Cross-examination of Detective James Arthur Harper

📄 Cross-examination of Detective James Arthur Harper — Monday, April 3, 1995

Address:

C:\DEPT103\CRIMINAL\1995\APR\3\CROSS-EXAMINATION-OF-DETECTIVE.DOC

TRIAL

▲ Day 50 of 167

◀ Direct examination of Detective James Arthur Harper Redirect examination of Detective James Arthur Harper ▶

Witness: Det. James Harper
Examiner: Cheri Lewis
Called by: Defense • Date: Monday, April 3, 1995 • Utterances: 70

Defense cross-examination of Detective Harper focused on undermining his recollection of which search warrant execution — June 13th or June 28th — he witnessed Marcia Clark speaking with Detective Fuhrman. Using crime scene logs, Lewis established that Harper's memory was confused between the two dates, and that Clark's documented presence at Bundy on the 13th (only 13 minutes, 2:02–2:15pm) made it plausible Harper had conflated visits.

# 1 THE COURT:

MISS LEWIS.

CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MS. LEWIS:

# 2 Q:

DETECTIVE HARPER, WERE YOU PRESENT DURING JUNE 28TH AT ROCKINGHAM DURING THE EXECUTION OF THAT SEARCH WARRANT?

# 3 A:

YES.

# 4 Q:

MISS CLARK WAS PRESENT ON THAT OCCASION AS WELL?

# 5 A:

YES.

# 6 Q:

ARE YOU SURE WITHIN YOUR OWN MIND THAT IT WAS ON THE 13TH THAT YOU SAW HER TALKING TO DETECTIVE FUHRMAN RATHER THAN ON THE 28TH?

# 7 A:

NOW THAT I REFLECT ON IT, IT COULD HAVE BEEN ON THE 28TH, BUT I REMEMBER SEEING HER ONE OF THOSE DAYS, EITHER THE 13TH OR THE 28TH.

KEY QUOTE

# 8 Q:

YOU ARE NOT POSITIVE WHICH OCCASION IT WAS?

# 9 A:

NOW THAT I THINK ABOUT IT, NO.

# 10 MS. LEWIS:

YOUR HONOR, I BELIEVE THE BUNDY CRIME SCENE LOG HAS ALREADY BEEN MARKED AS AN EXHIBIT IN THIS CASE. WHAT IS IT? IT HAS NOT? I DON'T KNOW THE NUMBER. I DON'T KNOW THE NUMBER BUT I DO HAVE ANOTHER COPY. IT WILL BE A LITTLE BIT MARKED UP.

# 11 MS. LEWIS:

MAY I APPROACH?

# 12 THE COURT:

YOU MAY.

# 13 Q:

BY MS. LEWIS: DETECTIVE HARPER, LOOKING AT THIS OTHER COPY OF WHAT WE KNOW AS THE BUNDY CRIME SCENE LOG FROM JUNE 13TH, DO YOU SEE AN ENTRY THERE OF MARCIA CLARK ARRIVING THERE AT APPROXIMATELY I THINK THAT SAYS TWO O'CLOCK OR 2:02 AND LEAVING AT 2:15?

# 14 MR. COCHRAN:

MAY I SEE THIS REPORT? WHAT IS SHE SHOWING HIM?

# 15 THE COURT:

BUNDY LOG.

# 16 MR. COCHRAN:

IS THAT MARKED? SHE DIDN'T SHOW IT TO ME.

# 17 MS. LEWIS:

THIS COPY IS NOT THE MARKED COPY.

# 18 MR. COCHRAN:

DO YOU MIND IF I SEE IT, PLEASE?

# 19 MS. LEWIS:

I'M SORRY.

# 20 THE COURT:

ALL RIGHT. DETECTIVE LANGE HAS THE MARKED -- THE COURT'S COPY.

# 21 (BRIEF PAUSE.)

# 22 MS. LEWIS:

MAY I APPROACH?

# 23 THE COURT:

YOU MAY.

# 24 THE COURT:

WHAT EXHIBIT NUMBER IS THAT?

# 25 MS. LEWIS:

THIS IS EXHIBIT -- I GUESS IT IS DEFENSE 1006, ONE ZERO ZERO SIX.

# 26 Q:

BY MS. LEWIS: AND SHOWING YOU THIS ONE, DETECTIVE HARPER, IT SHOWS THE SAME AS THE COPY I JUST SHOWED YOU, THAT MISS CLARK ARRIVED AT BUNDY AT 2:02 AND LEFT BUNDY AT 2:15?

# 27 A:

IS THAT BUNDY OR ROCKINGHAM?

