The Defense Rests
SANTA MONICA, Calif. (Jan 14, Noon) -- The defense wrapped up its case Tuesday morning in the O.J. Simpson civil trial, presenting two witness who contradicted testimony from the lead detectives in the murder investigation. One of those witnesses, Simpson's daughter Arnelle, testified that she told her father while he was in Chicago that his ex-wife had been killed along with another person.
Freelance photographer E.J. Flammer, who shot the newly discovered Bruno Magli photos is currently testifying. He told the jury that he kept the negatives in a looseleaf notebook in his darkroom, where they were found late last year. Before Flammer took the stand, the plaintiff's called their first rebuttal witness, Sandra Claiborne, a Los Angeles police fingerprint specialist. Claiborne testified that she was sitting in a car at the Bundy crime scene with police photographer Rolf Rokahr at the same time when Rokahr claimed to have taken a picture of Det. Mark Fuhrman pointing at a glove.
When Flammer finishes testifying, the plaintiffs are expected to call photo expert Gerald Richards; Leslie Gardiner, the wardrobe employee on Simpson's Playboy exercise video; and criminalist Dennis Fung, who is expected to be asked about his confusion about the Bundy glove.
Arnelle Simpson's testimony was used to contradict the police in some areas and to buttress the testimony of her father in others. The lead detectives in the murder investigation testified that in the early morning after the murders Arnelle Simpson led them in the side door of her father's Rockingham estate. On the witness stand, Arnelle said that she led them through the front door. The side door, Arnelle testified, did not even have a lock that could be opened from the outside.
Arnelle gave support to her father's account that, in phone conversations from Chicago, he heard details of the murders. During the plaintiffs case, attorney Mark Partridge, who sat next to Simpson on the plane from Chicago to Los Angeles, said Simpson told him that his ex-wife and a man were found murdered in her garden -- details police say they never told the former football star. But Arnelle testified that she told her father some of those details when he called from Chicago.
"He said, 'What's going on? What's going on?'" Arnelle testified. "And I said, 'I don't know, they just keep saying [that] Nicole is dead and someone else was with her.'"
Arnelle also gave credence to Simpson's story that he was worried about his dog Chachi escaping from his property. The plaintiffs contend the dog never ran outside of the property because it was arthritic. During his testimony in November, Simpson said he did not let limousine driver Allan Park inside the property because he was afraid that Chachi would escape. On the stand this morning, Arnelle said that she always watched the gate close when she drove off the property because the dog tended to run out.
Flammer, a 24-year-old freelance photographer, testified that he took the newly discovered pictures of Simpson as part of an assignment for a group called the Monday Morning Quarterback Club. The group needed the photos to publicize a dinner to commemorate the anniversary of one of Simpson's rushing records. On the day of that event, Sept. 26, 1993, Flammer testified that he snapped 30 pictures. Most of the pictures were of a group of men standing with Simpson. To further corroborate his story, Flammer produced the credentials he used that day to gain access to the football field, the invoice he sent to the Bills organization, and the $41.70 check he received for his work.
On cross-examination, defense attorney Robert Baker noted that Flammer immediately hired an agent upon discovering the photos -- the same person who sold photographer Harry Scull's photo of Simpson allegedly in Bruno Maglis to the National Enquirer. Scull's picture was taken the same day as Flammer's. The defense contends it is fake.
Baker also hammered the witness on the issue of money, which Flammer claimed he had no information about. "You are well aware that you're going to get 40,000, 50,000 bucks for these, rather than $41.70?" Baker asked.
"I'm not privy to that information," Flammer replied.
-Robert Schmidt
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