Marcia Clark cross-examines Mark Partridge, a copyright attorney who sat next to OJ Simpson on his flight from Chicago to Los Angeles on the morning of June 13, 1994. Clark systematically attacks his credibility by highlighting that he copyrighted his detailed notes about Simpson's behavior, gave them to the defense before the prosecution, and challenged his prior statement to Detective Croxley in which he reportedly said blood was seeping through a paper towel wrapped around Simpson's cut finger — which Partridge now denies saying.
# 1 MS. CLARK: Good afternoon.
CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MS. CLARK
# 2 MS. CLARK: Good afternoon, Mr. Partridge.
# 3 MR. PARTRIDGE: Hello.
# 4 MS. CLARK: Now, the notes that you're talking about with Mr. Cochran, those were eight pages of handwritten notes that you wrote on June the 15th; is that correct?
# 5 MR. PARTRIDGE: Yes, that's right.
# 6 MS. CLARK: Mr. Simpson had not been charged with any crime as of June the 15th, had he?
# 7 MR. PARTRIDGE: As far as I know, that's right. He had not.
# 8 MS. CLARK: Yet, you sat down and wrote down eight pages of detailed notes in your own handwriting; is that correct?
# 9 MR. PARTRIDGE: That's right. Yes, I did.
# 10 MS. CLARK: And those notes were all about your observations--
KEY QUOTE # 11 MR. COCHRAN: Just a moment, your Honor. Object to what those notes were all about.
# 12 THE COURT: Overruled.
# 13 MS. CLARK: --your observations of your interaction with Mr. Simpson on the early morning flight on June the 13th, correct?
# 14 MR. PARTRIDGE: That's right, yes.
# 15 MS. CLARK: And then you copyrighted those notes, didn't you, Mr. Partridge?
KEY QUOTE # 16 MR. PARTRIDGE: I put a copyright notice on the notes later when I was asked to send them to people.
# 17 MS. CLARK: As a matter of fact, isn't it true that each and every page of those eight pages bears this--bears this logo that I'm going to show you now on the left side of the page, happens to be page 2?
# 18 MR. PARTRIDGE: Yes. That's right. Each--I put that on each page.
# 19 MS. CLARK: I would like to show the ladies and gentlemen of the jury that logo that was put on each page of these eight pages of handwritten notes.
# 20 MR. COCHRAN: We have no objection to marking the notes and showing the jury the notes also if you'd like.
# 21 MS. CLARK: I just want to mark this logo, your Honor, if I may.
# 23 MS. CLARK: Thank you.
# 24 THE COURT: Miss Clark.
# 25 MS. CLARK: I'm trying to make it lighter a little bit, your Honor. He's hard to see. All right. And for the record, I'm going to see if we can print this out. That's better.
# 26 MS. CLARK: That's the copyright that you put on your notes; is that correct?
# 27 MR. PARTRIDGE: It's a notice of copyright, yes.
# 28 MS. CLARK: And that shows a little c and a circle, 1994 and "Partridge, all rights reserved"?
# 30 MS. CLARK: And that's on each of the eight pages of notes that you took concerning your observations of Mr. Simpson on June the 13th?
# 31 MR. PARTRIDGE: Yes. That's right.
# 32 MS. CLARK: And you wrote these on June the 15th, correct?
# 33 MR. PARTRIDGE: I wrote them on June the 15th. I didn't put that notice on them on June the 15th.
# 34 MS. CLARK: You put that notice down later, correct?
# 36 MS. CLARK: And on June the 13th, you also gave the Defendant your card, didn't you, sir?
# 37 MR. PARTRIDGE: Yes, I did.
# 38 MS. CLARK: You're not a criminal lawyer, are you?
# 40 MS. CLARK: You gave him that card so that he would contact you later; is that right?
# 41 MR. PARTRIDGE: I gave him the card in case anything of the flight turned out to be important for him.
# 42 MS. CLARK: And you thought your observations of his conduct on June the 13th might be important; is that correct?
# 43 MR. PARTRIDGE: I thought it was possible, yes, that it might be--how he behaved on the flight might be important.
# 44 MS. CLARK: Okay. Now, what does that mean when you copyright something, sir? You're a copyright lawyer.
# 45 MR. PARTRIDGE: Well, when you cop--when you write something, it's immediately covered by copyright. I put the notice on in an effort to prevent people from copying the notes that I sent them to in an effort to prevent them from being distributed without my consent.
# 46 MS. CLARK: Doesn't it also mean that you have a financial interest in the privacy of that matter that you copyright?
# 47 MR. PARTRIDGE: I don't understand your question.
# 48 MS. CLARK: Well, people copyright books, don't they?
# 49 MR. PARTRIDGE: Certainly.
# 50 MS. CLARK: So that no one else can copy that book and sell it and make a profit on it except the author and the publisher, right?