# 28 Q:

BUNDY.

# 29 A:

I WAS NEVER AT --

# 30 Q:

IS THAT WHAT THIS SHOWS?

# 31 A:

BUT I NEVER WAS --

# 32 MR. COCHRAN:

I OBJECT, YOUR HONOR. THIS IS CROSS-EXAMINATION. I RECORD SPEAKS FOR ITSELF AND IT DOESN'T HELP HIM. HE WAS NEVER THERE.

KEY QUOTE

# 33 THE COURT:

ALL RIGHT. I ALREADY HAVE IT HERE.

# 34 MS. LEWIS:

THE COURT HAS HEARD PREVIOUS TESTIMONY WITH REGARD TO THE BUNDY CRIME SCENE LOG, SO I WOULD ASK THE COURT TO CONSIDER THAT EVIDENCE IN CONJUNCTION WITH THIS HEARING AS WELL.

# 35 THE COURT:

ALL RIGHT.

# 36 Q:

BY MS. LEWIS: AND TO YOUR KNOWLEDGE IS IT APPROXIMATELY A FIVE-MINUTE DRIVE FROM BUNDY TO ROCKINGHAM?

# 37 A:

THAT'S CORRECT.

# 38 THE COURT:

THANK YOU.

# 39 (BRIEF PAUSE.)

# 40 (DISCUSSION HELD OFF THE RECORD BETWEEN THE DEPUTY DISTRICT ATTORNEYS.)

# 41 Q:

BY MS. LEWIS: AND I THINK YOU JUST EXPLAINED TO US THAT YOUR RECOLLECTION AS TO THE -- BETWEEN THE 13TH AND THE 28TH IS NOT REAL CLEAR AS FAR AS WHEN MISS CLARK WAS THERE; IS THAT CORRECT?

# 42 A:

THAT'S CORRECT.

# 43 Q:

AND IS IT -- COULD IT ALSO BE TRUE THAT MR. HODGMAN WAS NOT PRESENT ON THE 13TH BUT WAS PRESENT ON THE 28TH?

# 44 MR. COCHRAN:

THAT CALLS FOR SPECULATION, YOUR HONOR. SPECULATIVE.

# 45 THE COURT:

SUSTAINED, SUSTAINED.

# 46 Q:

BY MS. LEWIS: YOUR RECOLLECTION OF SEEING MR. HODGMAN IS SHAKY AS FAR AS THE -- AS FAR AS WHETHER YOU SAW HIM THERE ON THE 13TH OR THE 28TH; IS THAT FAIR?

# 47 MR. COCHRAN:

OBJECT TO THE USE OF THE WORD "SHAKY," YOUR HONOR. I'M NOT SURE --

# 48 THE COURT:

I UNDERSTAND WHAT "SHAKY" MEANS. I UNDERSTAND WHAT IT MEANS.

# 49 Q:

BY MS. LEWIS: IS THAT A FAIR STATEMENT, DETECTIVE?

# 50 A:

YES.

# 51 (DISCUSSION HELD OFF THE RECORD BETWEEN MS. LEWIS AND DETECTIVE LANGE.)

# 52 MS. LEWIS:

YOUR HONOR, I HAVE THE CRIME SCENE LOG FROM THE 28TH OF JUNE WHICH I WOULD LIKE MARKED PEOPLE'S NEXT IN ORDER, 159.

# 53 MR. COCHRAN:

YOUR HONOR, THAT IS IRRELEVANT AND MATERIAL. WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THE 13TH.

# 54 THE COURT:

OVERRULED.

# 55 (PEO'S 159 FOR ID = CRIME SCENE LOG)

# 56 MS. LEWIS:

COUNSEL HAS HAD IT FOR MANY MONTHS. I'M SURE HE HAS NOT HAD OCCASION TO LOOK AT IT RECENTLY.

# 57 (DISCUSSION HELD OFF THE RECORD BETWEEN DEPUTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY AND DEFENSE COUNSEL.)

# 58 MS. LEWIS:

MAY I APPROACH, YOUR HONOR?

# 59 THE COURT:

YOU MAY.

# 60 Q:

BY MS. LEWIS: DETECTIVE HARPER, SHOWING YOU THE LOG FROM ROCKINGHAM ON JUNE 28TH, IT SHOWS YOUR ARRIVAL TIME ON HERE AS 1500 HOURS OR THREE O'CLOCK IN THE AFTERNOON. IS THAT AN ACCURATE ASSESSMENT OF THE TIME THAT YOU ARRIVED?

