Direct examination of Philip Vannatter

📄 Direct examination of Philip Vannatter — Tuesday, December 10, 1996

Address:

C:\DEPT103\CIVIL\1996\DEC\10\DIRECT-EXAMINATION-OF-PHILIP-V.DOC

TRIAL

▲ Day 29 of 57

◀ Morning session opening Cross-examination of Philip Vannatter (part 1) ▶

Witness: Det. Philip Vannatter
Examiner: John Kelly
Called by: Plaintiff • Date: Tuesday, December 10, 1996 • Utterances: 75

Baker conducts a brief continued direct examination of Vannatter, focusing on the thoroughness of the June 28, 1994 search of Simpson's Rockingham property — specifically whether investigators searched medicine chests, plumbing, and the area between Bundy and Rockingham for a knife, bloody clothes, and other murder weapons. The thrust of the questioning is that an exhaustive search turned up nothing incriminating.

# 1 MR. BAKER:

I have a couple more questions just because I had a whole night to think of it.

# 2 THE COURT:

I knew I shouldn't have let you go home.

KEY QUOTE

# 3 MR. KELLY:

Based on -- on that, I object to any more questions by Mr. Baker.

# 4 THE CLERK:

You're still under oath.

Would you state your name again for the record.

# 5 DET. PHILIP VANNATTER:

Phillip Vannatter.

DIRECT EXAMINATION (Continued) BY MR. BAKER:

# 6 Q:

Mr. Vannatter, good morning.

# 7 A:

Good morning.

# 8 Q:

Now, did you meet with Mr. Kelly last night?

# 9 A:

For about five minutes, yes.

# 10 Q:

In terms of the June 28, 1994 search warrant that you signed the affidavit for, that was to obtain permission to search Mr. Simpson's house to get a knife, clothes, shoes, and any murder weapon that you could find, right?

# 11 A:

Yes.

# 12 MR. KELLY:

Objection, relevance, Your Honor.

# 13 THE COURT:

Go ahead.

# 14 Q:

(BY MR. BAKER) And the people that carried out that search warrant, one of them was David Martin, correct?

# 15 A:

Detective Dave Martin, yes.

# 16 Q:

And it's your understanding that he searched in the area behind the vanity mirrors, where there's a medicine chest in Mr. Simpson's -- in Mr. Simpson's house, because it was a very thorough search, correct?

# 17 MR. KELLY:

Objection, calls for speculation, hearsay also, unless he was there and made the observations, Your Honor.

# 18 THE COURT:

Sustained unless it's a percipient observation.

# 19 Q:

(BY MR. BAKER) You testified yesterday that this was a very thorough search of Mr. Simpson's house; do you recall that?

# 20 A:

I believe it was.

# 21 Q:

And I take it that you came to that conclusion, because you talked to the individuals that did that, and came to your own independent assessment before you tell this jury, under penalty of perjury, that that was a very thorough search, true?

# 22 A:

I believe it was a very thorough search.

# 23 Q:

To include a very thorough search in looking for the item, namely a knife that had been reported that Mr. Simpson bought downtown while doing a film?

# 24 MR. KELLY:

Objection, calls for hearsay. Already injecting it in his question, Your Honor.

# 25 MR. BAKER:

I'll lay the foundation.

# 26 Q:

(BY MR. BAKER) You had heard subsequent to the arrest of Mr. Simpson that he had purchased, sometime previously downtown while filming, a single-edged knife, correct?

# 27 MR. KELLY:

Same objection, calls for hearsay.

# 28 THE COURT:

Overruled.

# 29 A:

Yes.

# 30 Q:

(BY MR. BAKER) And part of the -- part of the search warrant of June 28 was to in fact see if that knife was in his house, correct?

# 31 A:

It was to search for it, yes.

# 32 Q:

And when you had Detective Dave Martin -- and by the way, Detective Fuhrman was in on that search, too, wasn't he?

# 33 A:

He was there, yes.

# 34 Q:

Were you there?

# 35 A:

Yes.

# 36 Q:

And is it your testimony, sir, that in the vanity upstairs where the medicine chest is or behind the vanity, that David Martin searched there and found no knife?

# 37 MR. KELLY:

Objection, calls for hearsay unless he's a percipient witness.

# 38 THE COURT:

Sustained.

# 39 MR. PETROCELLI:

Also irrelevant, Your Honor.

# 40 Q:

(BY MR. BAKER) Were you present at the hearing on 9/22/94 for the criminal case when David Martin testified?

# 41 MR. PETROCELLI:

We're going to get into what's in that hearing.

# 42 MR. KELLY:

I would object, scope, Your Honor.

# 43 THE COURT:

Sustained.

# 44 Q:

(BY MR. BAKER) It's your testimony that certainly, to do a thorough search, you'd have to look in medicine chests, isn't that true?

# 45 MR. PETROCELLI:

Same objection, Your Honor.

# 46 THE COURT:

Sustained. I think we went over this yesterday.

# 47 Q:

(BY MR. BAKER) Now, one other thing, Otis Marlow is a pal of yours?

