One of your number inquired whether we're going to be dark Friday. Assuming that the argument concludes as predicted by the attorneys, you will be deliberating Friday, so bear that in mind.
Thank you, Your Honor. I will be concluding this morning in about an hour or so, Your Honor.
Bear with us, it's been a long trial, there's a lot of evidence, and I'm working my way near the end. Okay.
I will. We were talking about, yesterday, before we left, the animosity and hostility between Nicole Brown Simpson and Mr. Simpson through the last week of Nicole's life. And I showed you the vile argument that was recorded in Nicole's last written words.
I'm going to object, Your Honor, that's only been admitted for her state of mind and not for the truth of the argument.
And I was about to say these written words of Nicole show you how she was feeling about this relationship at this point in her life, nine days before her death.
I showed you the letter that Mr. Simpson sent on June 6, three days after the June 3rd diary entry, all about the IRS, and that letter, on its face, in the words of Mr. Simpson, show acrimony and hostility, and not a relationship as -- hunky-dory is, I guess, the word that they like to use.
In addition, ladies and gentlemen, we have further evidence of Nicole's state of mind, what she believed, what she thought, what she feared around this time.
You heard the testimony of Nancy Ney from the battered women's shelter. And you heard what Nancy Ney said about Nicole's state of mind; how she feared her ex-husband. And there isn't any doubt that Nancy Ney was talking to Nicole Brown Simpson.
Can you put on the exhibit.
And focus it up, Steve, a little bit.
Ex-husband has been -- has been stalking. Has called police over eight times.
Do you remember the testimony of Officer Edwards in regard to the 1989 incident?
When he reported how Nicole told him in her sweats and brazier, hysterical, you guys never do anything, been out here eight times and you never do anything.
Low and behold, we have eight times here.
Length of relationship, eight years.
This is Nicole Brown Simpson and there's no question about it (indicating to document on Elmo).
Can you go down to the end. And go to the beginning. (Elmo adjusted.)
Children, two.
And then she gave you other details in her other notes, further making clear that the person she was talking to was Nicole Brown Simpson.
Has been abusive for many years. Police called a lot, nothing much ever done.
Keep going (indicating to Elmo).
This is what Nicole was feeling.
What happened that week? Mr. Simpson went out of town, he missed his son's elementary school graduation, he had missed his daughter's communion.
He went out of town.
Did he have any conversation with Nicole that week? None.
Before he left town, he went over and saw the dog, to pick up the dog. He went inside to do something for his son. He ran into Nicole on two occasions.
Did he say a word to her? None.
Did she say a word to him? None.
These people were not talking to each other. They were at war with each other.
Don't believe when this man gets on the stand, with his ex-wife not here to defend herself, and let him tell you that he had no hostility toward her and she had no hostility toward him.
That is an absolute lie.
You heard testimony from Mr. Simpson himself, that he spoke to a friend in New York about his relationship with Nicole, how it had just broke up, and that he was upset, and they talked about the children.
And you heard Mr. Simpson say that he made a special trip to come all the way back from New York to go to this recital on Sunday, then he had to fly all the way back to Chicago.
And the reason he did that, is he knew how further angry Nicole would be with him if he missed that recital. Having missed several other events, and still hopeful in stopping the steady deterioration of this relationship, and he came all the way back for that event, all the way back from the East Coast only to have to fly to Chicago that night.
Now, we'll talk about what happened when he made such a -- in his mind, extraordinary, Herculean effort to be there for Nicole at the recital.
Mr. Simpson returns from this trip on Friday night, June 10th. He spends the evening with his friend, Paula Barbieri.
He gets up the next morning and he plays golf.
The next day he has a conversation -- excuse me, later that day he has a conversation, after golf, with Kato Kaelin; and he's talking about Nicole, he's talking about not being a family anymore, missing the kids, the white picket fence, the whole image that he wanted so desperately at this time in his life, to have his life back with Nicole.
You heard Mr. Kaelin describe those conversations on that Saturday afternoon. That evening he goes to this formal event with Ms. Barbieri, it's a formal dinner party, and they have a conversation about the recital, and here's another big lie Mr. Simpson tells.
At the end of that night, instead of going back to Rockingham and spending the evening together as they did the night before, Ms. Barbieri is taken home to her apartment on Wilshire. Mr. Simpson goes to Rockingham.
I asked Mr. Simpson, now, you and Paula fought about Nicole that night, didn't you?
No.
