Witnesses Recount The Simpsons' Stormy Relationship
SANTA MONICA, Dec. 3 (Evening) -- Al Cowlings took the stand Tuesday afternoon in the O.J. Simpson civil trial, but had a difficult time remembering much about the 1989 domestic violence incident the plaintiffs asked him about. Cowlings, Simpson's closest friend since childhood, contradicted his deposition testimony several times -- but admitted that Nicole told him that Simpson hit her.
Also testifying in the afternoon session were Palm Springs tennis instructor Jackie Cooper; Donna Estes, a friend of the Simpsons; Craig Baumgarten, one of Simpson's golfing buddies; and -- by videotaped deposition -- Frank Olson, the chairman of Hertz. The plaintiffs used the witnesses to impeach Simpson's testimony in two broad areas: that he never hit Nicole Brown Simpson and that he did not obsess about their final breakup.
Olson's testimony will continue Wednesday. He is scheduled to be followed by Dr. Ronald Fischman, a friend of the Simpsons; Simpson's ex-girlfriend Paula Barbieri by videotaped deposition; and Leslie Gardner, the employee who gave Simpson a black sweatsuit for a Playboy video several weeks before the killings. The plaintiffs claim Simpson stabbed the two victims to death in a black sweatsuit. Simpson has claimed he didn't own a black sweatsuit at the time of the murders. Gardner is expected to testify that Simpson never returned the sweatsuit after the taping.
Cowlings, who testified that he was best man at the Simpson's wedding and loved Nicole like a sister, mainly discussed the New Years' 1989 domestic violence incident. As Cowlings recalled, either the Simpsons' housekeeper or Arnelle Simpson called asking him to come to the Rockingham estate early that morning. Simpson called him later that morning to retrieve a set of car keys he lost at Rockingham and some jewelry he left in a trash can at a neighbor's house.
Plaintiffs' attorney John Kelly had a difficult time getting Cowlings to contradict Simpson's testimony last week. An obviously reluctant witness, Cowlings contradicted his deposition testimony several times. For example, in his deposition, Cowlings said that Simpson lost the keys while jumping over a wall on his neighbor's property. Today, he testified that Simpson walked through a gate. But after much prodding and review of his deposition testimony, Cowlings did say that Nicole Brown Simpson told him that O.J. Simpson hit her that night.
"She had told me that she was hit, yes," Cowlings said.
Kelly pressed further: "Mr. Cowlings, did she tell you that Mr. Simpson had hit her earlier that morning?"
"Yes, she probably did, yes," Cowlings said.
The defense's cross-examination of Cowlings lasted only five minutes, underscoring two small points: that Cowlings said Nicole Brown Simpson "was pissed off" when he arrived at Rockingham, and that Simpson encouraged his wife to go to the hospital the next day.
Witnesses Jackie Cooper and Donna Estes testified about a memorial day 1994, weekend gathering in Palm Springs, Calif. where Simpson and then-girlfriend Paula Barbieri got in a fight allegedly about Nicole Brown Simpson. Cooper, a friend of Simpson's and Cowlings', played golf with Simpson that weekend and had an hour-long phone conversation with him. Cooper said that Simpson told him that Nicole Brown Simpson ended their relationship -- a fact Simpson flatly denied in his testimony.
"He said she had broken up with him and it was different this time, that it was final . . . she really meant it this time," Cooper said.
Cooper also told the jury that Simpson was not happy about the end to the reconciliation.
"I think that he was sad," Cooper said. "I think he was upset and in distress."
Estes, a social friend of the Simpsons who was also in Palm Springs that weekend, also said that O.J. Simpson was thinking about Nicole. Estes sat next to him at dinner one evening, and she said Simpson told her that "the best day he could think of was going to Disneyland with Nicole and the kids." But Nicole, Simpson told Estes, preferred going dancing and wearing short skirts. Estes also testified that Simpson told her that he got into a fight that evening with Barbieri because Simpson admitted that he was still in love with his ex-wife.
Baumgarten, one of Simpson's longtime golfing buddies, also testified about a fight Simpson had with Barbieri on the evening of the murders -- because he did not want her going to his daughter's dance recital. In his testimony, Simpson denied fighting with Barbieri about the recital.
"He reported to me that he felt it inappropriate that she join him at that recital," Baumgarten said.
-Robert Schmidt
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