Judge Allows Counselor's Testimony
SANTA MONICA, Dec. 4 (Noon) -- Nancy Ney, a domestic violence counselor who answered a call from a woman named Nicole five days before the murders, took the stand Wednesday morning in the O.J. Simpson civil trial and told jurors that Nicole's ex-husband had threatened to kill her. Judge Hiroshi Fujisaki permitted Ney's testimony over strenuous objections by the defense who claimed it was hearsay and irrelevant.
Dr. Ronald Fischman, a friend of the Simpsons, also testified about problems in the couple's relationship and O.J. Simpson's demeanor the night of the murders. In the afternoon session, the plaintiffs are expected to call Paula Barbieri by deposition; Leslie Gardner, the wardrobe worker who issued Simpson a dark sweatsuit for his Playboy exercise video; Gigi Guarin, one of Simpson's housekeepers; and Dale St. John, Simpson's regular limousine driver.
The issue of Ney's appearance delayed testimony for half an hour, as the attorneys wrangled over its admissibility. Robert Baker, Simpson's lead defense lawyer, argued that it was hearsay and that it went to Nicole Brown Simpson's state of mind -- which was not relevant to O.J. Simpson's trial. But Plaintiffs' attorney Peter Gelblum noted that both Simpson and Baker had made his ex-wife's state of mind an issue because they have claimed that Nicole Brown Simpson was pursuing and stalking O.J. Simpson.
"Nicole Brown Simpson has been silenced, she cannot get up and rebut that on the stand," Gelblum said.
Ney, who volunteers on a domestic violence hotline for a battered women's shelter, described a call she received on June 7, 1994 from a woman named Nicole. The caller did not give her last name, but Ney related a number of striking similarities between the caller and Nicole Brown Simpson. The caller said she was in her mid-thirties; had been married for 8 years; had two children, one boy and one girl; lived in West Los Angeles; had family in the area; was Caucasian; and had a high-profile husband. Ney also said that the voice was similar to the recording she had heard of Nicole Brown Simpson on a 911 tape.
Nicole, Ney testified, was "very frightened" because her ex-husband had been stalking her. The ex-husband was repeatedly calling her and following her -- to the grocery store, to restaurants, and even tailing her in his car, she recalled Nicole saying. Nicole also said that her ex-husband had threatened to kill her.
"She said, he had told her a few different times that if he ever caught her with another man he would kill her," Ney testified.
Baker, on cross-examination, fiercely hammered Ney. At one point he asked her if publicity about the call had increased contributions to her shelter. Judge Fujisaki sustained an objection to the question. Mainly, Baker questioned Ney about discrepancies in two written accounts she made about the call. Ney filled out a standard form when she took the call and then two weeks later, after realizing that the caller may have been Nicole Brown Simpson, Ney jotted down some notes. In none of the written reports, Baker pointed out, did Ney mention that the caller was being stalked or had said her husband threatened to kill her.
Fischman testified about observations he made about the Simpsons as their reconciliation began to fail between April and June of 1994. He also discussed Simpson's demeanor at their daughters' dance recital the night of the murders. Fischman told jurors that in the final months of their reconciliation, Simpson felt ignored, confused, and rejected by his ex-wife's erratic behavior.
Lawyer Michael Brewer, who represents Ronald Goldman's mother Sharon Rufo, tried to get Fischman to say that Simpson was extremely upset at the dance recital, which ended several hours before the murders took place. But Fischman would only say that Simpson seemed "tired and withdrawn."
-Robert Schmidt
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