Testimony Ends, Closing Arguments Set For Tuesday
SANTA MONICA, Calif. (Jan. 16, Evening) -- After four months of testimony, the evidence in the O.J. Simpson civil trial is in, as both sides rested their cases Thursday afternoon. The plaintiffs' finished their rebuttal case by calling two experts to testify about the newly discovered Bruno Magli photographs. The defense declined to put on a surrebuttal case.
On Friday, the attorneys will argue, outside the presence of the jurors, about jury instructions. Closing arguments are scheduled to begin Tuesday, and Judge Hiroshi Fujisaki told jurors they will likely be able to begin deliberations on Thursday.
Gerald Richards, the former head of the FBI's photo laboratory, told the jury during his brief examination that all 30 of the newly discovered Bruno Magli photographs were genuine. Earlier this week, Richards testified that another picture of Simpson wearing Bruno Magli shoes taken by photographer Harry Scull at a Buffalo Bills football game on Sept. 26, 1993, was also not doctored.
The new pictures -- taken at the same football game -- were shot by freelance photographer E.J. Flammer. They surfaced in late December.
"Based on my analysis of the negative and the contact sheets, I could find no discernible evidence of alteration or substitution in the photos of Mr. Simpson," Richards said.
On cross-examination, defense attorney Daniel Leonard stayed away from the photographs and instead sought to discredit the photographer and his agent, Rob McElroy. Richards conceded that it was possible for a person who had time, money, motivation, and the right equipment to create an undetectable fake photograph. Then Leonard noted that making a lot of money may be motivation for doctoring a picture, pointing out that McElroy was furiously shopping around Flammer's pictures to the media.
"The Flammer photographs, sir, are being rented for $12,000 a week," Leonard told Richards.
Although Judge Hiroshi Fujisaki sustained the plaintiffs' objections to this line of questioning, Leonard was later allowed to submit into evidence a list of the prices Flammer's agent is charging news organizations for use of the pictures.
The final plaintiffs witness William Bodziak, a FBI shoe print expert, told the jurors that he believed that the shoes Simpson was wearing in the Flammer pictures were Lorenzo model Bruno Maglis. Like his earlier testimony concerning the Scull picture, Bodziak pointed out a number of unique characteristics of the Bruno Magli that could be seen in the new photographs. Showing the jury eight separate pictures, some blow-ups of the shoes, Bodziak pointed out the curvature of the sole, raised areas on the sole, and a cut portion of the heel -- all specific to the Bruno Magli.
"My opinion is that the shoes depicted in those eight exhibits are Bruno Magli shoes," Bodziak said.
-Robert Schmidt
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