Recross-examination of Officer Thompson

📄 Recross-examination of Officer Thompson — Tuesday, October 29, 1996

Address:

C:\DEPT103\CIVIL\1996\OCT\29\RECROSS-EXAMINATION-OF-OFFICER.DOC

TRIAL

▲ Day 5 of 57

◀ Redirect examination of Officer Thompson Recess ▶

Witness: Donald Thompson
Examiner: Robert Baker
Called by: Plaintiff • Date: Tuesday, October 29, 1996 • Utterances: 12

Robert Baker concludes his recross of Officer Thompson with a tight series of questions about how carefully Thompson inspected a blanket before bringing it to the crime scene. Thompson admits he only looked at the blanket for approximately ten seconds and did not examine every corner, undermining any claim of thorough pre-use inspection.

# 1 Q:

Did you walk by the living room when you walked up to the linen closet?

# 2 A:

I'm sure I did. Yes.

# 3 Q:

Did you inspect the blanket before you brought it downstairs?

# 4 A:

Yes, I did.

# 5 Q:

You looked closely at the blanket?

# 6 A:

Yes, I did.

# 7 Q:

Did you look at every corner of that blanket before you brought it downstairs?

# 8 A:

Every corner? No. I unfolded it to the point where I could make the determination that it was clean and it was ready to be used.

KEY QUOTE

# 9 Q:

How long did you inspect the blanket, sir?

# 10 A:

Maybe about -- maybe about ten seconds.

KEY QUOTE

# 11 MR. BAKER:

Nothing further.

We'd like to keep this witness.

# 12 MR. MEDVENE:

Nothing further.

Temperature

procedural

Key Quotes (2)

Witness

Every corner? No. I unfolded it to the point where I could make the determination that it was clean and it was ready to be used.

Thompson concedes he did not fully inspect the blanket, suggesting it could have carried trace evidence to the scene without his knowledge.

Witness

Maybe about -- maybe about ten seconds.

The hesitation and the brevity of the inspection undercut the credibility of his earlier claim that he 'looked closely' at the blanket.

Evidence (1)

Informal

Blanket brought from the house and used to cover Nicole Brown Simpson's body at the crime scene

discussed — inspection protocol challenged

Notable Exchanges (1)

Robert Baker•Officer Thompson

Baker walks Thompson through a progressive narrowing of his blanket inspection claim — from 'I looked closely' to 'every corner? No' to 'ten seconds' — extracting a concession that the inspection was cursory.

strategic

Credibility Attacks (1)

⚔ Officer Thompson

prior inconsistent statement / narrowing cross

Baker gets Thompson to affirm he 'looked closely' at the blanket, then immediately elicits that he did not check every corner and spent only about ten seconds on the inspection — effectively impeaching the thoroughness of his own prior answer.

Objections

None recorded

Proceeding 8082 • 12 utterances • Plaintiff witness

Civil Trial

Department 103