# 61 A:

YES.

# 62 Q:

AND IT SHOWS YOUR LEAVING AT 1816 I BELIEVE, WHICH WOULD BE 12 -- 6:16 P.M.; IS THAT CORRECT?

# 63 A:

YES.

# 64 Q:

AND THAT IS THE TIME THAT YOU ACTUALLY DID LEAVE ON THE 28TH?

# 65 A:

YES.

# 66 Q:

SO THE TIME THAT YOU WERE THERE ON THE 13TH ROUGHLY CORRESPONDS TO THE TIME YOU WERE THERE ON THE 28TH IN TERMS OF BOTH BEING IN THE AFTERNOON HOURS; IS THAT CORRECT?

# 67 A:

YES.

# 68 Q:

AND COULD THAT BE ONE CAUSE FOR YOUR LACK OF PERFECT RECOLLECTION AS FAR AS WHAT TOOK PLACE ON WHICH OCCASION AS FAR AS WHO WAS PRESENT?

# 69 A:

THAT'S TRUE, BECAUSE I DON'T -- I KNOW I WAS THERE ON BOTH DAYS AND MAYBE I GOT THEM CONFUSED. OBVIOUSLY I DID.

KEY QUOTE

# 70 MS. LEWIS:

THANK YOU. NO FURTHER QUESTIONS.

REDIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. COCHRAN:

Temperature

procedural

Key Quotes (4)

Detective Harper

NOW THAT I REFLECT ON IT, IT COULD HAVE BEEN ON THE 28TH, BUT I REMEMBER SEEING HER ONE OF THOSE DAYS, EITHER THE 13TH OR THE 28TH.

Harper walks back his prior testimony placing Clark at the 13th search, directly undermining the defense's attempt to link Clark to Fuhrman that day.

Detective Harper

THAT'S TRUE, BECAUSE I DON'T -- I KNOW I WAS THERE ON BOTH DAYS AND MAYBE I GOT THEM CONFUSED. OBVIOUSLY I DID.

Harper concedes outright that his testimony about who was present on which day cannot be trusted, effectively neutralizing whatever he said on direct.

Johnnie Cochran

I OBJECT, YOUR HONOR. THIS IS CROSS-EXAMINATION. I RECORD SPEAKS FOR ITSELF AND IT DOESN'T HELP HIM. HE WAS NEVER THERE.

Cochran objects to Lewis pressing Harper on the Bundy log — an unusual posture, as the defense would normally welcome discrediting Harper's recollection.

Lance A. Ito

I UNDERSTAND WHAT 'SHAKY' MEANS. I UNDERSTAND WHAT IT MEANS.

Ito-era dryness from Ito, dismissing Cochran's objection to Lewis's word choice with mild exasperation.

Evidence (2)

Defense 1006

Bundy crime scene log from June 13th, showing Marcia Clark's arrival at 2:02pm and departure at 2:15pm

introduced and shown to witness during cross

People's 159

Crime scene log from Rockingham on June 28th, showing Harper's arrival at 3:00pm and departure at 6:16pm

introduced and marked for identification

Notable Exchanges (2)

Cheri Lewis•Detective Harper

Lewis methodically walked Harper through both crime scene logs to demonstrate that both visits occurred in afternoon hours, offering Harper a face-saving explanation for his confused memory — which he accepted fully.

strategic

Johnnie Cochran•Lance A. Ito

Cochran objected to the word 'shaky'; Ito brushed it off curtly without ruling.

light

Light Moments (1)

Lance A. Ito

Ito's deadpan response to Cochran's objection over 'shaky': 'I UNDERSTAND WHAT SHAKY MEANS. I UNDERSTAND WHAT IT MEANS.'

Credibility Attacks (1)

⚔ Detective Harper

prior inconsistent statement / memory impeachment

Lewis used crime scene logs to show Harper could not reliably distinguish what he witnessed on June 13th versus June 28th, getting him to admit he 'obviously' confused the two days.

Witness Demeanor

(BRIEF PAUSE.) — after Cochran asked to see the exhibit

(DISCUSSION HELD OFF THE RECORD BETWEEN THE DEPUTY DISTRICT ATTORNEYS.)

(DISCUSSION HELD OFF THE RECORD BETWEEN MS. LEWIS AND DETECTIVE LANGE.)

(DISCUSSION HELD OFF THE RECORD BETWEEN DEPUTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY AND DEFENSE COUNSEL.)

Objections

3 objections (1 sustained, 1 overruled)

Proceeding 5568 • 70 utterances • Defense witness

Criminal Trial

Department 103