Jury view and stipulations

📄 Jury view and stipulations — Thursday, August 17, 1995

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C:\DEPT103\CRIMINAL\1995\AUG\17\JURY-VIEW-AND-STIPULATIONS.DOC

TRIAL

▲ Day 138 of 167

◀ Opening and appearances Motion: jury view at crime scenes ▶

Date: Thursday, August 17, 1995 • Utterances: 46

A brief pre-session administrative huddle covering three logistics issues: resolving objections to an upcoming jury view, negotiating a stipulation about fingerprint evidence lifted from the Bundy crime scene, and scheduling the end of the Defense case. Judge Ito also noted the jury was growing restless during down days and pressed both sides to commit to finishing the Defense case by August 28th.

# 1 MR. DOUGLAS:

He was, your Honor, but I will appear in his stead. Mr. Harris is presently attempting to print out the written objections that we have, but I can orally explain to the Court what our concerns are.

# 2 THE COURT:

All right. And Miss Clark, who is going to handle it for your side?

# 3 MS. CLARK:

Mr. Hodgman. If we intend to handle it now, may I make a phone call?

# 4 THE COURT:

I see Yochelson is here.

# 5 MR. YOCHELSON:

Yes, your Honor. Mr. Hodgman will be here momentarily. We are talking about the view?

# 6 THE COURT:

Yes.

# 7 MR. YOCHELSON:

He will be here momentarily.

# 8 THE COURT:

This is something that I would like to resolve as soon as possible, because if any modifications need to be made, I would like to have more time to do it. And if we decide to cancel it, we can plan to do something else Sunday night.

# 9 MR. YOCHELSON:

We are meeting right, now so Mr. Hodgman will be right down.

# 10 THE COURT:

Okay.

# 11 MS. CLARK:

Your Honor, I have not received any offer of stipulation from the Defense concerning foundation for the print expert.

# 12 THE COURT:

So I assume we will just do it by the book then.

# 13 MS. CLARK:

I guess.

# 14 THE COURT:

Okay.

# 15 MR. DOUGLAS:

Your Honor, that is an oversight because there were some other matters last night that necessitated my absence from the office. Basically there are four print examiners that lifted seventeen latent prints from the Bundy crime scene. We simply want to stipulate as a foundational matter that those prints were in fact lifted. And Mr. Gilbert Aguilar, who is now present, will testify about the nature of those lifts and what results, if any, were obtained.

# 16 THE COURT:

Miss Clark.

# 17 MS. CLARK:

Put it in writing. That is all I want. Let's see it in writing and see what they want. I'm sure I will be glad to stipulate, but I need to see what they want. I was informed when I came in that Mr. Cochran approached the Court to make a request concerning the removal of the tapes that they had given to Judge Reid and you ordered that into his court?

KEY QUOTE

# 18 THE COURT:

No. I indicated that they wanted to do some enhancement on the tapes and I indicated that since Judge Reid has custody of the originals, and that matter has been transferred to Judge Reid, Judge Reid has jurisdiction over those tapes, I can't issue any orders regarding removing.

# 19 MS. CLARK:

Is there any time set for that, because we would like to appear on it?

# 20 THE COURT:

Not that I am aware of, but Mr. Bailey?

# 21 MR. BAILEY:

Yes, your Honor.

# 22 THE COURT:

When do you anticipate going up to Department 123?

# 23 MR. BAILEY:

On my way out of door. It is Mr. Yochelson I have been waiting for.

# 24 MS. CLARK:

Great. Thank you.

# 25 THE COURT:

All right. So we will just sit here and wait for Mr. Hodgman to arrive and for Mr. Harris to print out our objections.

# 26 (Discussion held off the record between the Deputy District Attorneys.)

# 27 THE COURT:

All right. Is there anything else we can do while we are waiting? What is our prognosis of proceeding with witnesses tomorrow?

# 28 MR. SHAPIRO:

We have one witness today, your Honor, who should be a brief witness.

# 29 THE COURT:

How about tomorrow?

# 30 MR. SHAPIRO:

We are going to have to discuss that with the Court.

# 31 THE COURT:

All right. Because I hate to have a completely down day. I mean, not that I couldn't use the day to do other things, since you want me to listen to eight or ten hours of audiotape and read hundreds of pages of transcript, it would be nice to not have to do that at home.