# 51 MR. PARTRIDGE: If that's what the author chooses, yes.
# 52 MS. CLARK: Isn't that usually what the author chooses, Mr. Partridge?
# 53 MR. COCHRAN: Object to what the author usually chooses.
# 54 THE COURT: Overruled.
# 55 MR. PARTRIDGE: I would say very often, the author chooses to sell the notes or their book or whatever they have chosen to copyright.
# 56 MS. CLARK: Right. And they copyright their writings so that no one else can profit from what they've written; isn't that right, sir?
# 57 MR. PARTRIDGE: That would be the case in some instances I would assume, yes.
# 58 MS. CLARK: Now, you say you called the police on June the 17th and you referred to LAPD, correct?
# 59 MR. PARTRIDGE: That's what I understand, yes.
# 60 MS. CLARK: And you told them that you had sat on a plane with a Defendant on the morning of June the 13th as he came back to Los Angeles, correct?
# 62 MS. CLARK: Do you have any idea how many hundreds of clues they were investigating?
# 63 MR. COCHRAN: I object to the form of the question. Counsel is testifying.
# 64 THE COURT: Sustained.
# 65 MS. CLARK: Do you have any idea--do you yourself have any personal knowledge of how many clues they were investigating?
# 66 MR. PARTRIDGE: I have no idea.
# 67 MS. CLARK: Could have been hundreds, right?
# 68 MR. PARTRIDGE: It could have been, yes.
# 69 MS. CLARK: Or how many witnesses they were trying to interview. You have no idea how many?
# 70 MR. PARTRIDGE: No, I don't know how many.
# 71 MS. CLARK: Could have been hundreds; is that right?
# 72 MR. PARTRIDGE: Could have been.
# 73 MS. CLARK: And you had no idea where Mr. Simpson was on the evening of June the 12th, did you?
# 74 MR. PARTRIDGE: I didn't know where he was, no.
# 75 MS. CLARK: You had never met him?
# 76 MR. PARTRIDGE: No, I had never met him.
# 77 MS. CLARK: And the first time you ever met him was on June the 13th from that flight from Chicago to Los Angeles; is that correct?
# 78 MR. PARTRIDGE: Yes, that's right.
# 79 MS. CLARK: And during that flight from Chicago to Los Angeles, you were observing him very carefully; were you not?
# 80 MR. PARTRIDGE: Reasonably so, yes.
# 81 MS. CLARK: And that's why you were able to write eight pages of handwritten notes, correct?
# 82 MR. PARTRIDGE: I wrote eight pages of what I remembered from the flight. I tried to remember as much as I could.
# 83 MS. CLARK: Because--and you knew--and you were making those close observations because you knew about the murders of Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman, correct?
# 84 MR. PARTRIDGE: That's not completely correct. No, I didn't.
# 85 MS. CLARK: No, you were not observing him closely because you knew about the murders?
# 86 MR. COCHRAN: Object to the form of that question, your Honor.
# 87 THE COURT: Sustained. Rephrase the question.
# 88 MS. CLARK: You made very careful observations of Mr. Simpson's conduct; is that correct?
# 89 MR. PARTRIDGE: I would say reasonably so, yes.
# 90 MS. CLARK: And of his physical condition, correct?
# 92 MS. CLARK: And you were doing so at least in part because you had learned of the murders of Ronald Goldman and Nicole Brown, correct?
# 93 MR. COCHRAN: Same objection, your Honor.
# 94 THE COURT: Overruled.
# 95 MR. PARTRIDGE: I can't answer that yes or no. It's not completely correct. It's partially correct.
# 96 MS. CLARK: It's partially correct?
# 98 MS. CLARK: That was part of the reason you were observing him very closely, correct?
# 99 MR. PARTRIDGE: Partially so, yes. By that, I mean, some of that I knew and some of that I didn't know.
# 100 MS. CLARK: You knew that something big had happened, correct?
# 101 MR. PARTRIDGE: I knew that his ex-wife was dead initially, and during the course of the flight, I learned that she had been killed, and toward the end of the flight, I learned that another person, a man, had been killed as well.
KEY QUOTE # 102 MS. CLARK: Okay. And so you learned early in the flight that his ex-wife was dead, correct?
# 103 MR. PARTRIDGE: Yes.
# 104 MS. CLARK: And that fact knowing--and you knew it was a recent event; is that right?
# 105 MR. PARTRIDGE: Yes. I understood it had just happened.
# 106 MS. CLARK: And that caused you to pay very close attention to his physical condition and his demeanor, correct?
# 107 MR. PARTRIDGE: It caused me to pay attention to him. But mostly, what it caused me to do is be, I don't know, concerned about the situation.
# 108 MS. CLARK: And that concern caused you to observe him very closely, correct?
# 109 MR. PARTRIDGE: As I said, reasonably so, yes.
# 110 MS. CLARK: And you observed at that time, because you were observing him closely, that there was a cut on the middle finger of his left hand; is that right?
# 111 MR. PARTRIDGE: I remember that it was a cut on the knuckles of his left hand and I recall that it was the ring finger or middle finger.
