📄 Jury and videotape preparation — Friday, March 17, 1995
Address:
C:\DEPT103\CRIMINAL\1995\MAR\17\JURY-AND-VIDEOTAPE-PREPARATION.DOC
TRIAL
▲ Day 40 of 167

Jury and videotape preparation

Date: Friday, March 17, 1995 • Utterances: 33
Judge Ito announced the consent excusal of Juror No. 602 and instructed counsel not to discuss the chambers proceeding publicly. The prosecution then previewed two videotape exhibits for the defense — People's 118 and 119 — showing Detective Vannatter driving the route between Bundy and Rockingham in both directions to approximate travel time.
1 (THE FOLLOWING PROCEEDINGS WERE HELD IN OPEN COURT:)
2 THE COURT:

ALL RIGHT. GOOD MORNING, COUNSEL. BACK ON THE RECORD IN THE SIMPSON MATTER. THE DEFENDANT IS AGAIN PRESENT WITH HIS COUNSEL, MR. SHAPIRO, MR. COCHRAN, MR. KARDASHIAN, MR. DOUGLAS AND MR. BAILEY. THE PEOPLE ARE REPRESENTED BY MISS CLARK AND MR. DARDEN. THE JURY IS NOT PRESENT. WE NEED TO TAKE UP TWO MATTERS. FIRST OF ALL, THE COURT HAS FOUND ABUNDANT GOOD CAUSE TO EXCUSE JUROR NO. 602 AND WE WILL BE REPLACING JUROR NO. 602 WHEN THE JURY JOINS US. I'M GOING TO DIRECT -- EXCUSE ME, MR. COCHRAN. CAN I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION, PLEASE. MISS CLARK. I'M GOING TO INSTRUCT COUNSEL NOT TO DISCUSS PUBLICLY IN ANY MANNER THE PROCEEDING THAT WENT ON IN CHAMBERS THIS MORNING REGARDING THE EXCUSAL OF THIS JUROR UNTIL THE MATTER HAS BEEN CONCLUDED.

3 MR. COCHRAN:

THANK YOU, YOUR HONOR.

4 THE COURT:

ALL RIGHT. ANY OTHER COMMENT? MY RECOLLECTION IS THAT THE EXCUSAL WAS WITH THE CONSENT OF BOTH PARTIES.

5 MR. COCHRAN:

THAT IS TRUE, YOUR HONOR.

6 MS. CLARK:

THAT'S CORRECT. THERE WAS NO OPPOSITION FROM EITHER SIDE.

7 MR. COCHRAN:

THAT IS TRUE, YOUR HONOR.

8 THE COURT:

ALL RIGHT. SECONDLY, WE HAVE A TAPE THAT NEEDS TO BE DISPLAYED TO THE DEFENSE.

9 MR. DARDEN:

THAT'S CORRECT, YOUR HONOR. WE HAVE A VIDEOTAPE.

10 THE COURT:

ALL RIGHT. GOOD MORNING, MR. DARDEN.

11 MR. DARDEN:

GOOD MORNING, YOUR HONOR. THE VIDEOTAPE OF DETECTIVE VANNATTER DRIVING FROM BUNDY TO ROCKINGHAM AND BACK. HE IS ATTEMPTING TO APPROXIMATE THE TIME IT WOULD TAKE.

12 THE COURT:

ALL RIGHT. IF WE COULD PLAY THAT FOR THE DEFENSE.

13 (AT 10:16 A.M. A VIDEOTAPE, WAS PLAYED.)
14 (AT 10:22 A.M. THE PLAYING OF THE VIDEOTAPE CONCLUDED.)
15 THE COURT:

ALL RIGHT. MR. DARDEN, IS THAT THE COMPLETE TAPE?

16 MR. DARDEN:

THAT IS, YOUR HONOR. MAY I HAVE ONE MOMENT? THERE IS A SECOND PART WHICH IS ON LASER AND THAT IS THE TRIP FROM BUNDY BACK TO ROCKINGHAM.

