📄 Session adjournment — Thursday, February 9, 1995
📅 Feb 9 — Day 16
⚖️ Lance A. Ito🛡️ Johnnie Cochran
jurymediatimeline
Address:
C:\DEPT103\CRIMINAL\1995\FEB\9\SESSION-ADJOURNMENT.DOC
TRIAL
▲ Day 16 of 167

Session adjournment

Date: Thursday, February 9, 1995 • Utterances: 14
Cochran raised two complaints before adjournment: that a prosecution witness (Pablo Fenjves) had been watching television in violation of the court's standing order, and that Marcia Clark had falsely accused Shapiro of leaking information to the press — an accusation undercut when her own witness admitted to watching TV coverage. Darden responded by apologizing to Shapiro and defending the prosecution's subpoena process, attributing the witness's TV viewing to the preliminary hearing (six months prior) rather than a current violation.
1 (THE FOLLOWING PROCEEDINGS WERE HELD IN OPEN COURT, OUT OF THE PRESENCE OF THE JURY:)
2 THE COURT:

THANK YOU, COUNSEL. BE SEATED. MR. COCHRAN, YOU HAD SOMETHING YOU WANTED TO SAY?

3 MR. COCHRAN:

YES. I RISE FIRST OF ALL TO ASK THE COURT TO INSTRUCT THE PEOPLE TO TELL THEIR WITNESSES TO STOP WATCHING TELEVISION. I HAD UNDERSTOOD -- IN FACT, I HEARD YOU SPECIFICALLY ISSUE AN ORDER -- WE TALKED ABOUT THIS YESTERDAY -- FOR THE PEOPLE THAT I THOUGHT RESPONDED, THEY WERE GOING TO ATTACH TO THEIR SUBPOENAS YOUR ORDER. THE FIRST WITNESS COMES IN HERE -- AND I WASN'T SUSPICIOUS BECAUSE HE TALKED ABOUT ONLY TWO THINGS. HE SAID HE THINKS THAT JEEP IS DARK GREEN. THAT'S PABLO FENJVES AND THIS MAN. AND SO I ASK HIM HAD HE BEEN WATCHING TELEVISION. HE SAID YES. AND I KIND OF BACKED OFF. BUT HE OBVIOUSLY DIDN'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE ORDER. THEY HAD NOT DONE THEIR JOB. I THINK THAT'S INAPPROPRIATE. YOU MADE IT VERY CLEAR TO US, AND WE PLAN TO DO IT WHEN WE SUBPOENA OUR WITNESSES. AND I THINK AGAIN, IT'S YOUR ORDER, AND I WOULD ASK YOUR HONOR TO ENFORCE THAT. THE OTHER THING HAS TO DO -- AND I RISE FOR MR. SHAPIRO IN THIS CONNECTION. YESTERDAY, MISS CLARK, AS SHE IS WANT TO DO, MADE SOME MORE SPECIOUS CHARGES. SHE ACCUSED MR. SHAPIRO OF HAVING -- QUOTE:

"I'VE BEEN INFORMED BY OUR MEDIA RELATIONS DIRECTOR THAT MR. SHAPIRO HAS BEEN TELLING REPORTERS THAT OUR FUTURE WITNESSES HAVE BEEN WATCHING TELEVISION." HOW PROPHETIC. NOW -- IT'S VERY PROPHETIC THE WAY IT TURNED OUT, WASN'T IT? HOWEVER, MR. SHAPIRO NEVER DID THAT. BUT HERE'S WHAT MARCIA CLARK HAD TO SAY ABOUT THAT:

"THAT IS FALSE AND IT IS UNFAIR AND IT IS THE KIND OF SMEAR CAMPAIGN TACTICS THAT WE OBJECT TO STRENUOUSLY." THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID YESTERDAY UNTIL HER WITNESS GETS ON THE STAND AND TELLS US HE'S WATCHING TELEVISION.

"WE HAVE REFRAINED FROM THAT SORT OF THING. WE WOULD ASK THE COURT TO ORDER MR. SHAPIRO NOT TO MAKE THESE FALSE REPRESENTATIONS TO THE PRESS FOR THE PURPOSE OF ENGAGING IN FURTHER SMEAR CAMPAIGN TACTICS.

"THE COURT: MR. SHAPIRO, DO YOU WANT TO RESPOND TO THAT?

"MR. SHAPIRO:" HE RESPONDED QUITE SUCCINCTLY, YOUR HONOR.

"YES. TOTAL LIE." AND HE GOES ON TO SAY:

"IT'S AN ABSOLUTE TOTAL LIE." HE THEN INVITED MISS CLARK AND THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE, BECAUSE THEY WANT TO MAKE ALL THESE CHARGES, TO BRING SOME VIDEOTAPE WHERE HE WAS SAYING THAT. SO FAR, THEY'VE NOT DONE IT. MR. SHAPIRO HAS ASKED ME TO ASK YOU TO HAVE THEM BRING THE VIDEOTAPE IF THEY HAVE THAT WHEN THEY MAKE THESE KINDS OF CHARGES. THERE'S THAT, YOUR HONOR.

