Thomas Lange.
THOMAS LANGE, called as a witness on behalf of Plaintiff Goldman, was duly sworn and testified as follows:
You do solemnly swear that the testimony you may give in the cause now pending before this court shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
I've been a licensed private investigator since 1980.
However, I've been employed as one -- actually working as one for about the last three months.
I do criminal defense. I do some civil work. I am involved in a death-penalty appeal case, things of that nature.
I was a police detective for the City of Los Angeles, assigned to robbery/homicide division.
Were you in different units before joining the robbery/homicide division as a detective in 1978?
I worked central detectives homicide, central detectives robbery section. I worked central detectives juvenile section. I've also worked our detective headquarters division.
Is there a difference in the function or type of matter that you worked on as a homicide detective, for example, and your assignment as a detective in the robbery/homicide division, homicide special section for the last 15 years?
Yes. Robbery/homicide division is a so-called specialized division that handles high-profile cases, time-consuming cases: Things such as serial killings, multiple killings, things that tend to take more time to investigate because the -- the fact of the matter is that, among the 18 geographical divisions, those units are inundated; and in the specialized division, you're afforded more time to actually work those types of cases.
Did there come a time that you became involved in the investigation of a double murder that occurred at 875 South Bundy on June 12, 1994?
I responded to the location at 875 South Bundy. Arrived there, I believe, at approximately 4:20 or 4:25 a.m.
I -- after parking my vehicle, I approached my supervisor, Lieutenant John Rodgers, who was standing on Dorothy, in front of the location, along with my partner at the time, Phil Vannatter. They were standing with two other detectives.
I approached them, and my partner I believe -- Lieutenant Rodgers introduced me to Detective Phillips, and after that, Detective Fuhrman.
Yes; I was to understand we were going to take over the investigation from these two detectives who worked the geographical unit.
And my partner, Vannatter, suggested that Phillips take me on a walk-through of the location, to familiarize myself with what they had.
From the time robbery/homicide became responsible for the investigation, what was the role of the West Los Angeles police officers and detectives to be?
And from time to time, did you call upon them to assist you in the course of your Investigation?
Yes.
Well the detectives, Phillips and Fuhrman, and there were several other West Los Angeles officers there to secure the perimeter.
And after the initial walk-through, did you have occasion to go through a number of other walk-throughs and conduct a survey of the property?
(BY MR. MEDVENE) With the Court's permission, Officer Lange, would you please approach the board.
I have in front of you what's been marked Exhibit 2057. You see it has a series of pictures on it and has a schematic to the left.
Could you first address the schematic and describe that for me.
This is a schematic.
On the left -- this is to scale -- is the basic floor plan at Bundy, completed by an LAPD surveyor by the name of Howard Huckland.
The scale you see off to the left here, the front here, Bundy Drive at the bottom of the alley, at the top -- west is at the top; east is at the bottom; south is to your left; and north is to your right.
Just give the ladies and gentlemen of the jury a brief feel -- could you give some idea of the distance from the alleyway to the front of the residence, and some idea of where the walkway area comes in, just so they can have a feel for it?
Well, the scale gives us 170 feet from the zero, of course, all the way down to Bundy Drive. So this would be 170 feet.
Again, the front gate is here, and this is the walkway leading into the residence.
And this is the walkway that goes along the north side of the residence, all the way -- all the way down, all the way through to the alley.
That's a picture looking from, I believe, possibly the parkway here on Bundy in a westerly direction, to the front gate area.
It also depicts the victim lying at the foot of the steps.
The lighting there was -- I believe there's, like, four Malibu lights down here. And I believe two of them were operating, but they were extremely dull.
That, combined with the vegetation, they were very difficult to see in the light there.
There was another lamp in this area that was projected straight up, as if to cast light on the wall, and perhaps the numbers 875, here.
Out here in the street, there was and overhead illumination; however, the foliage here was so thick that it blocked any illumination down in this area.
So while there was some light, I would say it wasn't -- there wasn't a great view.
(BY MR. MEDVENE) Can you describe whether it was easy or difficult to see, if you were on the sidewalk, looking in?
If one were to look directly west, specifically looking down here, you'd certainly see this.
However, one just walking down the street, I would think that because of the thick foliage here, to begin with, you wouldn't see anything here until you walked right up on this. Then you would have to turn to it, like a 90-degree turn to your right, to see anything here because of this thick foliage, if one were walking down the sidewalk.
If one were walking the other way, you'd possibly be more apt to see something going north in this direction, than you would going south, because again, this heavy foliage is right in this area here; and so this is almost blind until you walk up on the walkway.
