What follows is from my notebooks of the events leading up to O. J. Simpson’s walk to freedom and a new life. “He parked his lousy car outside our house,” said Wolfgang. Billy Wilder, hands over her ears, issuing a command as she Sometimes, all the proof required is that the person in your cross hairs used “coded” language, which too often is code for “nothing that was said was actually racist in nature, but I’m gonna read something racist into it all the same.” New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd couldn‘t be bothered to find the racist code word in the “you lie“ declaration made by Republican Congressman Joe Wilson. In a dazzling display of showmanship and chutzpah, a carefully rehearsed O. J. Simpson rose to his feet to waive his right to testify and then electrified the courtroom with an unprecedented speech, stating that he had faith in the jury’s integrity and knew they would find he “did not, could not, and would not have committed this crime,” and that he missed his kids. . Few things in life are as stressful as harassing phone calls from creditors. The houses are spacious and beautiful. We were at his 40th birthday. In the back row sat Art Harris of CNN, who—long before the discovery of the Fuhrman tapes—had written and produced a television segment in which Fuhrman was portrayed by two African-American women as a compassionate man in cases in which they had been involved. Like any card in a deck, it must be played at precisely the right moment, when you‘re stuck with an untenable hand. replied, “No way, man. The telephones never stopped ringing. O.J.’s girlfriend Paula Barbieri, who had spent Wednesday and Thursday nights there, and Kardashian’s then fiancée, Denice Halicki, left the house before O.J.’s departure. Simpson met Nicole Brown in 1977 and divorced his first wife, Marguerite, in 1979. Homer Simpson "Everything lasts forever." To my left, Simpson’s daughter Arnelle sobbed. Denise is just a hugging girl. $68.39. “So many people sent that to me. Shapiro's initial dealings with the LAPD were based on trust. COVID-19. Robert Shapiro replaced Howard Weitzman as Simpson's defense attorney. —David Begelman, film producer and former head of Columbia Pictures, The money is paid to the Brown family. The gardens are impeccably tended. People have cabin fever. In other calls, Simpson apparently proclaims that he is innocent and that he is being framed. “That was last year in February. She had a new dress every day,” said Marta. Marcia Clark fumed. How many people do you know who wear cashmere-lined leather gloves and a knit cap on a June night in Los Angeles? The only thing she had ever told us was that Detective Fuhrman came over here to talk to her but that he never came back. He changed hotels every night, managing to escape detection by the media, although Drew Griffin, a reporter from KCBS, acting on a tip from a guest at a Holiday Inn in Burbank, thought he had spotted him there. You. With a victorious air, the entire defense team held a press conference on the first floor of the courthouse in time for the evening news, decrying the scumbag Fuhrman and expressing indignation that their innocent client, as Johnnie Cochran called Simpson, had been in jail for 15 months. Judge Ito, who would have cut off any other defendant in mid-sentence, merely stared, knowing he had been outfoxed. New Jobs As The Plot Demands: He's been seen assuming other jobs when his law work dries up, such as a real estate salesman, a talent agent, and a babysitter. Later, at a press conference, “coward” was one of the words used by Fred Goldman to describe Simpson. Shop Alan Dershowitz OJ Simpson Lawyer Signed Autograph Photo Card - Signed Index Cards and more music, movie, and TV memorabilia at Amazon's Entertainment Collectibles Store. From hanging out at murder trials, as I do, I have grown despondent about the goodness of people. We understand what you are going through. play?” asked Marta. He came for a few minutes. We experienced joy. My son reappeared, having fallen down a ravine and having survived. Back at the trial the following Monday, Judge Ito began the day by saying, “Welcome back, Mr. Dunne.”. When I heard the news, I said a prayer that he had an alibi.”. Simpson came to the conclusion that the time crunch might be too difficult to surmount, and ordered state elections officials not to enforce the law in the upcoming election. “He was a beautiful runner. I don’t know how many different ways you can get fucked! She sent them to Fuhrman.”