Witness scheduling and motion

📄 Witness scheduling and motion — Tuesday, August 22, 1995

Address:

C:\DEPT103\CRIMINAL\1995\AUG\22\WITNESS-SCHEDULING-AND-MOTION.DOC

TRIAL

▲ Day 140 of 167

◀ Motion: witness testimony scope Sidebar (2) ▶

Date: Tuesday, August 22, 1995 • Utterances: 23

Judge Ito, Cochran, and Darden discuss logistics around witness scheduling and an upcoming tape motion. Darden asks when he should begin subpoenaing rebuttal witnesses given the defense case is running long; Ito estimates September 4th or 5th. The bulk of the discussion concerns the complexity of the pending tape motion — referencing 18-plus specific incidents and 40-plus additional incidents — which Ito expects will require multiple days of argument and analysis.

# 1 THE COURT:

Who is going to do Mr. Reichardt?

# 2 MR. COCHRAN:

I am.

# 3 THE COURT:

Are you ready? I would like to get Mr. Rubalcava out of here.

# 4 MR. COCHRAN:

I would like to do that, your Honor, Reichardt and Berris, to finish talking with them.

# 5 MR. DARDEN:

Judge, before you leave the bench--

# 6 MR. COCHRAN:

It appears you are about to.

# 7 THE COURT:

You are assuming I'm going to give him ten minutes.

# 8 MR. DARDEN:

I don't think he needs the time, but Judge, before I was cut off I wanted to inquire of you, now that the Defense case is going to be prolonged a number of days, what day should we be prepared to have rebuttal witnesses appear?

# 9 THE COURT:

Well, I mean this--this tape motion, I mean, we are talking about eighteen incidents and thirty other incidents.

# 10 MR. COCHRAN:

Forty other incidents. Forty and at least eighteen or more--

# 11 THE COURT:

Well--

# 12 MR. COCHRAN:

--I will indicate to you.

# 13 THE COURT:

So we are talking about individually, you know, fifty or sixty individual rulings and arguments that I'm going to have to hear. This is going to be much like the domestic violence issue where we have to deal with dozens of issues, each of which is entitled to a separate ruling by the court, each of which the court has to weigh under 352, so you are talking about a significant argument and then time for me to think about it and then sort it out, so from that--

KEY QUOTE

# 14 MR. COCHRAN:

Well, your Honor--

# 15 THE COURT:

From the experience in the domestic violence issue, since you handled that argument, I assume it is going to be similar, so my guess is it will probably--that endeavor alone will take a couple days' argument and then the court's analysis and ruling on the issue.

# 16 MR. COCHRAN:

There is one difference, however, your Honor. In this instance we have tape-recordings. In addition to that you have previously ruled in January--

# 17 THE COURT:

I seem to recollect during domestic violence we had tape-recordings.

# 18 MR. COCHRAN:

Well, you had one tape, your Honor. In this instance you have an ongoing tape-recording of this person's voice. But you have ruled in January the proffer goes into the areas--only the areas--I mean, there is what, sixteen hours of tapes, so we have limited down to just the areas you talked about that are relevant, so I just wanted to point that out. But whatever date you say is fine. What date?

# 19 THE COURT:

Mr. Darden wants to know when he should start subpoenaing in his witnesses. My guess would be September 4th or 5th actually since that is after labor day. I don't see us resolving these issues and concluding the Defense testimony before then because we still have Dr. Lee.

# 20 MR. COCHRAN:

May we approach? May we approach?

# 21 THE COURT:

All right. Why don't you take your fifteen minutes. Ten o'clock.

# 22 MR. COCHRAN:

Ten o'clock. That is fine. May we approach?

# 23 THE COURT:

Ten o'clock.

Temperature

procedural

Key Quotes (3)

Lance A. Ito

So we are talking about individually, you know, fifty or sixty individual rulings and arguments that I'm going to have to hear.

Signals the court's recognition of the tape motion's extraordinary scope, foreshadowing significant delay before the defense case concludes.

Johnnie Cochran

In this instance you have an ongoing tape-recording of this person's voice.

Cochran distinguishes the Fuhrman tapes from prior tape evidence (domestic violence recordings), emphasizing the breadth of the recorded material.

Lance A. Ito

My guess would be September 4th or 5th actually since that is after labor day. I don't see us resolving these issues and concluding the Defense testimony before then because we still have Dr. Lee.

Establishes the court's timeline expectations and confirms that both the tape motion and Dr. Henry Lee's testimony remain outstanding.

Evidence (1)

Informal

Tape recordings at issue in the pending tape motion — referenced as containing 18-plus specific incidents and 40-plus additional incidents of recorded statements, understood from trial context to be the Fuhrman/McKinny tapes

discussed in context of scheduling the admissibility hearing

Notable Exchanges (2)

Lance A. Ito•Johnnie Cochran

Cochran attempts to argue the tape motion will be simpler than the domestic violence hearing; Ito pushes back by noting the sheer volume of individual rulings required — ultimately estimating days of argument.

strategic

Christopher Darden•Lance A. Ito

Darden asks when he should begin subpoenaing rebuttal witnesses given the defense case extension; Ito gives a September 4-5 estimate.

procedural

Light Moments (1)

Lance A. Ito

Ito notes 'You are assuming I'm going to give him ten minutes' in response to Cochran's aside that Ito appeared about to leave the bench.

Objections

None recorded

Proceeding 7389 • 23 utterances

Criminal Trial

Department 103