17 THE COURT:

ONE IS ON VIDEO AND ONE IS ON LASER. ALL RIGHT.

18 MR. DARDEN:

GOING IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS, YOUR HONOR.

19 THE COURT:

DOES THAT MEAN IT IS FASTER?

KEY QUOTE
20 MR. DARDEN:

PERHAPS WE SHOULD MARK THE VIDEOTAPE PEOPLE'S NEXT IN ORDER.

21 THE COURT:

ALL RIGHT. HOW ABOUT THE VIDEOTAPE AS 118 AND THE LASER AS 119.

22 (PEO'S 118 FOR ID = VIDEOTAPE/ROCKINGHAM TO BUNDY) (PEO'S 119 FOR ID = VIDEOTAPE/BUNDY TO ROCKINGHAM)
23 (AT 10:25 A.M., PEOPLE'S EXHIBIT 118, A VIDEOTAPE, WAS PLAYED.)
24 MR. COCHRAN:

YOUR HONOR, THE AUDIO? CAN WE START THAT OVER WITH THE AUDIO.

25 THE COURT:

EXCUSE ME, MR. DARDEN. CAN YOU HOLD ON TO THAT, PLEASE. THIS APPEARS TO BE THE SAME SEQUENCE STARTING AT THE ASHFORD GATE. IT APPEARED --

26 (DISCUSSION HELD OFF THE RECORD BETWEEN THE DEPUTY DISTRICT ATTORNEYS.)
27 (AT 10:26 A.M., PEOPLE'S EXHIBIT 119, A VIDEOTAPE, WAS PLAYED.)
28 (AT 10:31 A.M. THE PLAYING OF THE VIDEOTAPE CONCLUDED.)
29 THE COURT:

ALL RIGHT. MR. DARDEN, ARE THOSE THE TWO CLIPS YOU WISH TO EXHIBIT TO THE JURY?

30 MR. DARDEN:

YES, YOUR HONOR.

31 THE COURT:

ALL RIGHT. ANY COMMENT FROM THE DEFENSE?

32 MR. SHAPIRO:

NO, YOUR HONOR.

33 THE COURT:

ALL RIGHT. ANYTHING ELSE BEFORE WE INVITE THE JURORS TO JOIN US? ALL RIGHT. DEPUTY MAGNERA, LET'S HAVE THE JURY, PLEASE. MADAM REPORTER, WE ARE GOING TO GO STRAIGHT THROUGH.

Temperature

routine

Key Quotes (2)

Christopher Darden
THE VIDEOTAPE OF DETECTIVE VANNATTER DRIVING FROM BUNDY TO ROCKINGHAM AND BACK. HE IS ATTEMPTING TO APPROXIMATE THE TIME IT WOULD TAKE.
Describes the purpose of the timing videos, which bear directly on the prosecution's timeline argument.
Lance A. Ito
DOES THAT MEAN IT IS FASTER?
Dry judicial humor in response to Darden noting the two clips travel in opposite directions.

Evidence (2)

People's 118
Videotape of Detective Vannatter driving from Rockingham to Bundy to approximate travel time
marked for ID and played for defense preview
People's 119
Laser disc/videotape of Detective Vannatter driving from Bundy back to Rockingham
marked for ID and played for defense preview

Notable Exchanges (1)

Johnnie CochranLance A. Ito
Cochran requested the audio be restarted when Exhibit 118 began playing without sound; Ito paused and an off-record discussion among prosecutors followed before switching to Exhibit 119.
procedural

Light Moments (1)

Lance A. Ito
After Darden noted the two clips traveled in opposite directions, Ito quipped 'Does that mean it is faster?'

Objections

None recorded
Proceeding 5321 • 33 utterances
Criminal Trial
Department 103
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📂 MAR 17, 1995 📄 Jury and videotape preparation
MAR 17, 1995 KRT DvH TD