. … Many people were shocked by Cochran’s statements. The night I was there, gawking just like the sightseers, the cars driving by were old and rattly. I never was sure if she understood what I said, either in English or Spanish, and I speak Spanish very well. He charmed everybody.”, “Justin was a darling boy, and O.J. $71.99. The night before, a person I know had visited O.J. “I’ve always taken that for granted.”, Her husband said, “She was here three years. An acquittal seemed more than a possibility. He could do an off-the-top-of-his-head one-liner about any of the players—from Judge Ito to Deputy Jex and all the lawyers in between—that would rock the media room with laughter. loved the good life,” said Wolfgang. Michelle was a friend of Rosa’s. Racism, the demon lurking in the dark corners of the O.J. was wonderful to him,” said Marta. —A stranger who came up to me during dinner at the Bistro Garden in I hadn’t been out to the area for months. All Rights Reserved. My favorite line from The Simpsons, FOX’s long-running comedy: Play the race card … play it! In his cross-examination of Bodziak, the rarely subdued Barry Scheck expressed dismay at the effrontery of Bodziak to question the findings of the great Dr. Lee, but Scheck had finally met his match; Bodziak was not intimidated by him, and held his own, claiming that he was more of an authority on shoe prints than Dr. Lee. and also offers "expert shoe repair." At the time, I was critical of F. Lee Bailey’s cross-examination of Fuhrman, but I watched that segment again recently and in hindsight I see how good Bailey was at entrapping him. “He’s going to start his life all over again,” said a joyous Johnnie Cochran in a news conference after the notguilty verdict. “Did Fuhrman have an affair with McKinny?” I asked Pellicano. The other 5 percent, when he appears for the defense, is usually in high-profile cases. My son Alex had been reported missing in the Santa Rita Mountains of Arizona, and I had left for the Nogales home of my former wife, where, with our son Griffin and our granddaughter, Hannah, we waited out the agonizing, nerve-racking days. Truth is what you get the jury to believe. knows who certain reporters are and how we stand on his guilt or innocence. When I drove past the rather stately house where O.J. Meanwhile, back in Connecticut, Lee was so upset by the challenge to his testimony that he called a press conference at the police crime lab in Meriden. One Friday, when we were breaking for the weekend, Robin introduced me to a cousin of his who was visiting from New York with a friend of hers, and said he was going to take them for a spin up the Pacific Coast Highway. “This is a trial about the man who murdered my son.”. It’s not unlike the comedy act coursing through the public square today — except I’m not laughing. They had a search warrant to look for a sweat suit, a cap, gloves, and a stiletto-type knife. Former Whitewater prosecutor Robert Ray is expected to join the team. ), “Six months. Frankly, had she been admonished in the public arena by both the left and the right — and what a nice, healing moment that would have been — we might not be seeing all the card playing today. When asked if he would return to the trial for surrebuttal, he replied in the negative. He fiercely defended his findings like a man fighting to preserve his reputation, at the same time distancing himself from the defense and praising the F.B.I. He believes in DNA,” said the person in the Hartford office. “Cochran told her not to talk about it, and she never told us she was in any way connected to the whole thing. Every noon during the lunch break, he sits in the lockup room and signs autographs on football jerseys, football cards, deflated footballs, and photographs—all hot items for collectors, all for sale. She called Shirley Perlman of New York Newsday, who called me, as did Joseph Bosco, who’s writing a book about the case. Homer Simpson demands it from his lawyer as a court case against Simpson appears all but lost. The trial has gone on too long. Neither wife got it in the divorce. “That house is what he achieved. will never get his acquittal with her on the jury. in jail the day before. Paterson kicked off the latest race-card movement, declaring that attacks on his governorship were racially charged. O.J. I don’t take that seriously, about Denise. “The cover-up continues,” said Cochran, suggesting that Judge Ito himself could be part of a conspiracy against Simpson. Some believe Shapiro was brought on at the recommendation of Simpson’s first lawyer, Howard Weitzman, because of his expertise in plea bargaining, which may have been a factor sometime early in the case. For all her Botticelli hairdo and martyred expression, there was nothing noble in the motive of Laura Hart McKinny, who is now described in the media as screenwriter Laura Hart McKinny, although she has never sold a script. Simpson defense team not only played the race card, but ``we dealt it from the bottom of the deck,″ according to Robert Shapiro, one of Simpson’s lawyers. Cultivated and shy of publicity, they were amazingly forthright in their conversation. As of now, Barry Scheck is Simpson’s favorite lawyer on the case, and will deliver the closing argument with Cochran. In our November 1995 issue, Dominick Dunne captures the fatigue of the families, reporters, and big players in the O.J. The prosecution looked upon him as a betrayer for not having informed them of the infamous tapes before he professed under oath on the stand that he had not said the word “nigger” in 10 years. A fence covered by hedges separates the Salinger property from the Simpson property. 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