Word: simpson
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Team O.J., however, is hoping for the big score: an outright acquittal. Without one, Simpson must remain in jail awaiting a second trial, and his expensive lawyers must weigh the image costs of abandoning the case once they've depleted O.J.'s fortune. But to get one, Simpson may have to testify. "The thinking of lawyers is that he can't get acquitted unless he takes the stand,'' says Los Angeles defense attorney Andrew Stein. The risk is that he would then have to withstand cross-examination on every piece of circumstantial evidence, but Stein for one believes he might...
...since Simpson, by all accounts, remains the boss of his legal team, they are ready with a complete defense, which should take about six weeks to complete. Said Simpson lawyer Cochran in court last week: "We want this case to be over.'' Though the sequence is still in flux, Phase 1 is likely to consist of the "demeanor'' witnesses, who will attest to O.J.'s loving nature, his devotion to Nicole and his behavior on the airplane flights to and from Chicago the night of the murders. Says defense lawyer F. Lee Bailey: "It will be very powerful." Simpson...
...Phase 4, the defense would attack the prosecution's dna evidence. But since one of the prosecution's own expert dna witnesses admitted to errors on the stand, Simpson's lawyers may choose to limit testimony here. Also, Nobel laureate Kary Mullis, the team's star witness on flaws in the dna-testing procedures -- which he partially invented -- is a loose cannon who might say anything...
...next to last act would be Simpson himself. And at least one defense watcher argues that letting him testify is a win-win situation for Cochran. If O.J. does well and nails an acquittal, Cochran is a hero. If he fumbles and gets convicted, Cochran can say it was because Simpson took the stand against his advice...
...Garcetti, the Los Angeles district attorney with the deep tan and the chiseled face, is widely perceived to have micromanaged all the major moves in the Simpson case, from the early decision to file the charges in downtown Los Angeles rather than nearby Santa Monica, thus ensuring a mostly minority jury, to the decision not to seek the death penalty. It's a perception he denies, lavishly praising his prosecutors' strategic calls. But in an interview with Time late Friday, Garcetti took full responsibility for the state's presentation: "I can't promise the results of a case...