Defense attorney Peter Neufeld conducted a demonstration using a water-filled blood tube to challenge Andrea Mazzola's claim that she could feel extra weight in a trash bag she carried — weight the defense implies was caused by a blood vial planted after collection. Judge Ito ultimately refused to allow the tube to be passed to jurors, ruling the foundation was inadequate because Mazzola conceded the demonstration tube was not identical to the original.
# 1 THE COURT: Miss Mazzola, what brand blood container does the LAPD use? Do you know?
# 2 MS. MAZZOLA: Off hand, I don't know.
# 3 THE COURT: All right. Would you recognize one if you saw a picture of it?
# 4 MS. MAZZOLA: To tell you the truth, I don't play--pay close attention to what brand it is.
# 5 THE COURT: All right.
# 6 MR. NEUFELD: Show you this picture, see if it refreshes your recollection. And I'm also going to show you--
# 7 MR. NEUFELD: I guess my next in order on this one--
# 8 THE COURT: Would be 1124. Correct, Mrs. Robertson?
# 9 (Deft's 1124 for id = photo) # 10 MR. NEUFELD: And see if--take a look at that, please. Take a look at the photo.
# 11 (The witness complies.) # 12 THE COURT: Do you want to mark the photo as 1125?
# 13 MR. NEUFELD: Thank you.
# 14 (Deft's 1125 for id = photo) # 16 MR. NEUFELD: Would you agree, Miss Mazzola, that a purple top mono-jet tube was used to hold Mr. Simpson's blood?
# 18 MR. NEUFELD: And that the mono-jet tube that was used was the same size and shape as the one you're holding in your right hand?
# 19 MS. MAZZOLA: It appears to be.
# 20 MR. NEUFELD: Okay. Thank you. And what I've done, Miss Mazzola, is, I've put water in this tube, okay?
# 22 MR. NEUFELD: And what I would like you to do is to place the tube into the envelope and I would like you to clasp it?
# 23 MS. MAZZOLA: Okay (The witness complies).
# 24 MR. NEUFELD: Now, I want you to hold that with your hand to get a sense of how much it weighs.
# 25 MS. MAZZOLA: All right.
# 26 MR. NEUFELD: Now, is it your testimony, Miss Mazzola, that you have an independent memory of the additional heft or weight generated 10 months ago by the inclusion of the trash bag of an object with that amount of weight?
KEY QUOTE # 27 MR. GOLDBERG: Argumentative, your Honor.
# 28 THE COURT: Overruled.
# 29 MR. GOLDBERG: Also assumes facts not in evidence, that they weigh the same.
# 30 THE COURT: Overruled.
# 31 MS. MAZZOLA: There was an additional bit of weight in the bag, yes.
# 32 MR. NEUFELD: Well, what I'm asking you is, is it your independent recollection that you could tell that the bag that you carried out to the truck weighed more than the bag when you held it in the kitchen given the amount of weight that you now sense that this object has?
# 33 MR. GOLDBERG: Asked and answered.
# 34 THE COURT: Overruled.
# 35 MS. MAZZOLA: Yes. The weight was a little bit more and concentrated in one area.
KEY QUOTE # 36 MR. NEUFELD: And something you could actually feel that day?
# 37 MS. MAZZOLA: Yes. It felt a little heavier.
# 38 MR. NEUFELD: Your Honor, with the Court's permission--and then I will be finished with this area of re-cross and I'll get back to finishing the cross--may I simply pass this envelope around so the jurors can experience the weight?
# 39 THE COURT: I don't think you have an adequate foundation at this point given the testimony of the witness. Demonstration has to most closely be identical, and her testimony is that this is not identical.
# 40 MR. NEUFELD: Well, there's been testimony that--
# 41 THE COURT: No. Counsel, I'm just--
# 42 MR. NEUFELD: I'm sorry.