Word: simpson
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...beginning, Petrocelli had only one photo--and he was concerned. Early in the trial, he had presented a single picture of Simpson wearing Bruno Maglis taken by photographer Harry Scull. The defense declared the photo was a fake, and Petrocelli was afraid the jury might buy into that claim--even though his partner Peter Gelblum had brutally discredited the defense photo expert, Robert Groden, a J.F.K.-assassination buff with no formal training in photography. Then came word that other pictures existed. "Oh, my God. Are they real?" Gelblum asked Petrocelli...
Frame after frame showed Simpson at a Sept. 26, 1993, football game at Rich Stadium in Buffalo, New York. John Kelly, the lawyer for the estate of Nicole Brown Simpson, had flown to Buffalo to pick up all the photographs that E.J. Flammer, a freelance photographer, had taken. Flammer had published one of the photos in the Buffalo Bills newsletter in November 1993. He had saved a dated invoice for the photo assignment and had a copy of his sideline pass for the game. In fact, the plaintiffs would eventually come into possession of additional pictures as amateur photographers began...
...they needed to compress their case and hit the jury with the strongest and most incontrovertible facts. Among the unused evidence: the notes of a West Los Angeles therapist who had separately treated Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman and who wrote down Nicole's account of being beaten by Simpson in the days just before the murders; and the recollections of a Connecticut limousine driver who described to the plaintiffs during deposition how, during a trip from a board meeting at the Forschner Group, a knife company, the former pro-football star used one of the complimentary knives...
Petrocelli had clear ideas of how to try this case. And he knew what would not work. "The least explored aspect of the case is Simpson's motive," he explained before the trial began. "You cannot just say this murder was a culmination of domestic-violence incidents. You need to tell a jury a story. This was about a stormy relationship. I feel we really need to focus on the dynamics of that relationship and focus carefully on the last two months. That's why instead of talking with Nicole's friends, I want to focus on talking...
That strategy made the difference in understanding Simpson. It was the background Petrocelli relied heavily on in cross-examining Simpson on the witness stand. The people who helped the plaintiffs' case most were several of Simpson's former golfing buddies--some of whom he had thanked in his infamous "suicide" letter. Many of them initially and passionately believed Simpson to be innocent. Only much later, well into the criminal trial, did they change their minds. Helping the plaintiffs, Alan Austin and Ron Shipp described Simpson's jealous rages, his obsession with Nicole and, perhaps most important, how Nicole...