All right. Back on the record in the Simpson matter. Mr. Simpson is again present before the Court with his counsel, Mr. Shapiro, Mr. Cochran, Mr. Douglas, Mr. Bailey, Mr. Blasier. The People are represented by Miss Clark, Mr. Darden and Mr. Gordon. The jury is not present. Counsel, anything we need to take up before the Defense calls their first witness?
Good morning, your Honor. I just wanted to indicate for the record that yesterday at about five o'clock--I should start off by saying that I have received a call from Mr. Yochelson, I believe on Friday afternoon, regarding witnesses above the eight or nine names that I had given him I think on last Wednesday, or the Prosecution, and we did in fact get back to him yesterday afternoon and gave him perhaps 20, 24 additional names which we think will perhaps take us through the next two weeks.
That I have given him? I haven't counted exactly, your Honor, but somewhere in the area of 33, 34, and I would indicate further, if there are witnesses we are not going to call, when I become aware of I will let the Prosecution know and always try to let him have the order. And I think that will expedite this matter so that we can move through this trial. I do have some concerns, your Honor, that I would like to bring to your attention. One of our witnesses I would expect to call, however, today, depending on how fast we move, a lady named Carol Connors, and this witness yesterday received a call from a lawyer by the name of Gloria Allred that was entirely inappropriate. First of all, Miss Carol Connors is represented by a lawyer and he will be here later today. His name is Ed Pease. And I spoke with him last night and he was extremely upset that Miss Allred would seek to call Miss Connors, whom he represents, and then proceed to badger her and was screaming at her to the extent, according to Miss Connors, that Miss Connors had to hang up the phone. And the reason I wanted to bring this to the Court's attention, she was apparently urging Miss Connors to talk to the Prosecution. And I am very concerned for these number of witnesses we have, that I don't want to see them harassed. Certainly the Prosecution has a right to ask to talk to the witness. If the witnesses want to do that, that is fine, we have no problem with that, but I will not stand by as an Officer of this Court and not at least bring this to your Honor's attention. And I believe Mr. Pease will be going to the other appropriate state agencies regarding the conduct of this lawyer in calling his client in badgering her as it happened last night. And I wanted to put that on the record and I think it was very unfortunate, and I hope that won't happen again with any of the other witnesses, and in a search for truth, your Honor, witnesses should be able to come to Court without fear of being intimidated or affected by anyone, and I think it would be outrageous if people would be deterred from testifying in this case because of the conduct from any of the other parties.
He will be here before she testifies and I'm sure will bring it to your Honor's attention. As we indicated to the Court, in proceeding with this case, we are ready to proceed and would ask leave to call Miss Arnelle Simpson. We had a conversation back in chambers on Friday which I indicated the general parameters of her testimony and if there is any area where I feel that there is a question or whatever, and there is an area regarding a letter that we gave the Prosecution last evening, and that this is a letter from Nicole Brown Simpson to Mr. Simpson in `93 which we think is very probative, but it has a specific purpose only, and before we get to that or ask any questions of it, I want to have a 402 hearing. But I don't want to delay the proceedings. That would be the very last question and before we got to that I would ask for a recess and then we would have a 402 hearing. That is all I would like.
Good morning, your Honor. Let me first indicate to the Court and assure the Court, although it probably does not need the assurance, at no time have the Prosecution engaged in any conduct that would tend to harass or intimidate anyone, any witness for either side. We have had no contact with Carol Connor. I certainly have never spoken to Gloria Allred. And if any of the all allegations made by counsel are true, which I sincerely doubt, then that is a matter to be taken up at a later point, but it certainly is not any conduct on the part of Prosecution. We would never engage in such conduct. It is beyond even thinking. Secondly, your Honor, with respect to the proposed testimony of Miss Simpson, the People are requesting today there are be an offer of proof. We have no statement from Miss Simpson. We have no indication at all as to what the parameters of her testimony might be. The proffer of the letter back in `93, I believe, from ms. Nicole Brown, is an indication to me that the intended parameters are very, very broad and perhaps impermissible, in light of issues that are framed in this case.
