Good morning, counsel. Back on the record in the Simpson matter. Mr. Simpson is again present before the Court with his counsel, Mr. Scheck, Mr. Neufeld, Mr. Blasier. The People are--Mr. Cochran. The People are represented by Mr. Darden and Mr. Goldberg. The jury is not present. Counsel, late yesterday afternoon I received a package of test materials from the LAPD SID lab, some new lab notes or whatever that I've copied, and Mr. Goldberg, Mr. Scheck, if you will approach, I will give you each a copy of these.
All right. Counsel, anything else we need to discuss before we invite the jury to join us?
Yes, your Honor. I filed a letter with the Court yesterday, and counsel, about the production of handwritten notes of witness statements, and I was informed by Mr. Darden and--I had an opportunity briefly to speak with Mr. Douglas, and I was told that there had been an agreement that, umm, as a general matter, umm, handwritten notes from either side of witnesses, umm, were not required to be produced. Umm--but as I indicated in my letter, however, I have one particular concern that I think goes beyond just the general agreement and that is, umm, I'm concerned that with respect to the communications between, umm, Miss Clark and Mr. Fung with respect to this, umm, visit to the Bronco on July 6th, because I think the state of the testimony is, is that he has testified that she sent him to look for red stains on the Bronco on July 6th--
Yes. And if there are--and some representation with respect to, umm, when it was that he reported to her, if that happened, and--
I'm talking about from the Prosecution. In other words, I know what the witness said and the witness' testimony I think is contradicted and there is a contradictory statement to the investigator from the L.A. Police commission. All that I'm saying is, is that I think there is an obligation to correct the testimony or to reveal impeaching testimony. And I don't want to be in a position where, umm, they have looked at their notes or they know about what it is and they have made some decision that they really don't have to reveal it. I think that this is a sufficiently troubling area that we ought to have something stated on the record so we know what the Prosecution's position is.
Your Honor, we are well aware of our responsibilities under Brady with regard to impeachment material, and as for the agreement between Miss Clark and Mr. Cochran and Mr. Shapiro regarding attorney's notes, there have been many, many occasions during the trial when we would have liked to have had Defense counsel's notes. We have lived up to our obligations under that agreement and this is an issue I thought that we were going to discuss this afternoon with Mr. Cochran. That is the issue regarding our prior agreement that attorney's notes will not be discoverable in this case.
KEY QUOTEWell, my inquiry is simply this, counsel: Are there any notes or reports regarding the visit to the Bronco by Mr. Fung at the request of Miss Clark during the preliminary hearing, roughly July 6th or 7'ish. That is the only question that I have at this point.
I am not aware of any notes, but still, we do have an agreement here. I expect Defense counsel will live up to that agreement.
I understand. I'm not asking for District Attorney notes regarding interviews of witnesses or anything of that nature at this point. I'm just asking are there any reports generated by Mr. Fung or any written materials regarding that?
Other than the analyzed evidence report, which has already been introduced, we know of no others, but we will check.
KEY QUOTEYour Honor, my--my application is putting aside notes, umm--and I realize Miss Clark isn't here, so maybe we should just move on and we could take it up at a break, although I would like to finish with this witness and I know the Court does.
All right. Well, then let's proceed. When Miss Clark arrives at the first morning break, we will inquire of her and we will do it that way. All right. Let's have the jurors, please.
The Court probably doesn't want to take this up right now, but counsel has been asking me about the order of witnesses and I have been trying to tell them, they seem to ask me almost everyday, but one of the hitches is we have the issue as to the scope of Mr. Yamauchi's testimony and we tried to resolve it informally and not been able to, and we may significantly change our strategy in terms of how we are going to put on the scientific portion of the case depending on the resolution of that issue. I brought it up earlier, but at some point that should be resolved.
Well, next is going to be Criminalist Mazzola, so I know that, and following that will probably be the tow truck driver, Mr. Wilson, the photographer, but at that point, that is the point at which we would reach Mr. Yamauchi, and from that point forward I can't say until that issue is resolved.
All right. Well, I see us not getting to those issues for perhaps the rest of the week.
I think there is an obligation to correct the testimony or to reveal impeaching testimony. And I don't want to be in a position where, umm, they have looked at their notes or they know about what it is and they have made some decision that they really don't have to reveal it.
Your Honor, we are well aware of our responsibilities under Brady with regard to impeachment material, and as for the agreement between Miss Clark and Mr. Cochran and Mr. Shapiro regarding attorney's notes, there have been many, many occasions during the trial when we would have liked to have had Defense counsel's notes.
Other than the analyzed evidence report, which has already been introduced, we know of no others, but we will check.