The Mammoth Book of Celebrity Murders (52 page)

The police arrived on the scene and discovered the bodies of Nicole and Ron Goldman in pools of blood. Not wanting to disturb the murder scene they called for appropriate backup and then started
looking around the general area. It was subsequently determined that Nicole had suffered a number of stab wounds and one fatal one across the throat, while Goldman had suffered four separate stab
wounds plus one directly into the side of the neck, which was presumed to be the final cause of death. Not far from the scene where the bodies lay the policemen found a glove covered in blood and
bloody footprints leading away from the scene.

By 5 a.m. the following morning LA police detectives were at Simpson’s Rockingham address. They eventually climbed over the wall and woke those staying there, including Simpson’s
daughter Arnelle from a previous marriage. Members of the family were told of the murders and it was now that Simpson was traced to Chicago, where he was informed of the murders and instructed to
return to LA, being met at the airport by the police. Simpson was immediately taken into custody, but was released on bail, pending the outcome of the police investigation. His children were
temporarily housed with a family member and the police began to seal off the two addresses ready to begin an exhaustive search and analysis of both sites.

By now the media had caught wind of the events which had occurred at the Bundy address and had begun congregating at both residences. Worse, they had already started to release snippets of
information regarding the stormy past of Nicole and Simpson; they also made it abundantly clear that they believed the police suspected Simpson of carrying out the murders. The media circus that
began shortly after daybreak on Monday, 13 June would in due course dog the trial, enrage the judge and to some extent prejudice the proceedings.

The car chase that followed Simpson’s bail violation heralded the start of a series of media-driven events which served to add further weight to the idea that Simpson was guilty. If he
wasn’t guilty why had he gone on the run? Why had he not turned himself over to the police for the sake of his children, who had surely endured enough? The police made it clear from the
outset that he was in the frame for the murder and the media too had started down the same path, as they scrambled to portray the life of Simpson and Nicole. They ran story after story on the
couple, focusing on their matrimonial troubles which had seen the police called on more than one occasion.

On arrival at the house gates Simpson could have been forgiven for thinking he had travelled back in time to the days when he was a football hero – the throng of media surrounding his
property was immense, and every spare inch of ground had a television crew recording details of his arrival under police guard. The crime scene at Bundy was also crammed with reporters and film
crews, ready to feed a constant stream of information to the American public. The TV crews fought for the best positions and the best angles on any story they could find. As the police fought a
constant battle to protect the crime scene, this behaviour and lack of respect for the judicial process would spill over into the court case, as the presiding judge dealt with the ever-present
spectre of leaked information.

After the police had sealed the respective properties a meticulous search was commenced and the details linking Simpson to the murders began to emerge. Several witnesses came forward to present
further evidence, including one who remembered Simpson buying a simulated bone-handled knife, the characteristics of which matched those of the murder weapon, a 6-inch-long blade with a
three-quarter-inch width.

The police, however, never found the knife during their searches, although the defence managed to find Simpson’s knife in a bathroom cabinet.

Simpson had bought the manually locking knife from Ross Cutlery in downtown LA, where he had been shooting a scene for the film
Frogmen
in the days before the murder. The defence were
later to present it as a keynote defence point, as analysis had shown that it had no traces of blood on it. However these points were merely circumstantial when compared to the actual evidence
found.

A left-hand glove, matted with blood, was found close to the bodies and the matching right one was found behind Simpson’s garage. The police also found a blue knitted cap on the grass
leading away from the scene which contained hairs matching Simpson’s. Bloody footprints were found round the back of the Bundy condo as were five droplets of blood that were shown to be of
Simpson’s type, giving a 1 in 200 chance of them belonging to anyone else.

It was noted by the police that Simpson had a cut on his middle finger, which he explained he had done on his mobile handset, a point later proven not to be true. Socks taken from
Simpson’s home were subjected to serological analysis and were shown to have Nicole’s blood type on them; there was also much bloodstaining on Simpson’s Ford Bronco and analysis
again showed this to be his own and Nicole’s blood type. Much later, after the advent of DNA testing, further analysis would show that the Bronco bloodstains contained the blood of Ron
Goldman as well.