KEY QUOTE(BY MR. MEDVENE) Now, if we can go up to the second picture from the bottom -- that's Exhibit 46 -- And tell us what that is.
That's the walkway just above the steps here that you see, just above these steps. It's this area back in here.
This is the corner of the building, corner of the condominium, should be the northeast corner.
This is the walkway going straight up to the front, to the front door, looking west.
Here we had what appeared to be bloody shoe prints, moving to the west.
There's also depicted here what turned out to be a blood drop. That's at the corner of this condominium right here, was the first of four that we located on this walkway.
Now, if we go to the picture above that one, or the second picture from the top -- that's Exhibit 47.
Does that continue your walk-through?
It's kind of a glare in here.
Yes; these are the three steps leading up to the front door that you see here in the schematic. The front door is just off to the left here, as depicted on the schematic.
Again, you can see what appear to be bloody shoe prints leading toward that direction.
You see a little more of the steps in that one.
This is, again, in the walkway toward the rear, looking westerly. It's looking out towards the alley that is right -- this stairwell going up in the west is depicted right here, alongside the laundry room of the schematic.
Here's the rear gate. Again, this is looking westerly. And that's right in this these steps depicted right here.
All right. What we're going to do now, Mr. Lange, is place a number of exhibits on the television screen of the walkway area from the front of the property to the back. In other words, approaching through another direction.
I have another series of pictures. I'm going to ask to you describe each one, if you would.
This is a photograph looking west up the walkway, and this is the front of the location.
One of the victims is shown here at the foot of the stairs. And this is how I recall the scene the morning that I arrived.
Excuse me, Your Honor. Would it be possible to dim the lights a little bit, if that makes it easier for the jury. I don't know if it will or not.
(BY MR. MEDVENE) And when we go through, maybe you can generally relate the picture on the TV screen to the diagram on the schematic in terms of approximately where we are in comparing.
So we talked a bit about Exhibit 32 and what you saw.
And could you just point out where on the schematic that would be.
Okay. Again, this photo appears to be taken from the parkway area, which would be right here. It's taken in a westerly direction.
And what you're looking at here is the front gate, that's here, and these steps going up right here.
91 is a close-up, much closer than the previous photograph. And again, you're looking at the same area. It's the steps right in front. And that's one of the victims lying there.
The gate here is open; it's -- the gate is wide open. That's basically it.
(BY MR. MEDVENE) Go to Exhibit -- excuse me. The other victim was found where, if you could point at it?
The other victim was found off to the right, here. It's behind a metal rung fence, behind that fence and off to the right.
Yes, that's the second victim.
This photo is looking down in a north by northwesterly direction. And it is right in this area here, adjacent and just to the north of the walkway and these steps going up, right in this area.
That's a photograph looking directly down on the front steps. That photograph depicts these three steps here.
And to the right of the photograph, at the foot of the steps, you see one of the victims.
Looking directly down at this photo, directionally north would be to the top of the photograph.
Exhibit 45 depicts what turned out to be bloody shoe prints.
This is the walkway above the steps, back up in this area. And this is to -- the top of this photograph would be west. The walkway is going this way towards the alley, up towards the top.
And the steps on the 875 south Bundy board, if you could, point to those that we're talking about.
This is more of an overall of the walkway. It's looking west towards the alley.
Again, we see what appears to be bloody shoe prints leading west in the alley. West is towards the top of the photograph. These three steps depicted in this photograph, you see, right here. The front door is just off to the left, we see here.
Of course, here's the corner of the condominium.
Yeah. This is going back. This is just off to the left. Here is the front door -- front entrance of the condominium, which is here, barely visible here in the lower left corner of this photograph.
But you're looking back in this direction. This is a metal gate here, that is right before the stairs going down. That little gate would be right here. And you're looking, again, in a westerly direction towards the alley.
And just this portion is just beyond the front door looking west.
Yeah, there's a stairwell going down. What you see here. And that would be right here on the schematic, down towards the flat area, off to the left with what would appear to be a guest room here. (Indicating.)
And this is the stairwell on the schematic going down that -- you see it here. And this is in a westerly direction towards the rear alley.
If we can back up for a moment to 1781, that -- the one we have. Do you still see footprints?
Yes. They're beginning to fade. But there are remnants of what appear to be bloody shoe prints going in a westerly direction.
Appears to be another shot of that stairwell with the -- again, the bloody shoe prints; partial bloody shoe prints. They're beginning to fade at this point.
