent Kathryn Wexler contributed to this report."


Sourced From:
The Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1994/07/09/judge-orders-oj-simpson-to-stand-trial/c8bff7c8-0b4b-4349-9815-0380a0815b12/

Videos Sourced from:
OJ Trial Uncut YouTube Channel

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