Whilst out on bail and overcome with the enormity of the crimes and the evidence being presented, he and his friend A. C. Cowling took off in the Bronco, resulting in the highly televised
freeway pursuit which resulted in his arrest and internment for the period of the trial.

Simpson now began assembling the legal team that would become known as the “dream team”, the key players of which would become as famous as their client. America had already split
into the “guilty” and “not guilty” camps with the numbers broadly equal, those against had many reasons for him not being the killer: he was an intelligent man; he would
never leave such obvious items of evidence at the scene; he would not dispose of the bloody glove behind the garage as the police were bound to look there; why make the phone call at 10.04 pm? His
socks were bloodstained and found in the house, but what of his shoes?

After the police had arrested Simpson he called his lawyer Howard Weitzman, who was there to meet him when he finally arrived at the house under police guard. Once the basic evidence was
presented to Simpson, Weitzman was dropped from the defence team and replaced by Bob Shapiro as attorney; six weeks later Johnny Cochran joined the team, replacing Shapiro as lead counsel for the
defence. The dream team was now set and spent their time preparing for the court case and probably the biggest challenge any of the team had faced in their careers thus far.

The police and media during this period were still portraying Simpson as the killer and details from Simpson’s police interviews were being leaked with alarming regularity to the press,
for example, how he couldn’t remember how he had cut his finger, then changing this to claiming it was cut on the handset of his mobile phone. Every printed word seemed to further incriminate
Simpson, and Judge Ito, who was set to preside over the court proceedings, became increasingly concerned about ensuring a fair trial, given that it was almost inconceivable that the jury would have
avoided being fed the medias presentation of the facts.

Simpson throughout this period kept a low media profile, although he was filmed looking particularly stressed behind dark glasses, while attending Nicole’s funeral. It was reported that
shortly after the service Nicole’s mother asked Simpson directly if he was responsible for the murder of Nicole, to which he replied, “I loved her too much.”

The newspapers continued to report the facts as leaked by persons unknown until Judge Ito finally exploded, declaring that the media circus would now come to an end. One reporter, Tracie Savage
of KNBC, reported that the blood found on Simpson’s socks was a direct match to Nicole’s blood type, for which she was publicly denounced by Judge Ito from the bench. He then subpoenaed
the reporter and her bosses and subjected them to a severe grilling, had the attorneys make a public denial of the details of the claim and went on to warn that he would bring to bear the full
authority of the court on anyone who interfered with the proceedings, including those seeking to run the justice system through the pages of the tabloid newspapers or the public’s TV screens.
The threats worked and finally the media settled back into a more responsible reporting style.

However, during the course of the trial the defence counsel did make use of the Savage article by claiming that it showed that a member of the LAPD knew of the results before the final results
of the blood tests were known, thus indicating that the evidence was planted by a close member of the LAPD team. Accusations of this type had been thrown at the LAPD before and the public were not
impervious to the facts.

Following the preliminary hearing Simpson was held for trial to answer two counts of first-degree murder. A key decision also made at this stage was to direct the District Attorney away from a
possible call for the death penalty, in light of Simpson’s previously good record.

The trial that followed would now run for the next nine months and hold the title of the longest-running criminal court case in American history, a title previously held by the Charles Manson
trials.

On 24 January 1995, Orenthal James Simpson sat in the dock of the LA Supreme Courthouse and along with a jury of eight black people, one Hispanic, two of mixed descent and one white person,
listened to the opening statements.

There followed month upon month of complex statements from so-called expert witnesses, which would then be dismantled by the defence. Throughout this period the entire proceeding were being
broadcast live to a massive audience – 92 per cent of the American television viewing public were tuned into the court case. CNN’s Larry King joked that if he had God booked on his show
and O. J. became available he would move God. The case was heaven sent for the media and the whole world watched as Simpson played the supporting role to the extravagant and some would say flashy
defence team.