This is also looking west. This is the stairwell going up towards the rear gate, west and then the schematic that would be right here. And again this is looking out through the rear gate to the alley westerly.
This is a rear of the location, say parking area adjacent to the alley which is depicted at the top here.
This parking area is shown as the driveway in the schematic at the top here.
This photo was taken from the rear of the walkway, roughly in this area. From in front of the rear gate, which is here, but roughly from this area, looking west.
This is the rear of Nicole Brown's vehicle. The way it was found that night.
This photograph is looking from the alley up here, back the other way, east. Off to the left of the photograph, you see the rear gate that's open here. And here's the walkway we've been describing to the left of the vehicle.
Have you now walked us through photos that start at the front and go all the way through and behind the rear gate of the residence?
I've now placed on the board, Exhibit 87, title: "The front portion of 875 south Bundy."
Could you first describe for us, if you could, the schematic and tell us what that is then I'll take you through the various photographs.
Okay. Here's the schematic in the center of this display. It depicts the two victims; Mr. Goldman, Ms. Brown.
Here's the front gate area. Here's the steps leading up.
We have bloody shoe prints depicted on the steps leading up. This is the walkway in this direction, leading west.
We have various dimensions here.
In regard to the victims, this is a dirt area that meets with the walkway right here.
We have, from the top of Ms. Brown's head, to the dirt areas, is 15 inches, as an example.
Mr. Goldman's left boot is eight inches from this walkway. We have a tree stump that's depicted in here, which is one foot, 11 inches; some 23 inches from this retain wall.
It's a 14 inch distance from the inside of the lower rung on this northerly fence to the lower back area of Mr. Goldman.
And then, of course, we have the photographs that have been marked with the various items on the schematic, if you want me to get into that.
Let's take, if we could, the photo the furthest to the right as I'm looking at it, which is Exhibit 88. Yes, sir.
That's Mr. Goldman. That photograph is taken, looking in a north by north-westerly direction. And it shows Mr. Goldman in the position that I first observed him here in this dirt area.
We're also, as a convenience, putting the Exhibit up on the TV screen at the same time.
If we can, move to the photo to the left of it, which is Exhibit 84, and describe what that is and tie it into the schematic above, if you will.
That's a close-up photo of a brown -- dark brown leather glove and a dark blue knit ski cap. And if you follow into the schematic, that was located in this area right here; the foot of Mr. Goldman's right, where the dirt area meets with the walkway.
You also see a partial bloody shoe print in that general area. But that's right here.
That's Exhibit 89, incidentally.
Did you ever find more than, or see more than one glove at the 875 south Bundy?
Vague. Ambiguous as to when. It's vague, ambiguous as to the foundation, if he ever searched.
Again, that's the front of the location looking west on the walkway with the victim, Brown. And you see that depicted right here in this particular area of the schematic.
The exhibit you were just looking at and pointing at was Exhibit 91.
Let me move up one to Exhibit 49?
49 is a close-up of what appears to be a bloody shoe print. Looking at this, I believe the west -- the top would be to the west. And if you go all the way over to the schematic, you'll see where that's located here on the walkway.
Does that schematic purport to show all of the shoe prints that you observed on the walkway?
69 is a blood droplet located -- that was located at the northeast corner of the condominium with a slight trailing to the west. Right here. And you see that depicted here in this schematic.
I've put up on the board, 2058, victims' bodies in relationship to each other.
And the two pictures are magnetized. You can move them around if you want. And I ask you to do that so that the picture approximates what you saw when you were at 875 south Bundy, early morning hours of June 13?
Actually, it's pretty close now if you line these up. I would say that's pretty close the way it is.
Okay. Would you describe for us -- we'll go to the picture at the top, which is Exhibit 38. And could you describe for us, the body where it's lying in relationship to any stumps that are there or other terrain?
What you have is a photograph looking down on Mr. Goldman. It's shot in generally northerly, northwest direction. Mr. Goldman is lying, more or less, on his right side and he's lying over a stump of a tree approximately eight inches in diameter on his right side. His head is, more or less, in a westerly direction at the foot of a large tree in this area.
His feet extend out in a south by southeasterly direction.
The clothing was disheveled, as you see it here.
Well, there was a great deal of blood on the left leg. There was a great deal of blood every where. There was other vegetation in this area. The parking here is very course.
And I believe there's a little plant, a little vegetation here in the center of the photo. There's a metal pole to the rear. I believe this is it here. No, I believe it was over here and I think this is a support for a young sapling tree or something.