KEY QUOTE

# 32 MR. SHAPIRO:

I understand that.

# 33 THE COURT:

But by the same token, we have the jury in there. As I mentioned to you both yesterday, they are a little antsy.

# 34 MR. SHAPIRO:

We understand and we are anxious to finish this case, as the Court is and as the jury is.

# 35 THE COURT:

All right. Am I correct that my assumption is that we are going to attempt to complete the Defense case by the end of next week?

# 36 MR. SHAPIRO:

We had hoped--we had hoped to have an outside limit, August the 28th.

KEY QUOTE

# 37 THE COURT:

All right. As I recollect, Mr. Darden asked for a date to begin--target date to begin subpoenaing in rebuttal witnesses, and we will start that about the 28th, give or take a day or two.

# 38 MR. DARDEN:

Okay.

# 39 THE COURT:

All right.

# 40 MS. CLARK:

All right.

# 41 THE COURT:

Then if there is no objection, just to--so that the jury understands our status, I am going to tell them that despite the fact that we have down time today and tomorrow, that we anticipate concluding the Defense case sometime around the 28th and the presentation of any rebuttal the week of the 28th.

# 42 MR. SHAPIRO:

Your Honor, the only caveat is that we cannot anticipate how long the cross-examination will be--

# 43 THE COURT:

I understand that.

# 44 MR. SHAPIRO:

--of some of our witnesses.

# 45 THE COURT:

Believe me, they know that better than anybody else.

# 46 MR. SHAPIRO:

So that is--with that caveat, that is our target.

Temperature

procedural

Key Quotes (5)

Lance A. Ito

I hate to have a completely down day. I mean, not that I couldn't use the day to do other things, since you want me to listen to eight or ten hours of audiotape and read hundreds of pages of transcript, it would be nice to not have to do that at home.

Rare candid moment from the judge — reveals the volume of out-of-court work piling up and his frustration with idle court days

Lance A. Ito

As I mentioned to you both yesterday, they are a little antsy.

Judge signals jury patience is wearing thin, adding pressure to keep proceedings moving

Carl Douglas

Basically there are four print examiners that lifted seventeen latent prints from the Bundy crime scene. We simply want to stipulate as a foundational matter that those prints were in fact lifted.

Establishes the scope of fingerprint evidence being introduced — 17 latent prints from Bundy — and the Defense's strategy of streamlining foundation

Marcia Clark

Put it in writing. That is all I want. Let's see it in writing and see what they want.

Clark's firm refusal to accept oral stipulations — disciplined lawyering that forces the Defense to formalize their offer

Robert Shapiro

We had hoped--we had hoped to have an outside limit, August the 28th.

Defense commits to a target end date for their case, allowing prosecution to begin scheduling rebuttal witnesses

Evidence (2)

Informal

17 latent fingerprints lifted from the Bundy crime scene by four print examiners; Gilbert Aguilar to testify about the lifts and results

stipulation proposed by Defense, Clark requests written version before agreeing

Informal

Videotapes held by Judge Reid in Department 123; Defense (Cochran/Bailey) seeking to have them released for enhancement

discussed — Ito declines jurisdiction, defers to Judge Reid

Notable Exchanges (3)

Marcia Clark•Carl Douglas

Douglas proposes an oral stipulation on fingerprint foundation; Clark flatly refuses to accept anything not in writing, noting she was never sent a written offer

strategic

Lance A. Ito•Marcia Clark•F. Lee Bailey

Clark asks about the tape-enhancement hearing before Judge Reid; Bailey reveals he's heading there immediately and was waiting on Yochelson

brisk

Lance A. Ito•Robert Shapiro

Judge presses Shapiro for a firm end-of-Defense target date; Shapiro offers August 28th with the caveat that cross-examination length is unpredictable

strategic

Light Moments (2)

Lance A. Ito

Judge deadpans that he 'couldn't use the day to do other things' because counsel has him buried in audiotapes and transcript pages he'd rather not read at home

Lance A. Ito

After Shapiro hedges about cross-examination unpredictability, Ito replies 'Believe me, they know that better than anybody else' — a wry nod to the jury's experience sitting through long cross-examinations

Witness Demeanor

(Discussion held off the record between the Deputy District Attorneys.)

Objections

None recorded

Proceeding 7348 • 46 utterances

Criminal Trial

Department 103