# 48 MR. KELLY:

Objection, asked and answered, relevance.

# 49 THE COURT:

Overruled.

# 50 A:

A pal of mine?

# 51 Q:

(BY MR. BAKER) Yeah, he's a friend of yours?

# 52 A:

Yeah, he's a friend, and a man that I worked with for a number of years.

# 53 Q:

And Otis Marlow was the fellow that you sent out into the streets between Bundy and Rockingham and into the sewers to see if there could be found any bloody clothes, any murder weapon, any shoes, true?

# 54 A:

There were a number of detectives that did that.

# 55 Q:

How many?

# 56 A:

I can't tell you exactly. It was -- it was an organized search between the two locations.

# 57 Q:

And how long did it take to search between the two locations?

# 58 A:

I believe it took an entire day.

# 59 Q:

And there were -- in addition to a number of detectives, there were a number of other people, including Boy Scouts, were there not?

# 60 THE COURT:

Number -- not Boy Scouts, Explorer Scouts.

# 61 Q:

(BY MR. BAKER) And they searched the shrubs, trash, into the sewers, all of that, to find any bloody clothes, shoes, murder weapon, correct?

# 62 MR. KELLY:

Objection, relevance, based on hearsay unless these were his own observations.

# 63 THE COURT:

Overruled.

# 64 A:

That's what I was told, yes.

# 65 Q:

(BY MR. BAKER) And absolutely nothing was found, isn't that true?

# 66 A:

Nothing to my knowledge.

KEY QUOTE

# 67 Q:

And you also directed people to take apart plumbing in Mr. Simpson's home to see if blood could be found, isn't that true?

# 68 A:

I didn't direct that, no.

# 69 Q:

You were aware that it had occurred, and not one thing was found, isn't that true?

# 70 MR. KELLY:

Objection, calls for hearsay.

# 71 THE COURT:

Overruled.

# 72 A:

I was aware that it occurred.

KEY QUOTE

# 73 Q:

(BY MR. BAKER) And you were aware that, for example, they took apart the plumbing relative to the washing machine to see if there was any blood in the -- whatever those pipes are called, the drain pipes, right?

# 74 A:

I don't know that I was aware of that. I was aware that they checked the plumbing in the bathroom.

KEY QUOTE

# 75 MR. BAKER:

Nothing further.

Temperature

procedural

Key Quotes (4)

Hiroshi Fujisaki

I knew I shouldn't have let you go home.

Rare moment of judicial humor directed at Baker, signaling the judge's mild exasperation at continued questioning.

Phillip Vannatter

Nothing to my knowledge.

Vannatter concedes that the wide-area search between Bundy and Rockingham — involving multiple detectives and Explorer Scouts — found absolutely nothing.

Phillip Vannatter

I was aware that it occurred.

Vannatter acknowledges the plumbing was dismantled and searched for blood, yet nothing was found — consistent with Baker's theme of absence of evidence.

Phillip Vannatter

I don't know that I was aware of that. I was aware that they checked the plumbing in the bathroom.

Vannatter hedges on the scope of the plumbing search, drawing a distinction between the washing machine drain and the bathroom.

Evidence (4)

Informal

June 28, 1994 search warrant affidavit signed by Vannatter — authorizing search of Simpson's home for knife, clothes, shoes, and murder weapons

discussed

Informal

Single-edged knife reportedly purchased by Simpson downtown while filming

discussed as search target

Informal

Plumbing at Rockingham (bathroom and washing machine drain) dismantled and searched for blood

discussed

Informal

Area between Bundy and Rockingham searched by detectives and Explorer Scouts for bloody clothes, shoes, murder weapon

discussed

Notable Exchanges (3)

Robert Baker•Hiroshi Fujisaki

Judge opens by quipping he knew he shouldn't have let Baker go home after Baker announces he has more questions from overnight reflection.

light

Robert Baker•Phillip Vannatter•John Kelly•Daniel Petrocelli

Baker tries repeatedly to establish that Detective Martin searched (or failed to search) the medicine chest/vanity area; both Kelly and Petrocelli object on hearsay/percipient grounds and the court sustains, blocking the line of questioning.

strategic

Robert Baker•Phillip Vannatter

Baker walks Vannatter through the comprehensive between-location search — detectives, Explorer Scouts, sewers, shrubs — and gets Vannatter to confirm nothing was found.

revealing

Light Moments (2)

Hiroshi Fujisaki

"I knew I shouldn't have let you go home." — Judge Fujisaki's dry remark upon Baker announcing he had overnight thoughts.

Hiroshi Fujisaki

Fujisaki corrects Baker mid-question: "not Boy Scouts, Explorer Scouts."

Credibility Attacks (1)

⚔ Phillip Vannatter

prior testimony inconsistency / scope of knowledge

Baker challenges whether Vannatter's claim of a 'very thorough search' is based on personal knowledge or hearsay from other detectives, forcing Vannatter to hedge on specifics like the medicine chest and washing machine plumbing.

Objections

13 objections (5 sustained, 4 overruled)

Proceeding 8568 • 75 utterances • Plaintiff witness

Civil Trial

Department 103