This is a photograph looking straight down at Nicole Brown at the foot of the steps. And, again these, of course, these two photos together show the relationship, the overall relationship between the two bodies.
I earlier gave you some distances. One was -- like -- as an example, from the top of her head to the line here was 15 inches.
Actually -- could possibly bring this down a little bit here. Now, that I look at it, yeah. Yeah. I'm more comfortable with this.
Now, about how far, then, would the top of Ms. Brown's head be from Mr. Goldman's left toe?
Well, I measured 15 inches. I believe it's 15. Yes.
You see here the schematic from the top of her head. This isn't to the tenth of an inch. It's just about 15 inches in from the top of her head to the dirt area. And again, it's another eight inches from that area to the bottom of the left boot of Mr. Goldman.
So if you were going to go in a straight line here, you'd have just shy of two feet; 23 inches.
And from Mr. Goldman's -- trying to get a sense of how close it was from his forehead to Ms. Brown's head?
I have notes somewhere. I'm guessing it was maybe about 48 inches, 46 inches; something like that.
In terms of the area where Mr. Goldman was found, you mentioned some stumps. What's to the left of the stump? This appears to be tree or --
Well, it's a tree, a large tree. And actually, when you take a closer look, it's all one tree through but there are like three trunks that are interwoven that have grown together.
This is vegetation coming out of the bottom of it.
Earlier, when I spoke of a stump -- You can't see it. It was beneath Mr. Goldman, beneath his right side. But this is all kinds of like one tree. But it's like three, three stumps in one.
Yes. You have it on here. It's just shy of two feet. One feet, 11 inches from this trunk to the retain wall adjacent to the steps. That's less than two feet.
But again, this is -- there's three stumps. You can see two of them here.
Now using the tree as a cutoff, what are the approximate dimensions of the cage area that Mr. Goldman was found in?
Approximate dimensions, I have -- it would be approximately six feet here. Actually, I believe it's a little smaller when you get down here because the rungs I believe were two inches in diameter.
So this is approximately five feet, eight inches from this walkway to this metal rung fence. And going the other way, I've got four feet, two inches approximately from that tree, from the forward stump of the tree to the east metal rung fence so you've got roughly six by -- little over four feet.
Could you just, if you wouldn't mind, mark off for us, maybe in this area, what six by four is?
In other words, the area where you found Mr. Goldman, just give us an idea of exactly how small that area is?
Maybe if you went from the corner back to maybe midway here. I don't know. Back about here. Just about like this, roughly four by six. It's not a big area.
Was there just what appear to be -- do I understand you correctly, one set of bloody shoe prints between the two bodies?
There was what appeared to be the same bloody shoe print, partial bloody shoe prints. Again, you can see some depicted here between the two bodies.
This heel print appears to face this way or the toe would be facing that way. And this one this way. But there did appear to be just that one type of design.
I'm going to put another series of photos on having to do with this area and ask if you could describe what these photos depict, and if they depict what you saw early morning hours of June 13.
Exhibit 138, please.
13 is the bottom sole, heel portion of the left foot of Mr. Goldman's boot.
This was taken to accentuate a blood droplet that we were interested in on the boot. And this was taken at the scene.
Let me go back to 138 for a minute.
That blood droplet you subsequently determined was who's blood?
Objection. Foundation, Your Honor; That he determined anything about that blood droplet.
Looks like a pager there was a pager -- I haven't seen this in a while, recovered from the scene. That pager was located -- in fact, you can see it right here in this photograph, below the north rung gate.
Okay. Appears to be a dark blue knit cap and a brown paper bag. Appears to be the same one that I saw at the crime scene, but I can't say because of its condition. So, appears to be the same type.
77 is a left handed dark brown leather glove also with a paper bag. The sticker on it says that it is an Exhibit.
It's a left-handed, dark brown -- appears to be a leather glove, with a green sticker.
Appears to be the same type of glove I observed at the scene. I can't -- again, I have not seen it in awhile.
KEY QUOTEGlove is right in this area here. You can see part of it.
The knit cap is right here in this area. Here. Close to the -- close to one another.
This photograph is looking down on one of the victims, Nicole Brown, in the same position that we found her. As you can see over here in this photograph, over to the right here would be to the north.
This is Mr. Goldman's photograph taken to the north. The north is up to the top of the photograph.
All right. I'm going to move away from the crime scene pictures now. We're going to put on a number of shoe print pictures and ask if these accurately represent what you saw June 13.
Exhibit 43 please?
