📄 In chambers: juror excusal — Monday, November 25, 1996
Address:
C:\DEPT103\CIVIL\1996\NOV\25\IN-CHAMBERS-JUROR-EXCUSAL.DOC
TRIAL
▲ Day 22 of 57

In chambers: juror excusal

Date: Monday, November 25, 1996 • Utterances: 20
Judge Fujisaki excused a juror for attempting to contact trial attorneys and their staff on two separate occasions, with a replacement to be drawn by lot the following morning. The remaining discussion concerned the scope of cross-examination rights for co-plaintiffs' counsel Michael Brewer regarding OJ Simpson's testimony, with Fujisaki firmly holding Brewer to a prior agreement not to re-cover ground already examined by lead counsel Petrocelli.
1 (The notes of the proceedings at this point were ordered sealed by the Court, not to be opened, transcribed, or destroyed except upon order of a Judge of the Superior Court.)
2 (The following proceedings were held in chambers, outside the presence of the jury.)
3 THE COURT:

The Court is excusing a juror for the reason that she is unable to conduct herself properly as a juror, and has twice made efforts to make some contact with participants in the trial, attorneys in one instance, an employee of the attorneys in the second instance, and the Court feels that in the interest of justice and fairness, that it's important that the jurors be kept separate and apart from the participants of the trial. And for this reason, the Court excused the juror.

Tomorrow morning, we will draw by lot, a juror to fill that spot. Okay.

Thank you.

4 MR. BAKER:

Thank you.

5 MR. BREWER:

Your Honor, just one more matter that -- I assume that part of the record is sealed.

6 THE COURT:

That's sealed, except for the excusing part, that last part of excusing her for her conduct. The court released that portion of the record where I excused the juror and the reasons for her excusal, that's part of the record; that will be part of the minute order. Okay.

7 MR. BREWER:

Your Honor, we had a side bar, wherein Mr. Baker had voiced an objection concerning other counsel questioning Mr. Simpson.

On cross, under 776 -- and I just want to bring to the Court's attention the case McCarthy versus Mobile Cranes Inc. 199 Cal.App.2d 500 that deals with independent actions that have been consolidated for trial when you have an adverse party testifying and the right of each party's attorneys' right to cross-examine that witness.

I would also request that the Court allow us the opportunity to review my notes this evening because there may be other areas that I would like to explore assuming they haven't already been covered by Mr. Petrocelli or the order that you made confining the areas of inquiry, at least with respect to my examination. I would like to not be prejudiced tomorrow if I come in, after reviewing today's testimony, find other areas that I had opportunity to be heard relative to those areas in.

8 THE COURT:

Quite opposite. We set the ground rules. The ground rule was, you agreed to it, that you would be -- wouldn't be going over the same material that each attorney examines on.

9 MR. BREWER:

And I do agree with that, Judge.

The only points I made in side bar are, there are areas that are not necessarily the same areas, but may have information that wasn't fully developed that I would like to develop.

So I agree. It's not my intention nor my desire to go over the same testimony that was elicited quite effectively by Mr. Petrocelli; simply, there are areas that I feel I wanted to develop in a different way and in a different manner, I think need further development. And that was the point that I was making and the reason why I wanted to revisit a couple areas.

10 THE COURT:

I'm not in the habit of going back on my rulings.

KEY QUOTE
11 MR. BREWER:

I know.

12 THE COURT:

I'm going to stand by them. If there's any particular area that you can point to, you certainly have the opportunity to do that.

13 MR. BREWER:

Okay.

14 THE COURT:

You made an agreement; I'm going to stick you right with your word, okay?

KEY QUOTE
15 MR. BREWER:

Okay.

16 MR. BAKER:

One other thing: If I put Mr. Simpson on, if I go into half the subjects, bring you back -- bring him back for the other half, is that appropriate?

KEY QUOTE
17 THE COURT:

On your --

18 MR. BAKER:

Yeah.

19 MR. PETROCELLI:

Can we talk briefly?

We don't have to be on the record, Your Honor, Judge.

20 (At 4:50 p.m., an adjournment was taken until Tuesday, November 26, 1996, at 8:30 A.M.)

Temperature

procedural

Key Quotes (4)

Hiroshi Fujisaki
She is unable to conduct herself properly as a juror, and has twice made efforts to make some contact with participants in the trial, attorneys in one instance, an employee of the attorneys in the second instance.
Explains the specific misconduct justifying juror excusal — improper contact attempts with trial participants.
Hiroshi Fujisaki
I'm not in the habit of going back on my rulings. I'm going to stand by them.
Fujisaki's firm rebuff of Brewer's attempt to expand his cross-examination scope beyond the agreed limits.
Hiroshi Fujisaki
You made an agreement; I'm going to stick you right with your word, okay?
Fujisaki holds Brewer to the prior sidebar agreement, shutting down any attempt to relitigate the examination scope.
Robert Baker
If I put Mr. Simpson on, if I go into half the subjects, bring you back -- bring him back for the other half, is that appropriate?
Baker raises a procedural question about splitting Simpson's defense testimony across multiple sessions, left unresolved as Petrocelli requests an off-record discussion.

Notable Exchanges (2)

Michael BrewerHiroshi Fujisaki
Brewer cites McCarthy v. Mobile Cranes Inc. to argue each consolidated party's counsel has independent cross-examination rights, and requests latitude to explore underdeveloped areas from Simpson's testimony. Fujisaki flatly refuses, citing the prior agreement.
tense
Robert BakerDaniel PetrocelliHiroshi Fujisaki
Baker raises whether he can split Simpson's potential defense testimony across sessions; Petrocelli asks to discuss off the record, and proceedings adjourn without resolution.
strategic

Objections

1 objections (0 sustained, 0 overruled)
Proceeding 8402 • 20 utterances
Civil Trial
Department 103
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