Court opening

📄 Court opening — Tuesday, May 23, 1995

Address:

C:\DEPT103\CRIMINAL\1995\MAY\23\COURT-OPENING.DOC

TRIAL

▲ Day 80 of 167

◀ Post-testimony discussion Direct examination of Renee Montgomery (part 1) ▶

Date: Tuesday, May 23, 1995 • Utterances: 14

Routine pre-jury session in which defense attorney Blasier flags that the prosecution failed to provide x-ray copies from the D1S80 DNA test, leaving the defense with only photographs. He requests a brief recess after Harmon's direct examination so expert witness Montgomery can confirm the photographs match. The jury is then brought in and the judge explains that Gary Sims' redirect was interrupted for a family emergency, so the prosecution will call a different witness out of order.

# 1 (Appearances as heretofore noted.)

# 2 (Janet M. Moxham, CSR no. 4855, official reporter.)

# 3 (Christine M. Olson, CSR no. 2378, official reporter.)

# 4 (The following proceedings were held in open court, out of the presence of the jury:)

# 5 THE COURT:

Good morning, counsel. Back on the record in the Simpson matter. The Defendant is again present with his counsel, Mr. Cochran, Mr. Scheck, Mr. Blasier, People represented by Mr. Harmon and Mr. Darden. The jury is not present. Counsel, is there anything we need to take up before we invite the jurors to rejoin us? Mr. Blasier.

# 6 MR. BLASIER:

Very briefly, your Honor. With Miss Montgomery, the final product in the D1S80 test is an x-ray, and we were not provided with copies of those x-rays. What we have is our photographs. So when Mr. Harmon is done with his direct, I would like a little bit of time so that Miss Montgomery can review our photographs to assure herself that they're the same.

# 7 THE COURT:

All right. And how long do you think that will take?

# 8 MR. BLASIER:

I don't think too long. There are only about six or seven of them that I'm going to refer to.

# 9 THE COURT:

Okay. All right. Deputy Magnera, let's have the jurors, please.

# 10 (The following proceedings were held in open court, in the presence of the jury:)

# 11 THE COURT:

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Please be seated. Let the record reflect we've now been rejoined by all the members of our jury panel. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.

THE JURY: Good morning.

# 12 THE COURT:

All right. Good morning, Mr. Harmon.

# 13 MR. HARMON:

Good morning, your Honor.

# 14 THE COURT:

Ladies and gentlemen, as you recollect, we took a break in the redirect examination of Gary Sims so he could attend to some family business up north; and the Prosecution will take another witness out of order so that we can proceed in an orderly manner with the trial. Mr. Harmon, do you have another witness available?

Temperature

routine

Key Quotes (2)

Robert Blasier

With Miss Montgomery, the final product in the D1S80 test is an x-ray, and we were not provided with copies of those x-rays. What we have is our photographs.

Flags a potential evidence disclosure issue — defense received photographs rather than the actual x-ray outputs of the DNA test, raising authentication concerns before Montgomery testifies.

Lance A. Ito

We took a break in the redirect examination of Gary Sims so he could attend to some family business up north; and the Prosecution will take another witness out of order so that we can proceed in an orderly manner with the trial.

Explains the disrupted witness order to the jury, contextualizing why the testimony sequence has shifted.

Evidence (1)

Informal

X-rays produced as the final output of the D1S80 DNA test

Defense notes copies were not provided; they have only photographs as substitutes

Notable Exchanges (1)

Robert Blasier•Lance A. Ito

Blasier requests a short window post-direct for Montgomery to compare defense photographs against the original x-rays; Ito grants it without objection from prosecution.

procedural

Objections

None recorded

Proceeding 6143 • 14 utterances

Criminal Trial

Department 103