You and she had an argument because she wanted to go to the recital and you wouldn't take her?
No.
She wanted to go to the recital, because once and for all, you're having broken her heart a year ago when you left her for Nicole, then you tried to bring her back in again, into your life, when things were bad for Nicole.
Once and for all, she put her foot down, and she said to you, I'm either going to be with you with Nicole there, or I'm not going to be in your life at all. You have to make a choice here.
That's the conversation that happened, and he said, no, you can't come. I don't want you there.
And he goes home alone and she goes home alone. And how do we know that conversation occurred, and how do we know that they fought once again over Nicole? And remember, they had fought a week or two ago about Nicole when Paula left Palm Springs over the Memorial Day weekend because Mr. Simpson told her he still loved Nicole. We heard that from Donna Estes.
How do we know they fought on the evening of June 11, and why does Mr. Simpson lie about it?
Well, we know they fought because the very next morning he went on the golf course, as he does every morning, and he almost had a fist fight with his good friend, Craig Baumgarten, who testified in court.
Now, this is one of his closest friends. And he testified, first of all, that he had never seen Mr. Simpson get that angry before.
Never.
They'd known each other a long time. That's how raw Mr. Simpson's feelings were.
And secondly, Mr. Baumgartener (sic), under oath, had to admit Mr. Simpson told him about having an argument with Paula about the recital.
His own friend came in court and said they had an argument the night before about Paula. And Mr. Simpson, with a straight face, is trying to tell you, no, they didn't discuss it at all.
And then when Mr. Simpson spoke to this psychologist, this domestic violence psychologist, back in 1995, he even told her -- he even told her that Paula was upset because she couldn't go to the recital.
Do you have those notes (indicating to Mr. Foster). (Typed notes from Lenore Walker displayed.)
Mr. Simpson possibly never believed these notes would ever show up. He said he thought that Paula wanted to be -- to go there, but he thought it was not appropriate.
Is there another reference, Steve?
That's a different one. We'll get to that.
It's even in his notes.
It was not appropriate. He didn't want Paula to go. He told her. They fought about it. He told his friend Craig Baumgarten about it.
What happens the next morning?
7 o'clock in the morning -- we played you the videotape of Ms. Barbieri's deposition. She left a long message on Mr. Simpson's machine, his voice-mail, on his cell phone, breaking up with him; that's it, it's over. And she also testified she went out of town and didn't tell him where she was going.
Just left.
She had had it. She wasn't going to have her heart broken again.
And she also testified that she got several messages from Mr. Simpson that day, that she checked in from Las Vegas where she ended up going.
At least three messages from him, acknowledging her message breaking up with him.
Now comes another big lie.
Mr. Simpson tells us, with a straight face, he never picked up that message from Paula.
This avid telephoner, he never picked up that message.
Can you believe that?
Well, we asked him. He sat there with a straight face and said, no, I didn't pick it up. And he wants you to believe he didn't pick it up because he knows how much of an effect that hearing that message had on him, and he knows what it did to his state of mind. See, we can't get inside his mind 'cause only he knows. He knows what's important and he knows what he doesn't want to tell you. And that's one thing he doesn't want to tell you; that he picked up that message. But we know he picked it up. We know from at least three places that he picked it up. He was caught in this big lie at least three places. No. 1, he told the police the next day he picked it up when he came back from Chicago. You have that, Steve. Page 13. Want to put that on the Elmo. (Portion of Mr. Simpson's statement to police on June 13, 1994, displayed on Elmo.)
This is his statement to the police hours after Nicole's death and about 24 hours or so after he picked up this message. Less than that. (Mr. Petrocelli read a portion of Mr. Simpson's statement to police on June 13, 1994.) I was going over there, I called her a couple of times, and she wasn't there and that she had left a message and then I checked my messages. She had left me a message that she wasn't there, that she had to leave town. (Lenore Walker's notes displayed on Elmo.)
Lenore Walker's notes. The notes he probably believed would never come out. This is a private discussion between his domestic violence counselor while Mr. Simpson was in jail. The woman he hired to help him in his defense. (Mr. Petrocelli is referring to Lenore Walker's notes.) He called Paula when he got home from the recital. She was not home, call forward on car phone. That's his voice-mail. That's where Paula said she left the message. He listened to the message on Paula's -- phone message from Paula. It was a whole long message about golf and didn't see you. He wasn't sure in Arizona or Las Vegas if angry with. He was listening to her phone message when Kato goes by in the house, and Kato testified that he came by to see Mr. Simpson after Mr. Simpson came back from the recital. Somewhere between 6:30 and 7 o'clock p.m., Mr. Kaelin walks in, apparently while Mr. Simpson is picking up this message. So we know Mr. Simpson picked up this message. If that were not enough -- put on the last exhibit, Steve. Telephone computer record. (Telephone computer log displayed on the Elmo.)