# 112 MS. CLARK: And there was no bandage on that finger the first time you saw it, correct?
# 113 MR. PARTRIDGE: I'm sorry. I said ring finger. I'm getting mixed up here.
# 115 MR. PARTRIDGE: I mean middle finger. Yes.
# 116 MS. CLARK: Right. And there was no bandage on that finger the first time you saw it, correct?
# 117 MR. PARTRIDGE: The first time I noticed it, there was no Band-Aid. That's right.
# 118 MS. CLARK: And it was not bleeding, was it?
# 119 MR. PARTRIDGE: It was not--I didn't see any blood, no.
# 120 MS. CLARK: Later, you saw him wrap it in a paper towel, correct?
# 121 MR. PARTRIDGE: Yes.
# 122 MS. CLARK: So at the first observation of it, it was not bleeding, and then later on, it seemed to be bleeding; is that right?
# 123 MR. PARTRIDGE: I never saw any blood.
KEY QUOTE # 124 MS. CLARK: Didn't you tell the police that you saw blood seeping through the paper towel after he had wrapped it with a paper towel?
# 125 MR. PARTRIDGE: No. I never said I saw blood seeping through the paper towel.
# 126 MS. CLARK: Let me show you a copy of your statement, sir.
# 127 (Discussion held off the record between the Deputy District Attorney and Defense counsel.) # 128 MS. CLARK: All right, sir. I'm showing you a form that says "Statement form" on it. Do you see your name in the upper left-hand corner?
# 129 MR. PARTRIDGE: Yes, I do.
# 130 MS. CLARK: Mark Partridge?
# 131 MR. PARTRIDGE: Yes.
# 132 MS. CLARK: Date of interview, October 6th, 1994?
# 133 MR. PARTRIDGE: Yes.
# 134 MS. CLARK: Now, I'm going to direct your attention to the page that contains the narrative and show you this paragraph that I'm pointing to here I've previously shown to counsel.
# 135 MR. PARTRIDGE: Yes.
# 136 MS. CLARK: Do you see the statement there?
# 137 MR. PARTRIDGE: Yes.
# 138 MS. CLARK: And does that statement indicate that you told Detective Croxley that the Defendant had wrapped a paper towel from the rest room around the finger because blood was leaking out?
# 139 MR. PARTRIDGE: I don't know that that statement indicates that that's what I said. That's what is stated here.
KEY QUOTE # 140 MS. CLARK: You have no recollection of ever saying that?
# 141 MR. PARTRIDGE: No, I didn't say that.
# 142 MS. CLARK: Then is it your testimony that you never saw that finger bleeding on June the 13th?
# 143 MR. PARTRIDGE: I never saw any blood. That's right. I saw that the finger was cut and somewhat raw, but I didn't see any blood coming from it.
KEY QUOTE # 144 MS. CLARK: Did you see whether there was more than one cut on that finger?
# 145 MR. PARTRIDGE: It looked--looked to be kind of a jagged raw cut. I couldn't really say if it was more than one or if it was just a rough cut that was--as opposed to a sharp straight cut.
# 146 MS. CLARK: So you could not tell whether it was more than one cut? Yes or no?
# 147 MR. PARTRIDGE: As I recall, it says I described. I could not tell if it was more than one cut.
# 148 MS. CLARK: Thank you. And if it was more than one cut, you could not tell whether both cuts were received at the same time, correct?
# 149 MR. PARTRIDGE: That's certainly correct.
# 150 MS. CLARK: And the notes that we're speaking of, you gave those notes to the Defense first; is that right?
# 151 MR. PARTRIDGE: Yes, I did.
# 152 MS. CLARK: You did not give those notes to the Prosecution until Detective Croxley contacted you in October; is that right?
# 153 MR. PARTRIDGE: Yes. I gave them to the Prosecution after I was contacted by Officer Croxley.
# 154 MS. CLARK: In fact, that wasn't until December of 1994; isn't that right, sir?
# 155 MR. PARTRIDGE: I sent them to Officer Croxley in early December, yes.
# 156 MS. CLARK: Now, you indicated, sir, that someone asked the Defendant for an autograph during the flight; is that right?
# 157 MR. PARTRIDGE: Yes.
# 158 MS. CLARK: And he gave it to them, didn't he?
# 159 MR. PARTRIDGE: Yes.
# 160 MS. CLARK: And you indicate that the Defendant drank water throughout the flight?
# 161 MR. PARTRIDGE: Yes.
# 162 MS. CLARK: And that one of the first things he did when he got on the plane was ask for water; is that right?
# 163 MR. PARTRIDGE: That was one of the first things, yes.
# 164 MS. CLARK: And then after the plane took off, he immediately requested a telephone; is that right?
# 165 MR. PARTRIDGE: Yes. That's right.
# 166 MS. CLARK: And the first phone call he made, could you hear who he made that phone call to?
# 167 MR. COCHRAN: Object to as hearsay, your Honor. Hearsay.
# 168 THE COURT: Sidebar, please.