Plaintiffs Expose Defense Photo Expert To Ridicule
SANTA MONICA, Calif. (Dec. 20, Noon) -- The plaintiffs began a highly charged and personal attack against the defense photo expert Robert Groden, Friday morning in the O.J. Simpson civil trial. Attorney Peter Gelblum, who is handling the cross-examination, mocked Groden for his fascination with the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and accused him of concluding the Bruno Magli photo was a fake in order to start a career as an expert witness.
Although Simpson was scheduled to testify this afternoon, it is now clear he will not. The former football star was not even in court this morning. Groden will continue on cross-examination after the lunch break, He is scheduled to be followed by Dr. Frederic Rieders, a forensic toxicologist.
Sources familiar with Simpson's custody case say a written ruling in that matter will be issued this afternoon, around 4:00 p.m., pacific time.
Groden, an amateur photographer who has worked creating fake photographs, told jurors on Wednesday that there was a "high likelihood" that the picture showing Simpson wearing Bruno Magli shoes was a forgery. The photograph was taken by freelance photographer Harry Scull in September 1993; who later sold it to the National Enquirer. Groden examined the original negative, as well as enlarged prints of the photograph, and contact sheets that showed the pictures on the roll of film that contained the Bruno Magli photo.
The plaintiffs spent most of the morning attacking Groden and, shortly before the noon break, turned to Groden's work with the actual photograph. On Wednesday Groden showed the jury 11 indications that the photograph was bogus. Just before the break, Gelblum started going through those explanations and offering alternative reasons for them. What looked like airbrush marks on Simpson's pant legs were actually creases in the material, Gelblum claimed. Odd marks on the negative that Groden said showed forgery, were scratches from winding the film, Gelblum said. Groden did not agree with any of the attorney's assessments.
Gelblum began his cross-examination by noting that Groden was not the first expert the defense hired to examine the photograph and alleging that the first expert found nothing wrong -- a remark quickly stricken by Judge Hiroshi Fujisaki. The judge was forced to strike several more of Gelblum's comments, and once admonished the jury not to infer anything when Gelblum accused Groden of stealing photographs of Kennedy's autopsy from the government.
"This is character assassination, and it has nothing to do with the photographs in this case," asserted defense lawyer Daniel Leonard during one of his many objections.
At one point, coming back from a sidebar conference, Gelblum accidentally bumped into Leonard. The two attorney exchanged heated words, and it appeared as if they might come to blows.
Leonard's complaints stemmed from Gelblum's highly personal attack on Groden and his credentials. Gelblum pointed out that Groden dropped out of high school, had never taken any courses in photography, and is not even a professional photographer. The plaintiff's lawyer also went through Groden's resume line by line and showed several areas where the expert appeared to stretch the truth about his previous experience. At one point, Gelblum elicited from Groden that he was being paid $2,000 a day from the defense, and had earned a total of $8,000 so far.
"That's pretty serious money for you isn't it, sir?" Gelblum asked.
When Groden said it was not, Gelblum noted that the expert was recently "on the street hawking videotapes" having to do with the Kennedy assassination.
Gelblum used Groden's fascination with the assassination, in an attempt to portray him as an oddball. The plaintiff's lawyer asked Groden about his work as a guide with a Kennedy assassination tour in Dallas, where people reenact Kennedy's final drive. The tour brings the guests -- in a limousine similar to the president's -- from the airport where Kennedy landed all the way to the hospital where he was taken after the shooting. At the appropriate moment, gunshots blare from the limousine's speakers.
Of his fascination with the Kennedy assassination, Gelblum asked Groden: "It's a little more than an interest, isn't it sir?"
"Yes," Groden answered.
"It's your life isn't it?" Gelblum shot back.
"It's my life's work," Groden replied.
-Robert Schmidt
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