Vannatter's Role Shortened
SANTA MONICA, Nov. 1 (Evening) -- In a surprise move Friday afternoon, the plaintiffs sharply limited their examination of retired Det. Philip Vannatter, asking him only about his handling of the blood samples taken from O.J. Simpson and the bodies of murder victims Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. As a result, the co-lead detective whose highly-charged testimony in the criminal trial captivated the nation, spent a mere 40 minutes on the stand.
Court ended early, at 3:30 p.m., to accommodate the religious practices of a juror. The proceedings are scheduled to reconvene Monday Nov. 4, at 8:30 a.m. Scheduled witnesses are LAPD Chief Chemist Gregory Matheson, who will likely summarize police record keeping of the blood evidence and discuss the blood on O.J.'s socks, and criminalist Dennis Fung, who will probably testify about the collection of the evidence. Also scheduled next week are LAPD criminalist Susan Brockbank who handled hair and fiber evidence; Bernie Douroux, the tow truck driver who secured Simpson's Bronco; glove expert Richard Rubin; and Brenda Vemich, the woman who sold two pairs of Aris Leather Light gloves, extra-large, at Bloomingdales. Expected later in the week are DNA witnesses.
Plaintiff's attorney John Kelly methodically led Vannatter through two and a half hours on June 13, 1994 when the detective took a vial of blood from the police station in downtown Los Angeles and handed it to criminalist Fung at Simpson's Rockingham home. The defense in Simpson's criminal trial called Vannatter one of the two "demons of deception" who helped carry out the police conspiracy to frame O.J (former Det. Mark Fuhrman was the other). Vannatter testified in that case for 11 hours, over four days. Friday, in the civil trial, Vannatter testified on direct examination for only 11 minutes, telling the jury that he never opened, nor put in his pocket, the envelope that contained Simpson's blood.
With such a short, narrow direct-examination, the defense was able to cross-examine Vannatter for only 30 minutes. Defense Robert Baker skeptically asked Vannatter why he waited at the police station for 90 minutes with the envelope of blood on his desk before taking it to Fung.
"I hadn't eaten in 24 hours, I'd gotten up at three in the morning . . . and I'm 55 year-old-man," Vannatter responded.
Find out about Court TV's coverage of the civil trial, and take a look at the witness lists provided by both sides.
Rob Schmidt's Reporter's Notebook
Court TV Reports and Trial Coverage
Documents and Depositions from the Pre-Trial Civil Proceedings
A Look Back at the Criminal Case
Discuss the Case
Register for our message boards and trade your insights and opinions with other trial watchers.