Where's the 1856. 6:56. Right when Kaelin is in the house after the recital. 6:56. There you have it. Mr. Simpson's phone number. Paula's number. How could it be any closer? So he's lying about picking up the message. After he came back from golf, Mr. Simpson called Nicole on the way back from the Bronco -- in his Bronco, on the way back from the golf course, and there's a cell phone record. Can you get out the cell phone board. (Cell phone record board displayed.)
2:18 to 2:22 p.m. We don't know everything that was said in that conversation on the afternoon of the 12th. Mr. Simpson did tell us a few things. He said he offered to take Justin, his little boy, off Nicole's hands so she could get Sydney ready for the recital. And Nicole said, no, that Justin's cousins were over there, they were going to play. I suspect there was a little more said in that conversation. But the bottom line is this: Mr. Simpson called up and wanted his son, and Nicole says, no. That call is 2:18 to 2:22 to Nicole. As you can see, he's constantly trying to get in touch with Paula all throughout the day, into the evening. Talked about 10:03, while he's in the Bronco driving someplace, possibly looking for Paula, probably going to Nicole's in his Bronco, as we saw yesterday. Not at home. Mr. Simpson goes to this recital, ladies and gentlemen, about 5 o'clock p.m., not a particularly pleasant experience for him. He had come all the way back from the East Coast to be there. Was he able to sit and enjoy his family? No. Was he invited to go to dinner with them? No. Was he included as part of the family? No. Did he have any contact with Nicole? No. Did they talk? No. Did they kiss? No. Did they embrace? No. Was there obvious hostility and animosity? Yes. Mr. Simpson barely had a moment to see his daughter. Nicole had left the recital immediately when it was over and taken Sydney with her, and I suggest to you that this just contributed to Mr. Simpson's anger; that in his view, Nicole was not even letting him see his daughter. In his view. And the next day, what did he tell the police? Quote: (Mr. Petrocelli read a portion of Mr. Simpson's statement to police on June 13, 1994.) Nicole took kids away from recital so quick. So quick. That's what he told the police the next day when the police were asking him about this. She took the kids away so quick. Got a picture taken of him and his daughter taken at that recital. Did Nicole take that picture? No. That was a picture taken by a friend, Ron Fischman, or his wife, Cora Fischman. You were shown a video of Mr. Simpson smiling at the end of this recital. Let me say a few things about that video. First of all, that video captures the last 30 seconds of what was a two-hour event for Mr. Simpson, from 5 to 6:30, probably an hour and a half. You're seeing the last 30 seconds when he's saying good-bye. And they want you to say see, he's not in a smoldering rage. They want you to believe that man's in a smoldering rage. Well, if he were in a smoldering rage, then I'm sure he wouldn't be showing it to everybody out in the front of a school. When people are upset inside, and burning up, and confused, and anger is building, they don't grow fangs and hair. That's the image they want you to think you see here. This monster. Monster. I suggest to you that far more accurate of Mr. Simpson's mood and demeanor at that recital is not 30 seconds from a video where they're in front of a lot of people -- and here's the guy who all the time is smiling in front of people. He even puts a smile on a suicide note. If he puts a smile on a suicide note, he's going to smile in front of people. His good friend, a fellow he spent the weekend talking to, Ronald Fischman, who testified here when Mr. Brewer questioned him, Ronald Fischman said, quote: (Mr. Petrocelli read a portion of the transcript from the civil trial testimony of Ronald Fischman, examined by Mr. Brewer.)
In all the years that you knew O.J. Simpson, he never appeared the way he appeared at that recital to you, true?
You said an hour at 4 o'clock yesterday.
These people were not talking to each other. They were at war with each other.
He even puts a smile on a suicide note. If he puts a smile on a suicide note, he's going to smile in front of people.
Nicole took kids away from recital so quick. So quick.
Don't believe when this man gets on the stand, with his ex-wife not here to defend herself, and let him tell you that he had no hostility toward her and she had no hostility toward him. That is an absolute lie.