Direct examination of Jim Merrill (part 2)

📄 Direct examination of Jim Merrill (part 2) — Thursday, December 5, 1996

Address:

C:\DEPT103\CIVIL\1996\DEC\5\DIRECT-EXAMINATION-OF-JIM-MERR.DOC

TRIAL

▲ Day 26 of 57

◀ Sidebar: Merrill testimony objections Session resumption ▶

Witness: Jim Merrill
Examiner: Daniel Petrocelli
Called by: Plaintiff • Date: Thursday, December 5, 1996 • Utterances: 111

Deposition testimony of Jim Merrill is read into the record, covering his rushed delivery of OJ Simpson's golf clubs to Chicago O'Hare airport after Simpson had already departed, and a phone call Simpson made to Merrill on June 14 — the day after the murders — in which Simpson told Merrill he loved Nicole, that she was the mother of his children, and that the media was 'really on him.' Merrill confirmed he had no prior knowledge of Nicole before that call.

# 1 (The following proceedings were held in open court, in the presence of the jury.)

# 2 MR. PETROCELLI:

Page 92. Starting at line 10, Mr. Leonard.

# 3 MR. LEONARD:

Okay.

# 4 (Reading:)

# 5 Q:

On your way to the airport, did you make any telephone calls?

# 6 A:

Not that I recall, no.

# 7 Q:

Did you know the departure time of Mr. Simpson's Los Angeles flight?

# 8 A:

No, I did not.

# 9 Q:

You had no idea?

# 10 A:

I had no idea.

# 11 Q:

And did you call to try to find out?

# 12 A:

I don't recall doing that, no.

# 13 Q:

And when you got there, did you park your car in the parking lot or did you pull up curbside to the place where you would get out of the car to deplane -- to take your luggage out?

# 14 A:

I actually pulled up curbside.

# 15 Q:

You left your car there?

# 16 A:

Yes, I did.

# 17 Q:

You took the clubs and took the clubs out of the car and raced inside?

# 18 A:

That's correct.

# 19 Q:

And you went to the baggage claim area to see how you could get the clubs on the plane?

# 20 A:

Actually, I went -- yes. I went to the American Airlines' counter, said that these were O.J. Simpson's golf clubs, he was on a return flight to LA.

# 21 Q:

You didn't know which one?

# 22 A:

I had no idea.

# 23 Q:

Did they check that out for you?

# 24 A:

Yes.

# 25 Q:

And they told you what?

# 26 A:

They said that I just missed the flight and that we examined what options we had to get the clubs back to Los Angeles.

# 27 Q:

And what options were discussed?

# 28 A:

I don't recall. She had me go downstairs to -- I don't remember what desk or what the reason was to go downstairs. Whatever desk it was it was closed. So I went back upstairs to the same agent, and she said she would take care of it for me.

# 29 Q:

She would take care of what?

# 30 A:

Getting the clubs to LA.

# 31 Q:

Did you also discuss with the agent how the clubs would get to Mr. Simpson?

# 32 A:

No.

# 33 Q:

You just understood that they would take care of it?

# 34 A:

I just understood they would get the clubs to LA and that was that.

# 35 MR. PETROCELLI:

Okay. Moving over to page 99 line 9.

# 36 MR. LEONARD:

Excuse me just a second.

# 37 MR. PETROCELLI:

Sure. 99 line 9.

# 38 MR. LEONARD:

Okay.

# 39 Q:

(BY MR. PETROCELLI) Where were you when you got the phone call from Mr. Simpson on the morning of the 14, on Tuesday?

# 40 A:

I was in a meeting at that point in the division sales office.

# 41 Q:

How were you summoned to the phone?

# 42 A:

One of our account service reps came in and said that I had a call, seemed like it was pretty important and they thought that it might have been Mr. Simpson.

# 43 Q:

And you took the call?

# 44 A:

Yes, I did.

# 45 Q:

Who answered the phone?

# 46 A:

I believe it may have been Denise Castorina.

# 47 Q:

She is whom?

# 48 A:

She was an account service rep at the time.

# 49 Q:

And you took the call?

# 50 A:

Yes, I did.

Moving over to page 104 line 20. Okay, Mr. Leonard?

# 51 MR. LEONARD:

Okay.

# 52 (Reading:)

# 53 Q:

In this conversation, you and he, he referring to Mr. Simpson, specifically discussed his golf clubs, true?

# 54 A:

Yes.

# 55 Q:

And you told -- You gave Mr. Simpson the claim number, right?

# 56 A:

That's correct.

# 57 MR. PETROCELLI:

Line 19.

# 58 MR. LEONARD:

Okay.

# 59 (Reading:)

# 60 Q:

In this conversation that you had with O.J. Simpson, he also opened up to you, didn't he?

# 61 A:

Which conversation?

