Shoe Photo Called A Fraud
SANTA MONICA, Calif. (Dec. 18, Evening) -- Robert Groden, the defense's expert witness on photography, told jurors Wednesday afternoon in the O.J. Simpson civil trial that the picture of Simpson wearing Bruno Magli shoes was most likely a forgery.
Court is not in session Thursday because a juror asked for the day off as a religious holiday. Groden will be on the stand Friday morning for cross-examination. Also scheduled Friday, the last day of testimony before the holiday break, are forensic toxicologist Dr. Fredric Rieders, to testify about the presence of EDTA, an anti-coagulant, in blood taken from the socks and back gate at Bundy and Simpson. The defense claims that the presence of high levels of EDTA in some blood evidence suggests that the blood sample Simpson gave to police was used against him in a police conspiracy. Because of the current schedule and the need to put Rieders on the stand Friday, a member of the defense said there is a "less than 10 percent chance" that Simpson will testify before the holiday break.
Groden started slowly, giving detailed testimony about "compositing"-- which is basically the art of creating bogus photographs. Although he is only an amateur photographer, Groden testified that he actually created fake photographs in two jobs and while working for himself. He also worked as a photographic consultant for the House of Representatives committee that investigated the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.
After slogging through the process, Groden turned to the actual photograph and the whole courtroom sat up and paid attention. The picture, taken by photographer Harry Scull in September 1993, shows Simpson walking across the end zone at a Buffalo Bills football game. In the photo, Simpson is wearing a pair of Bruno Magli shoes -- the same kind that left bloody footprints at the Bundy crime scene. Scull testified earlier by video deposition and said he did not doctor the photograph, which was later published in the National Enquirer.
Groden told jurors he examined contact sheets, negative strips, and 8 x 10 prints of the photograph. He also traveled to Buffalo to view the original.
"Have you come to any conclusion about the authenticity of the subject photograph?" Defense attorney Daniel Leonard asked.
"Yes," Groden replied. "My conclusion is that there is a high likelihood of forgery."
Groden showed the jury a series of slides, where he pointed out 11 different indications that the photograph was a fraud. Starting with the contact sheet, which is a picture of negative strips, Groden noted that the Bruno Magli negative was slightly longer and tilted to the right of the other exposures. The one showing Simpson wearing the shoes also had a secondary edge on the bottom and a "false edge" on the side, which do not occur naturally in photography, Groden testified.
Other problems included color and the reflection underneath Simpson's raised foot. The hue of the Bruno Magli photograph was magenta, Groden said, while all the other pictures on the roll had a blue-green tint. He also pointed out that the photograph was the first picture on the roll -- an indication of fraud, Groden said, because it is easier to place a fake negative on the end of a strip.
On the actual photograph, Groden showed jurors two places toward the bottom of Simpson's legs that looked airbrushed. There was a line on the right leg, Groden testified, where the color changed from light to dark. On the left leg, Groden said he saw a "worm"-like shape. Because it was hard to see on the display screen, Groden passed the photograph into the jury box. Jurors looked carefully at the picture, squinting and holding it up to the light.
"Of all the things I found on that photograph, this is the most difficult to see," Groden said.
-Robert Schmidt
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