Yes. That's the front steps again with Nicole Brown to the right. It does in fact appear to be what I saw that morning.
Could you point out -- I'm going to go through a series just to show the various shoe print photos, and could you just point out generally -- I'm just interested in the shoe prints?
No. I'd have to take a good look here. There may be some partials down in here. Appears to be in the lower left-hand corner. A possible one here.
Yes, on this step. This is the -- would it be one, two -- the third step up. There appears to be three. One here. One here. And I don't know if this is or not. I don't believe it is, but these two here.
Okay. 45. And what I'll ask you, just on each is, do you see any shoe prints, just to give the jurors an idea of the walkway as we walk back?
This is an overall -- again, appears to be down in here. Here in this area, here, here, here going back.
The rear stairwell, you can see here there's partial bloody shoe prints going down the steps and beginning to fade.
(BY MR. MEDVENE) Place before you what's been marked Exhibit 67 entitled blood drops at Bundy June 13, 1994.
And like you to orient us, orient the ladies and gentlemen of the jury, if you would, with this schematic.
And then take us through what blood drops were found from the front to the back.
And we'll go first to Exhibit --
(BY MR. MEDVENE) Exhibit 69 is the drawing at the bottom right that has the 112. Exhibit 68 is next to us.
Could you please tell us whether those two photos accurately depict what you saw June 13, 1994?
They do. (The instrument herein described as a photo of the walkway at the crime scene was marked for identification as Plaintiffs' Exhibit No. 68.)
This photograph, an overall -- the walkway looking west. What you see are 112, which is a blood drop at the -- At the northeast corner of the condominium with that little identification card and you see -- I believe it's 113.
112 on the walkway is right here at the corner of the building if you look at the schematic.
This is the overall schematic. This is east. This is west, the alley way. North is up, south is down.
112 is the first blood drop I observed. That again was at the corner of the condominium on the walkway.
It's picture 69 which is in the corner -- a close-up of a blood drop on 68 which is right next to it?
Okay. If we can go up to what's been marked 70, which has the 113 tag on it and ask -- and tell us what that is.
113 is more or less a close-up of another blood drop.
The second blood drop that appears on the schematic here, in the walkway, it's a location right here.
And can you tell us whether or not that picture accurately depicts what you saw June 13, 1994?
Let's go to the bottom row of pictures. The center picture which is yes, sir which is Exhibit 71.
Can you describe what that is and what was found on that set of stairs.
Yeah. There's a stairwell. There was another blood droplet that occurred in this series. Located in this area as you look at the overall photograph.
And of course, you see a close-up of that here in 114.
Now, if we can go to the top of the board to the picture that has 115 on it. That's Exhibit 74.
And could you tell us, I'd like you to look at that picture and the picture next to it, which is 73.
Yes, I did. That's the fourth in this series of blood drops depicted on the schematic in this location.
On the walkway at Bundy, it's inside and east of the rear gate. Approximately the center of the walkway.
The overall of that -- you see it on the left here. And that blood drop would be located right where that little black card is, right where this little card is right here.
Well, it's right east of and in front of the gate, middle of the walkway. Here's your gate. Here's your rear gate right here.
Here's the blood drop right in front of it. Again, if you go down to the schematic, here's the rear gate right here. That's where that blood drop is, right here.
If you would go to the two pictures on the left-hand side of the photo as you look at it. The middle picture that has a 246 on it is Exhibit 75. And the picture that has a 117 is 76.
And could you tell us what those pictures depict?
Sure. The top, one, 75, is an overall of that fifth drop of blood, which was located on the driveway adjacent to the alley, behind the location.
And then the bottom photo here is a close-up of that same blood droplet. And again, that's back here on the driveway that's adjacent to this alley.
Can you tell us whether or not these pictures accurately depict what you saw on June 13, 1994?
Let's take a ten-minute recess.
Ladies and gentlemen, don't talk about the case. Don't form or express any opinions.
one just walking down the street, I would think that because of the thick foliage here, to begin with, you wouldn't see anything here until you walked right up on this. Then you would have to turn to it, like a 90-degree turn to your right, to see anything here because of this thick foliage, if one were walking down the sidewalk.
approximately five feet, eight inches from this walkway to this metal rung fence. And going the other way, I've got four feet, two inches approximately from that tree, from the forward stump of the tree to the east metal rung fence so you've got roughly six by -- little over four feet.
Four on the walkway and one in the alley, for a total of five.
It's a left-handed, dark brown -- appears to be a leather glove, with a green sticker. Appears to be the same type of glove I observed at the scene.