📄 Sidebar: Rule 352 motion — Tuesday, July 18, 1995
Address:
C:\DEPT103\CRIMINAL\1995\JUL\18\SIDEBAR-RULE-352-MOTION.DOC
TRIAL
▲ Day 117 of 167

Sidebar: Rule 352 motion

Date: Tuesday, July 18, 1995 • Utterances: 18
The prosecution moved under Evidence Code 352 to exclude the testimony of witness Meraz, arguing his contact with the Bronco occurred on June 15th — after blood evidence was already collected on June 14th — making his testimony irrelevant. Cochran argued the Bronco was never properly secured and evidence was being collected as late as August, making Meraz's observation that he saw no blood highly relevant. Judge Ito overruled the objection and allowed the testimony. The sidebar ended with a brief skirmish between Shapiro and Ito over interruptions and leading questions during Cochran's examination.
1 (The following proceedings were held at the bench:)
2 THE COURT:

Who's handling Meraz?

3 MR. COCHRAN:

I am.

4 THE COURT:

All right. What's the problem, Marcia?

5 MS. CLARK:

There is--the People are making a motion under 352 to exclude the testimony as being irrelevant and undue consumption of time. The reason for this motion, your Honor, is that blood from the Bronco was collected on June the 14th. This witness only had contact with the Bronco on June 15th after the blood was collected. It is true further stains were collected from the same areas that had been previously collected on the 14th. However, all that does is prove further that the blood--the area was not contaminated because we arrived at the same results whether the blood was collected in June and as we do later on in August. So this witness' testimony is completely irrelevant and immaterial.

6 THE COURT:

Mr. Cochran.

7 MR. COCHRAN:

Well, first of all, as the Court is aware, they were collecting blood from the Bronco up until August, 300 series, whatever. This man moved this car on the 15th. Counsel doesn't want him to testify because she knows he's going to say that no blood was in there. This is very relevant testimony. They're still collecting evidence up to this date. This vehicle was not secured. The Court will recall this was the case where the car could have been released to Hertz. There was no hold on it by Haro or anybody else. He doesn't see any number of things take place. So it's very, very relevant. There's not a 352 problem. It's very relevant. We want to get this witness on and off.

8 MS. CLARK:

We don't need a soap box, you know, to search for the truth. This has nothing to do with anything. That's the point. The fact that they checked a box or didn't check a box on the impound sheet is irrelevant. That means nothing. We have photographs from the 14th showing the blood inside the Bronco. This witness didn't look for blood in the Bronco. He got in enough to put a piece of paper in the cap, and that's it, and allegedly takes some receipts later on out of the side door.

This has got nothing to do with anything. Again, this is more smoking mirror. That's fine if there's something tangentially relevant. But the recovery of evidence was achieved before this witness had contact with the Bronco. This is a waste of time, everybody's time and produces nothing in the search for the truth at all. It's simply misleading, confusing and under consumption of time. This kind of goofing around when the jury is being sequestered--everybody has half day. We don't. This is a joke.

9 MR. COCHRAN:

Could counsel keep her voice down? These are the same people, your Honor, who brought down Brian Kelberg for eight days on direct testimony--

10 THE COURT:

We don't need to rehash that.

11 MR. COCHRAN:

We don't have to rehash that, but she's the one who's saying that. I'm just saying as an offer of proof, a document with Nicole Brown Simpson's name or whatever on it is very relevant to a number of issues.

12 MS. CLARK:

Dated March of `94.

13 THE COURT:

All right. The objection is overruled.

14 MR. COCHRAN:

Thank you, your Honor. We're ready to proceed.

15 MR. SHAPIRO:

Just by way of observation, it appears to me we extend the courtesy to counsel to make objections after the question is completed and not interrupting counsel, and that's always been the Court's policy and that has not been followed with Mr. Cochran's questioning.

16 THE COURT:

Mr. Cochran though has a well-developed talent for asking leading questions, and I can tell right away where we're going with some of them.

KEY QUOTE
17 MR. SHAPIRO:

Your rulings were adverse when he should have been allowed leading questions.

18 THE COURT:

Nobody asked.

Temperature

tense

Key Quotes (4)

Johnnie Cochran
Counsel doesn't want him to testify because she knows he's going to say that no blood was in there.
Cochran cuts to the core of the defense theory — that blood evidence in the Bronco was planted or contaminated after the fact.
Marcia Clark
This kind of goofing around when the jury is being sequestered--everybody has half day. We don't. This is a joke.
Clark's frustration boils over, breaking decorum and revealing prosecution fatigue with the defense's witness strategy.
Lance A. Ito
Mr. Cochran though has a well-developed talent for asking leading questions, and I can tell right away where we're going with some of them.
A rare moment of judicial candor — Ito essentially admits he can see Cochran telegraphing his moves but stops short of ruling in Shapiro's favor.
Lance A. Ito
Nobody asked.
Ito's dry dismissal of Shapiro's complaint about adverse rulings on leading questions — signals he has little patience for relitigating past decisions.

Evidence (5)

Informal
Blood collected from the Bronco on June 14th
discussed — prosecution argues this predates Meraz's contact, making his testimony irrelevant
Informal
Additional blood samples collected from the Bronco in August (300 series exhibits)
discussed — defense argues ongoing collection shows the vehicle was not properly secured
Informal
Document with Nicole Brown Simpson's name, dated March 1994, allegedly found in the Bronco
mentioned by Cochran as offer of proof for relevance of Meraz testimony
Informal
Photographs of blood inside the Bronco from June 14th
cited by Clark to argue blood evidence predates Meraz's access
Informal
Bronco impound sheet / check box
dismissed by Clark as irrelevant to the question of blood evidence

Notable Exchanges (2)

Marcia ClarkJohnnie Cochran
Clark accuses the defense of 'smoking mirrors' and wasting time; Cochran fires back by invoking Kelberg's eight days of direct testimony before Ito shuts it down.
heated
Robert ShapiroLance A. Ito
Shapiro raises a complaint about Cochran being interrupted during questioning and adverse rulings on leading questions; Ito deflects both points — first by noting Cochran telegraphs his leading questions, then dismissing the rulings complaint with 'Nobody asked.'
strategic

Light Moments (1)

Lance A. Ito
Ito's deadpan 'Nobody asked' in response to Shapiro's complaint about adverse rulings — a perfect judicial mic drop.

Credibility Attacks (1)

⚔ prosecution's evidence collection
chain of custody / security challenge
Cochran argues the Bronco was never properly secured — no hold placed by Haro or anyone — and that blood evidence collection continued through August, undermining the prosecution's claim that Meraz's June 15th contact is inconsequential.

Objections

1 objections (0 sustained, 1 overruled)
Proceeding 6900 • 18 utterances
Criminal Trial
Department 103
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📂 JUL 18, 1995 📄 Sidebar: Rule 352 motion
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