New Bruno Magli Photos Shown To Simpson
SANTA MONICA, Calif. (Jan. 13, Evening) -- O.J. Simpson finished testifying Monday afternoon in his civil trial, telling jurors that he was not wearing the shoes shown on his feet in 30 recently discovered photographs that purport to show him wearing Bruno Magli shoes. The plaintiffs also won a legal battle allowing them to introduce into evidence an undated, apparently unsent letter Nicole Brown Simpson wrote to her former husband, in which she claimed that "he beat the holy hell" out of her.
Tuesday the defense is scheduled to wrap up its case, after calling Los Angeles Police officer Donald Thompson, who handcuffed Simpson at his Rockingham estate when he arrived back from Chicago. Arnelle Simpson, the football hero's eldest daughter, is also expected to testify. The plaintiffs are then scheduled to begin their rebuttal case by calling photo expert Gerald Richardson.
The scene outside the courthouse was relatively calm. The small band of protesters were dampened by periods of hard rain. About 100 people lined up to win one of the 16 courtroom seats set aside for the public.
After a smooth direct examination, Simpson faced mostly contentious questions from lead plaintiffs' lawyer Daniel Petrocelli. Simpson at times appeared to chaff under the constraints of answering the plaintiffs attorney's yes-or-no questions. It was a striking contrast to the gregarious sports celebrity and former corporate pitchman that came out on his direct examination.
In one of the more dramatic moments in the courtroom this afternoon, Petrocelli handed Simpson a series of the new photographs that purport to show him wearing Bruno Magli shoes. One by one, Simpson denied that they were in fact his shoes. The new pictures were taken by photographer E.J. Flammer in September 1993 at a Buffalo Bills football game -- the same game where photographer Harry Scull Jr. took his picture of Simpson in Bruno Maglis. The defense has contended that the Scull picture is a fake, and this afternoon Simpson -- although he never came out and said it -- implied that the 30 newly discovered pictures were bogus as well.
"You don't recall wearing any of the shoes in any of these photographs, correct?" Petrocelli asked.
"Correct," Simpson replied. "I would say no, I didn't wear those shoes."
"And you're positive you are not wearing those shoes?" Petrocelli continued.
"Yes," Simpson answered.
Petrocelli showed Simpson a copy of a November 1993 edition of The Buffalo Bills Report, which published one of Flammer's photos -- many months, the plaintiffs' lawyer noted, before Nicole's death. But Simpson testified that the picture was not clear enough for him to authenticate the shoes.
Petrocelli also confronted Simpson with the undated letter Nicole wrote to him after their 1989 domestic violence episode.
Judge Hiroshi Fujisaki allowed the letter to be used, over strenuous defense objections, to show Nicole's state of mind about their relationship. The plaintiffs cannot use the letter, Judge Fujisaki said, to impeach Simpson's testimony or for the truth of what was written.
The letter begins, "O.J., I have to put this all in a letter . . . I'd like you to keep this letter if we split, so you'll always know why we split. I'd also like you to keep it if we stay together, as a reminder."
Nicole refers to the 1989 fight, after which Simpson pleaded no contest to domestic abuse charges. "I called the cops that night to save my life," Nicole wrote, in a part of the letter that was read to the jury. "I've never loved you since, or been the same."
In the letter Nicole also addressed another alleged domestic violence incident, from 1986. She wrote: "You beat the holy hell out of me & we lied at the x-ray lab & said I fell off a bike . . . remember?!??" Petrocelli did not read this part to the jurors but indicated that he will mention it in his closing argument.
Simpson dismissed the letter as being written by Nicole in 1992 at the behest of her divorce lawyers. She did not even use it during the divorce case, Simpson noted.
In a very short redirect examination, defense lawyer Baker ignored the new Bruno Magli shoe photos and the undated letter from Nicole, and cut right to the chase.
"O.J., on June 12, 1994, did you -- with your children in the house upstairs, in their bedroom -- murder your wife, your ex-wife, and leave her body there for the kids to find?"
Replied Simpson, in his last words about the murders under oath: "No, absolutely not."
-Robert Schmidt
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