# 62 Q:

This conversation on the 14th of June when he called you from Los Angeles?

# 63 A:

Yes.

# 64 Q:

He opened up to you, right?

# 65 MR. LEONARD:

Can I get the page number again? I'm sorry, I must be slow or something.

# 66 MR. PETROCELLI:

105.

# 67 MR. LEONARD:

Line again?

# 68 MR. PETROCELLI:

The end of the page going up to page 106 and continuing.

# 69 MR. LEONARD:

Okay.

# 70 MR. PETROCELLI:

Okay. (Reading:)

# 71 Q:

He opened up to you, right?

# 72 A:

Yes.

# 73 Q:

And he started talking to you about personal things, right?

# 74 A:

Yes.

# 75 Q:

He told you he loved Nicole, right?

KEY QUOTE

# 76 A:

Yes.

# 77 Q:

Now, you had never even heard of Nicole, right?

KEY QUOTE

# 78 A:

That's correct.

# 79 Q:

You didn't know who Nicole was, right?

# 80 A:

That's correct.

# 81 Q:

And the next day Mr. Simpson is telling you how much he loved Nicole, true?

# 82 A:

That's correct.

# 83 Q:

He also told you that she was the father -- excuse me -- that she was the mother of two children that they had together, right?

# 84 A:

Yes.

# 85 Q:

And that they had been divorced?

# 86 A:

He mentioned that, yes.

# 87 Q:

Correct?

# 88 A:

Yes.

# 89 Q:

But that he still loved her, right?

# 90 A:

That's correct.

# 91 MR. PETROCELLI:

Moving over to page 108 Mr. Leonard line 14.

# 92 Q:

My question to you was, he told you on the telephone conversation on June 14 that the media was really on him, true?

# 93 A:

That's correct. Going over, Mr. Leonard, to page 110 starting at line 22.

# 94 Q:

Now, you asked Mr. Simpson in the call whether he had received his golf clubs?

# 95 A:

Yes.

# 96 Q:

And he said he had not yet received them?

# 97 A:

That's correct.

# 98 Q:

And he said he was going to get them?

# 99 A:

Well, he had asked whether or not I was going to have them delivered.

# 100 Q:

He wanted to know whether you had made arrangements to deliver the golf clubs to his residence, correct?

# 101 A:

That's correct.

# 102 Q:

And you told him you hadn't made those arrangements, right?

# 103 A:

That's correct.

# 104 Q:

And he said he would then go take care of getting the golf clubs, correct?

# 105 A:

That's correct.

# 106 Q:

He didn't ask you to do anything further, right?

# 107 A:

That's correct.

# 108 MR. PETROCELLI:

Okay that's it, Your Honor.

# 109 MR. LEONARD:

Can we that a break? Do you mind if we take a break now?

# 110 THE COURT:

Okay. Ten minutes ladies and gentlemen.

# 111 (Recess.)

Temperature

tense

Key Quotes (4)

Witness (Jim Merrill)

He said that I just missed the flight and that we examined what options we had to get the clubs back to Los Angeles.

Establishes the timeline — Merrill arrived at the airport just after Simpson's flight departed, placing the golf club drop-off in the immediate post-murder chaos.

Witness (Jim Merrill)

He told you he loved Nicole, right? Yes.

OJ Simpson told a near-stranger he loved Nicole Brown Simpson the day after her murder — a striking detail for the plaintiffs' narrative of obsessive attachment.

Witness (Jim Merrill)

You had never even heard of Nicole, right? That's correct. You didn't know who Nicole was, right? That's correct.

Underscores how remarkable it was that Simpson would confide deep personal feelings about Nicole to someone who didn't even know who she was.

Witness (Jim Merrill)

The media was really on him, true? That's correct.

Simpson acknowledged awareness of media scrutiny on June 14, establishing his state of mind two days after the murders.

Evidence (3)

Informal

OJ Simpson's golf clubs brought to O'Hare airport by Merrill after Simpson had already departed

discussed

Informal

American Airlines baggage claim number given to Simpson during June 14 phone call

discussed

Informal

Phone call from OJ Simpson to Merrill on June 14 from Los Angeles

discussed

Notable Exchanges (2)

Daniel Petrocelli•Jim Merrill (via deposition)

Petrocelli walks through Simpson's June 14 phone call in which Simpson spontaneously professed his love for Nicole to a near-stranger, establishing emotional preoccupation with the victim the day after the murders.

revealing

Daniel Petrocelli•Dan Leonard

Repeated page-number coordination as Petrocelli reads deposition excerpts, with Leonard occasionally losing his place.

procedural

Light Moments (1)

Dan Leonard

Leonard apologizes for losing track of the page: 'I must be slow or something.'

Objections

None recorded

Proceeding 8502 • 111 utterances • Plaintiff witness

Civil Trial

Department 103