And rather than have to go through lengthy side bars and objections that will waste the jury's time, we are asking that the Defense be required to submit an offer of proof to this Court so that we can see what the boundaries of the testimony proposed by her are. At this time we have no idea. The only statement we have from Miss Simpson at this time is very, very brief testimony elicited at the preliminary hearing pursuant to 1538.5 motion made by the Defense at that time, which is July of `94. At this time there has been no statement made by her to the officers, there has been no statement made by her to the Defense which has been proffered to us, so we have no idea what the Defense intends to elicit. And I think the Court is entitled to an offer of proof to make sure that improper questions are not asked, to make sure that areas are not gone into which are impermissible or improper. And perhaps the Defense needs to know what areas the Court thinks are proper and improper or which areas might open doors the Defense does not want to open. And a good example of that would be the letter that has been offered so far, but I think that it is clear that in the absence of a statement having been given to the People that will indicate what the boundaries of the testimony are, that the Court is entitled to an offer of proof before that witness testifies and the People are making that request.
I find it particularly ironic, your Honor, that the Prosecution has called some 58 witnesses and took almost six months. We didn't try to stop them. This so-called search for truth certainly takes a different turn when the Defense gets its chance. Certainly this Court--and we talked about this last week, your Honor, you and I--has an absolute right to ask for an offer of proof and you did and I told you and you in chambers indicated--and the areas that I went into, you said it is absolutely relevant and totally permissible. The Prosecution does not have a right to take each one of our witnesses and ask what they are going to testify to. They are so insecure about their evidence. Listen, if this is a search for truth, you are going to do the right thing with regard to the evidence. We are experienced lawyers. We are not going to go far afield with this jury. We are going to bring on the areas--we know about opening doors, and quite frankly, if there is a question about opening the door, we want a ruling, we want a ruling before we ask questions, and I have indicated to you we will be doing that and I have indicated the general areas we will talk about. It is preposterous for experienced lawyers to stand here and say--Arnelle Simpson was the person awakened by the police officers, your Honor, shortly after five o'clock on the 13th. I mean, it is preposterous. She was home that evening. I mean, for them to say this is just preposterous because they don't have a report. There is no report. And as I indicated on Friday, at some point later in their careers, when they practice on both sides, this will end. Miss Lewis indicated she will never be on this side, but you have to have a client to be on this side.
KEY QUOTERight. The point is we have done this already. We tried to indicate that to the Court. I have told you further, Mr. Shapiro and I will be taking these witnesses--first witnesses. If there is a question mark in our mind, unlike what happened in the People's case, we will ask to approach the bench and ask some advice on those questions, your Honor.
Counsel, we will proceed accordingly. Where there is a witness where there is no statement available, I will ask and expect an offer of proof. As to the first witness, Arnelle Simpson, this person is well-known to counsel on both sides. Her ability to testify to what was going on at the Simpson residence the night of the crime, what occurred that morning, what occurred in the few days afterwards, the demeanor of the Defendant, any statements that may have been made by Mr. Shipp, I mean, she is potentially competent to testify to a number of issues that are obvious to me. So I don't think I'm going--I'm not going to expect an additional offer of proof beyond what we discussed in chambers last week as to Miss Arnelle Simpson. All right. Anything else?
Your Honor, one question. On the issue of the letter that they will attempt to introduce through Miss Simpson, can we have a list of the P's and A's they intend to argue?
There is the issue of the exclusion order that the Court issued as to the Brown families and the victim's families as far as being excluded from the proceedings when there was testimony being provided by other witnesses that might relate to their testimony.
Exclusion of other family members when they are going to be testifying as to the same issues.
I expect that Mrs. Simpson will be testifying sometime this morning, and she is in a wheelchair. Are you asking that Mrs. Simpson, the mother, be removed also?
Anybody who is going to be testifying to the same issues, yes, they should not hear each other's testimony.
All right. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Please be seated. And let the record reflect that we have now been rejoined by all the members of our jury panel. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
THE JURY: Good morning.
I see everybody is well. All right. At this point, Mr. Cochran, you may call the Defense's first witness.
I find it particularly ironic, your Honor, that the Prosecution has called some 58 witnesses and took almost six months. We didn't try to stop them. This so-called search for truth certainly takes a different turn when the Defense gets its chance.
Her ability to testify to what was going on at the Simpson residence the night of the crime, what occurred that morning, what occurred in the few days afterwards, the demeanor of the Defendant, any statements that may have been made by Mr. Shipp, I mean, she is potentially competent to testify to a number of issues that are obvious to me.
I will not stand by as an Officer of this Court and not at least bring this to your Honor's attention.
We have had no contact with Carol Connor. I certainly have never spoken to Gloria Allred. And if any of the allegations made by counsel are true, which I sincerely doubt, then that is a matter to be taken up at a later point.