4 THE COURT:

MR. DARDEN.

5 MR. DARDEN:

I CAN'T IMAGINE WHY MR. COCHRAN IS WASTING THE COURT'S TIME AND MY TIME BRINGING THIS ISSUE BEFORE THE COURT. WHATEVER WAS SAID ON THE RECORD AT SIDEBAR YESTERDAY, YOUR HONOR, IS BETWEEN THE -- YOU KNOW, THAT WAS MISS CLARK'S UNDERSTANDING. MR. SHAPIRO SAYS IT'S NOT TRUE. LET ME REFEREE THIS ONE FOR YOU, OKAY. WE APOLOGIZE, BOB.

6 MR. SHAPIRO:

WE APPRECIATE THAT. THANK YOU.

7 MR. DARDEN:

WE APOLOGIZE. AND AS FOR MR. COCHRAN, WE DON'T NEED YOU TO TELL US HOW TO DO OUR JOB. WE ATTACH TO EVERY SUBPOENA THE COURT'S DIRECTIONS, OKAY. SO IF THE FELT HAPPENED TO FALL OFF THIS OFFICER SOMEWHERE ALONG THE WAY, WE APOLOGIZE TO THE COURT FOR THAT. BUT THE COURT WILL RECALL THAT THE OFFICER SAID THAT HE SAW THE PRELIMINARY HEARING, AND THAT WAS WHAT, SIX MONTHS AGO? I DON'T THINK THE ORDER APPLIED TO OR WAS IN EFFECT SIX MONTHS AGO. BUT WE WILL BE CAREFUL TO MAKE SURE THE WITNESSES ARE AWARE OF THE COURT'S ORDER.

8 THE COURT:

ALL RIGHT. ALL RIGHT. THANK YOU, COUNSEL.

9 MR. COCHRAN:

THANK YOU, YOUR HONOR.

10 THE COURT:

WE'LL STAND IN RECESS.

11 MR. COCHRAN:

YOUR HONOR, CAN WE APPROACH SO I CAN ASK ONE QUESTION?

12 THE COURT:

SURE.

13 (A CONFERENCE WAS HELD AT THE BENCH, NOT REPORTED.)
14 (AT 4:45 P.M., AN ADJOURNMENT WAS TAKEN UNTIL, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1995, 9:00 A.M.)

Temperature

tense

Key Quotes (4)

Johnnie Cochran
THE FIRST WITNESS COMES IN HERE -- AND I WASN'T SUSPICIOUS BECAUSE HE TALKED ABOUT ONLY TWO THINGS. HE SAID HE THINKS THAT JEEP IS DARK GREEN. THAT'S PABLO FENJVES AND THIS MAN. AND SO I ASK HIM HAD HE BEEN WATCHING TELEVISION. HE SAID YES.
Cochran catches a prosecution witness admitting to watching TV coverage, directly violating the court's media order and calling into question witness testimony about the Bronco color.
Johnnie Cochran
THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID YESTERDAY UNTIL HER WITNESS GETS ON THE STAND AND TELLS US HE'S WATCHING TELEVISION.
Cochran uses Clark's own prior-day accusation against Shapiro to highlight the irony that her witness was the one actually tainted by media exposure.
Christopher Darden
LET ME REFEREE THIS ONE FOR YOU, OKAY. WE APOLOGIZE, BOB.
Darden defuses the Shapiro dispute with a direct apology on behalf of the prosecution — a rare moment of concession from the People's table.
Christopher Darden
WE DON'T NEED YOU TO TELL US HOW TO DO OUR JOB.
Darden pushes back on Cochran's lecture about subpoena procedure, showing friction between the two camps even in routine administrative matters.

Notable Exchanges (2)

Johnnie CochranChristopher Darden
Cochran accused the prosecution of failing to enforce the court's media order after witness Pablo Fenjves admitted watching TV. Darden disputed Cochran's characterization, apologized to Shapiro over Clark's accusation, and defended the prosecution's subpoena process.
tense
Christopher DardenRobert Shapiro
Darden issued a direct apology to Shapiro for Clark's accusation that he had been leaking witness-tampering claims to the press.
conciliatory

Light Moments (1)

Johnnie Cochran
Cochran calls Shapiro's prediction about witnesses watching TV 'very prophetic' after it was proven correct, with a sardonic edge.

Credibility Attacks (1)

⚔ Pablo Fenjves
bias / media exposure
Cochran disclosed that Fenjves admitted to watching television coverage during examination, raising the inference that his testimony about the Bronco being 'dark green' was influenced by media rather than independent recollection.

Objections

None recorded
Proceeding 4827 • 14 utterances
Criminal Trial
Department 103
⚖️ Start
📂 FEB 9, 1995 📄 Session adjournment
FEB 9, 1995 KRT DvH TD