During the trial Judge Ito barred media staff from both Court TV and
USA
Today
for talking during the proceedings, and warned others that they too would be removed if the
media’s chatterings did not cease.

Amongst the myriad of evidence and counter-evidence one of the key defence positions was that one of the detectives first on the scene, Mark Fuhrman, had in fact planted the evidence that the
prosecution often referred to. He was the first on the scene and had been the one to go over the wall at the Rockingham estate to see who was in. The defence claimed that it was during this period
that Fuhrman had planted evidence. This was a particularly bitter dispute during which the defence asked to see Fuhrman’s personnel records. It was also claimed that Fuhrman had made numerous
racial remarks which could influence his attitude to Simpson. In yet another strong attack, F. Lee Bailey, a key defence lawyer, stated that he would prove that Fuhrman planted the bloody glove
found behind Simpson’s garage. In a private meeting with Judge Ito, Bailey said he had more evidence that Fuhrman planted the glove than the prosecution had that Simpson had committed the
murders. During the whole interrogation of Detective Mark Fuhrman, Marcia Clarke, the lead prosecution lawyer, would interject with complaints that the defence team were making accusations they
could not prove and were bringing the detective’s reputation into question, a point the defence team said they had every intention of pursuing as it was at the heart of their case.

Another major defence position was that the LAPD had run the enquiry and especially the murder scene in a sloppy and amateurish way. The police had to admit that they had not allowed the coroner
access to the bodies until ten hours after the scene had been sealed by the police, an act that meant they could not easily pinpoint the time of the crime. The police were accused of being so
convinced of Simpson’s guilt that they did not pursue any other lines of investigation at all. It was intimated that boot prints found at the scene were quite likely to have come from
wandering police staff and that even bloodstains could have been moved around by them.

Denise Brown, Nicole’s sister, made an emotional testimony, saying that Nicole was justifiably scared of Simpson, adding that she was frequently in danger of physical abuse.

Throughout the trial jurors were replaced for one reason or another, but the Judge was able to maintain a sensible balance and one that would be best placed to deliver a fair verdict, although
the changing faces of the jurors meant new challenges for the lawyers involved as they sought to maintain whatever influence they thought they had achieved to date.

The courtroom also witnessed numerous arguments between the defence team and Marcia Clarke. At one point Judge Ito ordered that the two stop their “gratuitous” personal attacks on
each other, claiming they were not helping the jury in their task of assessing the available evidence.

As the trial dragged on even Judge Ito became the target for criticism, with the press saying it was unfair for the jurors to have to maintain track of the trial over such an extended period of
time – the wheels of justice were certainly turning very slowly, and the costs were mounting rapidly. By the end of February, just one month into the case, the court costs had reached $3.2
million.

The media, getting tired of discussing the endless evidence, some too scientifically complex to easily present in a newspaper article, took to commenting on the personalities of the legal teams
and of the growing tension and arguments between them. One newspaper decided to lead on one occasion with the new hairdo that prosecutor Marcia Clarke was sporting. There were also many
light-hearted moments during the trial, when even Simpson was able to raise a smile. When Brian Kaelin took the stand he was asked by a member of the defence team if he felt nervous, to which he
replied, “No, I feel great,” and the courtroom laughed, thankful for a break in the pressure.

The norm however was for the two teams to tackle each and every issue head on with as much effort and skill as they could muster. The defence had a stroke of luck when a female employee from the
LA District Attorney’s office filed a $12 million suit against Christopher Dardin of the prosecution, alleging she was being coerced to stand by details that she believed were fabricated.
Whatever the strength of the evidence the prosecution’s position was constantly hampered by claims of corrupt and inept policing, fabrication of evidence and so on. It would be a difficult
call as to the eventual outcome.