Petrocelli cross-examines Captain Wayne Stanfield, who had previously testified about a brief encounter with OJ Simpson on a flight from Los Angeles to Chicago on the night of the murders. Petrocelli systematically limits the value of Stanfield's observations by establishing that their interaction lasted only three minutes, that Stanfield never examined Simpson's hands for cuts, and that Stanfield had no baseline knowledge of how Simpson behaves under stress.
# 1 THE COURT: Cross.
CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR. PETROCELLI:
# 2 Q: (BY MR. PETROCELLI) Is it Captain Stanfield?
# 3 A: You can call me Wayne.
# 4 MR. LEONARD: Do you want this? (Indicating to logbook.)
# 5 MR. PETROCELLI: That's all right.
# 6 (Logbook handed back to the witness.) # 7 WAYNE STANFIELD: Thank you.
# 8 Q: (BY MR. PETROCELLI) When you first encountered Mr. Simpson, this is about three hours into the flight?
# 10 Q: And folks in first class were sleeping?
# 12 Q: And Mr. Simpson was awake when you approached him, right?
# 14 Q: And at the time that you approached him, he appeared to you to be pensive, deep in thought, correct?
# 16 MR. LEONARD: Objection. Calls for speculation, Your Honor.
# 17 THE COURT: Overruled.
# 18 Q: (BY MR. PETROCELLI) Is that correct, sir?
# 20 Q: That he was pensive, pensive, deep in thought?
# 22 Q: All right.
Now, when you --
By the way, the flight attendant, her name is Beverly Deteresa?
# 24 Q: She's a person that you worked with for a number of years?
# 26 Q: She was the one who attended to first-class passengers that evening?
# 28 Q: D-e-t-e-r-e-s-a; Is that right, sir?
# 29 A: I believe so. Pretty close.
# 30 Q: Okay.
Now, when you were with Mr. Simpson for the three minutes, next --
And by the way, that's the only time that you interacted with Mr. Simpson, correct?
# 32 Q: And you had never met him before, right?
# 33 A: Yes; I had never met him before.
# 34 Q: And you have no knowledge as to how Mr. Simpson reacts or conducts himself under stress or distress, right?
# 35 MR. LEONARD: Objection. That calls for speculation. It's also argumentative.
# 36 MR. PETROCELLI: I asked him if he knows.
# 37 THE COURT: Overruled.
# 39 Q: (BY MR. PETROCELLI) You have no knowledge of that?
# 41 Q: Okay.
And you -- and you had no knowledge of what Mr. Simpson was doing at all that evening, prior to when you saw him sitting in his chair on the airplane?
# 43 Q: Now, for the three minutes, then, that you sat down next to him, at no time did you examine his hands, correct?
# 45 Q: At no time during the three minutes were you ever looking at his hands for the purpose of seeing cuts, correct?
# 47 Q: Okay.
And, for example, if Mr. Simpson had a cut on the inside of the fourth finger of his left hand, you would not have been able to observe that cut, correct?
# 48 MR. LEONARD: Objection. Calls for speculation.
# 49 THE COURT: Sustained.
# 50 Q: You did not see the inside part of his fourth finger on his left hand, correct?
# 51 A: I don't recall looking at the inside of his fingers, no.
KEY QUOTE # 52 Q: Okay.
So you wouldn't know, as you sit here now, what the condition of that part of the finger was that evening?
# 53 A: That's a true statement.
# 54 Q: Okay.
And you didn't see any blood or anything like that?
# 55 A: I did not see any blood.
# 56 Q: And therefore, if Mr. Simpson had a fresh cut on -- on the front of his middle finger that was washed and was not bleeding, you can't say that he did not have that cut that evening, can you?
KEY QUOTE # 57 MR. LEONARD: Objection. Calls for speculation; argumentative.
# 58 THE COURT: I'll sustain it.
# 59 Q: (BY MR. PETROCELLI) You can't say definitively whether or not he had any cuts on his middle finger, correct?
# 61 MR. PETROCELLI: Nothing else.