📄 Sidebar: Hoeplinger case reference — Monday, August 28, 1995
📅 Aug 28 — Day 143
⚖️ Lance A. Ito🏛️ Hank Goldberg
bloodbroncochain_of_custody
Address:
C:\DEPT103\CRIMINAL\1995\AUG\28\SIDEBAR-HOEPLINGER-CASE-REFERE.DOC
TRIAL
▲ Day 143 of 167

Sidebar: Hoeplinger case reference

Date: Monday, August 28, 1995 • Utterances: 11
During a sidebar, Goldberg attempted to use testimony from the unrelated Hoeplinger case to impeach an expert witness on whether a significant amount of blood would be expected given the level of crime scene activity. Scheck objected that the Hoeplinger passage involved a hypothetical with different variables and was misleading and beyond scope. Judge Ito sustained the objection, noting that the expert had already adequately covered the point and that no clothing was recovered in the Simpson case anyway.
1 MR. SCHECK:

Your Honor, I think this is all beyond the scope, no. 1. No. 2, I don't think the passage he's pointing to is in any way inconsistent with his testimony. It certainly does not support the questions that were asked, that he told the jury that these were definitely the jeans.

2 THE COURT:

Mr. Goldberg, you want to cite me to the pertinent portion in the transcript?

3 MR. GOLDBERG:

That's on page 397 where the defense attorney is asking him about a hypothetical, if in fact the assailant of Miss Hoeplinger were standing at the time when she was sitting or lying on the couch and if there had been an impact, would he expect the jeans of the perpetrator to be covered with blood, and the answer, depends on what object in between the perpetrator and the blood source, all depends on how far the person stands, there are a lot of variations.

4 THE COURT:

But that's not the question that you asked though, whether or not he was--whether or not those were the jeans.

5 MR. GOLDBERG:

No. He already admitted to that. I'm not impeaching on that. I'm impeaching on did he expect to find a lot of blood in this type of a case. He seems to have waffled on that.

6 MR. SCHECK:

Your Honor, I would point out from the transcript here, pointing to 397, he was asked a series of questions about blood spots and would it be fair to state question on 397, "Answer: I can not tell." It goes on to say depends on a lot of variations. He was asked a hypothetical. I think it's very misleading to question the witness about a hypothetical which he says doesn't contain all the variables in another case that's not this case. I think it's way beyond the purpose of the examination.

7 THE COURT:

Mr. Goldberg.

8 MR. GOLDBERG:

This is a case where the crime scene was much bloodier than ours, much more activity. They were dragging the bodies all over, and the clear import of this man's testimony before a jury, substantially admitted, was that the jeans only had two little drops of blood on this.

KEY QUOTE
9 THE COURT:

Since we have no clothing recovered, it doesn't have a whole lot of relevance, does it?

KEY QUOTE
10 MR. GOLDBERG:

The Defense--if the Defense will stipulate that it's not relevant how much if any blood--well, that's what they're claiming is relevant to the blood in the Bronco and the blood on Rockingham, the amount of blood, but if they'll stipulate that's not a relevant issue--

11 THE COURT:

Mr. Goldberg, you already got in the record the doctor saying, well, under normal circumstances, you would expect a lot of blood given the kind of activity here, but it all depends on what the contact was, and we don't know. That's what he said. So I'll sustain the objection.

KEY QUOTE

Temperature

tense

Key Quotes (4)

Hank Goldberg
This is a case where the crime scene was much bloodier than ours, much more activity. They were dragging the bodies all over, and the clear import of this man's testimony before a jury, substantially admitted, was that the jeans only had two little drops of blood on this.
Goldberg's core argument for why the Hoeplinger comparison is probative — the expert accepted minimal blood transfer in a bloodier scene, which Goldberg says undercuts his testimony about expected blood in the Simpson case.
Lance A. Ito
Since we have no clothing recovered, it doesn't have a whole lot of relevance, does it?
The judge cuts to the chase — the entire line of impeachment collapses on relevance grounds because no suspect clothing was recovered in the Simpson case.
Barry Scheck
I think it's very misleading to question the witness about a hypothetical which he says doesn't contain all the variables in another case that's not this case.
Scheck's clearest articulation of why the cross-examination is improper — the Hoeplinger testimony was a hypothetical, not a definitive statement.
Lance A. Ito
Mr. Goldberg, you already got in the record the doctor saying, well, under normal circumstances, you would expect a lot of blood given the kind of activity here, but it all depends on what the contact was, and we don't know. That's what he said. So I'll sustain the objection.
Ito rules that the prosecution already achieved what it needed from this witness — the Hoeplinger impeachment is cumulative and improper.

Evidence (1)

Informal
Transcript from the Hoeplinger case, page 397 — testimony about whether a perpetrator's jeans would be expected to show blood given various positional variables
cited by Goldberg for impeachment, challenged by Scheck as misleading and hypothetical

Notable Exchanges (2)

Hank GoldbergLance A. Ito
Goldberg tried to argue the Hoeplinger comparison was relevant to the blood evidence at Rockingham and in the Bronco; Ito deflated it by noting no clothing was recovered, then ruled the expert's existing testimony already covered the point adequately.
strategic — prosecution losing ground
Barry ScheckHank Goldberg
Scheck and Goldberg disputed whether page 397 of the Hoeplinger transcript was inconsistent with the expert's current testimony — Goldberg said it went to expected blood quantity, Scheck said it was a hypothetical with different variables.
technical/adversarial

Credibility Attacks (1)

⚔ expert witness (blood/forensic)
prior inconsistent statement — cross-case testimony
Goldberg attempted to use the expert's Hoeplinger case testimony to suggest he had previously accepted minimal blood transfer in a violent scene, implying his current testimony about expected blood was inconsistent. The attempt was blocked as improper use of a hypothetical answer.

Objections

1 objections (1 sustained, 0 overruled)
Proceeding 7453 • 11 utterances
Criminal Trial
Department 103
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📂 AUG 28, 1995 📄 Sidebar: Hoeplinger case refer
AUG 28, 1995 KRT DvH TD