Word: courtroom
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...approached, the Goldmans went downstairs to take their places in the courtroom. Upstairs about 40 people crowded around the single television, some sitting on the floor, some on tables, a few in chairs. Plainclothes L.A.P.D. officers mingled with young clerks for whom The People v. Orenthal James Simpson was the first exposure to the practice of law. In the room too was an assembly of friends of the prosecution, including Ron Shipp, and Nicole's friend Candace Garvey. Also present were Garvey's famous husband Steve, the retired baseball player, and Olympian Bruce Jenner and his wife Kris...
...selecting the jury. "I brought into the case the best jury consultant in America, the father of the art of jury selection, Donald Vinson," says San Francisco litigator John Martel, a prosecution adviser. "And on the first day of the trial, Dr. Vinson was asked to leave the courtroom because the prosecutors were concerned that the public might feel that the jury or the jury system was being manipulated if they were using a jury consultant." "Meanwhile," Martel continues, "Jo-Ellan Dimitrius was literally steering the ship at that point for the defense--and you saw the jury that resulted...
...LAWYERS. The carnival atmosphere surrounding the courtroom led to so many antics that the case's substance of a horrible double murder was often lost in the din. West Los Angeles public defender James Bendat believes judicial gag orders on lawyers in spectacular cases are the best remedy. "That would have been the right decision in terms of dealing with the media and preventing this buildup of frenzy," he says...
Some reformers would go further and put new restrictions on lawyers' conduct inside the courtroom as well: California Governor Pete Wilson wants to restrict an attorney's right to use political rhetoric in front of the jury, like Johnnie Cochran's urging them to "send a message" about racist misconduct. This sort of jury nullification, wrote syndicated columnist George Will, in which the panel is motivated by something other than the particulars of the case, amounts to "approximately what Groucho Marx said in the movie Duck Soup: 'Who are you gonna believe, me or your own eyes?'" Legal scholar Kamisar...
...CAMERA. The "self-consciousness of everyone concerned" dragged out the case, in the view of Vincent Blasi, a Columbia University law professor and courtroom-cameras advocate. Uelmen agrees that the "entertainment medium" took command: "We had witnesses who treated their testimony like a gig. We had witnesses who were afraid to testify, who were afraid of what it would do to their reputations." But, adds Uelmen, "evidence was uncovered because of television coverage. All those photos of O.J. wearing gloves at football games, for example, came from volunteers.'' Of his own experience with TV trials, Midwest lawyer Stephen Jones, counsel...