No Cuts, No Socks, Witnesses Say
SANTA MONICA, Calif. (Dec. 11, Evening) -- Three people on O.J. Simpson's flight to Chicago on the night of the murders told jurors Wednesday afternoon in the civil trial that they noticed no cuts or blood on Simpson's hands. And Willie Ford, a Los Angeles Police Department videographer, testified that he saw no socks on the floor of Simpson's bedroom at a time before the department's criminalist said they were collected.
In Orange County, Calif., Simpson's custody trial finished late in the afternoon. The presiding judge, Nancy Wieben Stock, has taken the matter under advisement and will issue a written ruling at some point in the future, according to a court spokesperson. Simpson attended the custody trial Wednesday.
Also on the stand in the civil trial, Los Angeles Police Department criminalist Susan Brockbank faced tough questions about why a carpet sample from Simpson's Bronco was placed in a box with evidence from the Bundy and Rockingham crime scenes. On Thursday, the defense is expected to call Kelly Mulldorfer, who investigated a theft from Simpson's Bronco while it was parked in the impound lot; LAPD officer Frank Spangler; and John Gerdes, an expert who will discuss DNA contamination.
Brockbank's testimony centered on rare carpet fibers from Simpson's Bronco. Earlier in the trial, the plaintiffs presented testimony from an FBI hair and fiber expert who said that the Bronco fibers were found on the Bundy knit cap and Rockingham glove. But the defense contends that poor police evidence handling may be responsible for the fiber transfer. Brockbank admitted that the carpet sample was put in the same box with the two gloves and the knit cap, but said each evidence item was individually wrapped and sealed with tape. Defense attorney Robert Blasier also noted that one of the Simpsons' dogs may have brought the Bronco fibers over to Bundy.
The three airplane witnesses were: passenger Stephen Valerie; the flight's captain Wayne Stanfield; and Howard Bingham, a photographer and an acquaintance of Simpson. Each spoke with Simpson and said he was friendly and did not seem upset. The three also did not see cuts or blood on Simpson's hand. However on cross-examination, they also admitted that they could not be sure Simpson had no cuts.
Valerie, who sat across the aisle from Simpson in the first-class cabin, presented the most detailed testimony. He told jurors that he watched Simpson carefully for the first hour of the flight, largely because he was a celebrity. Valerie even noticed Simpson was reading an "eight and a half by eleven document, loose leaf, with double-spaced typing," which he assumed was a legal document.
"I think I was probably staring," Valerie admitted. But he added that Simpson, "smiled and didn't seem too worried about my observations."
At times, Valerie was so eager to testify that lawyers for both the defense and the plaintiffs had to interrupt him to ask questions. During the cross-examination, lead plaintiffs attorney Daniel Petrocelli admonished Valerie to answer his question with a yes or no.
"If you're going to use a yes-or-no format, please make the questions succinct," Valerie responded.
In an effort to strike up a conversation with Simpson, Valerie said he looked at Simpson's fingers to see if he had a Super Bowl ring. Although he did not see a ring, Valerie testified that he saw no cuts or bleeding on Simpson's fingers.
On cross-examination, Valerie was forced to admit that he made several mistakes in his testimony. Although Valerie said he was sitting directly across from Simpson, Petrocelli produced a picture of the plane's interior that showed that Simpson was sitting at a diagonal. Also, when Valerie testified in the criminal trial he said he leaned against the window and pushed up the seat's footrest, which gave him a better view of Simpson. But Valerie admitted in his civil testimony that the plane was not equipped with footrests. Furthermore, Petrocelli noted, the plane's main cabin lights were off and Valerie was sitting seven feet away from Simpson.
"You really don't know whether [Simpson] had any cuts on his hand, correct?" Petrocelli asked.
"Correct," Valerie said.
-Robert Schmidt
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