Procedural matters

📄 Procedural matters — Thursday, May 4, 1995

Address:

C:\DEPT103\CRIMINAL\1995\MAY\4\PROCEDURAL-MATTERS.DOC

TRIAL

▲ Day 67 of 167

◀ Court record Cross-examination of Gregory Matheson (part 1) ▶

Date: Thursday, May 4, 1995 • Utterances: 36

Before the jury was brought in, Blasier flagged two unresolved items: excerpts from the California Association of Criminalists Code of Ethics he intended to use in cross-examination, and knife item 118 that had been ordered produced but not yet addressed. Judge Ito had not had time to read the 12-15 page reports on item 118, so the parties agreed to proceed for about an hour to give him time to review them before reaching that portion of cross-examination. The session also ended with a minor logistics issue: Blasier had only one copy of the ethics document and needed the court to make copies for Goldberg.

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

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

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

# 4 THE COURT:

All right. Back on the record in the Simpson matter. Mr. Simpson is again present before the Court with his counsel, Mr. Cochran, Mr. Blasier. The People are represented by Mr. Goldberg and Mr. Darden. Mr. Blasier.

# 5 MR. BLASIER:

Good morning, your Honor. I had one other exhibit that I got last night that is a couple of excerpts from the California Association of Criminalists Code of Ethics that I may use this morning and I provided the Court with actually my only copy, so I told Mr. Goldberg about it, but he did not see the copy. Also, we did not deal with knife 118 yesterday, I think we forgot, but we need to deal with that this morning.

# 6 THE COURT:

I'm sorry?

# 7 MR. BLASIER:

118, the knife that was ordered produced.

# 8 THE COURT:

Okay. Do we have those reports?

# 9 MR. GOLDBERG:

I think Miss Clark either had them or gave them to the Court.

# 10 THE COURT:

No reports.

# 11 MR. BLASIER:

I have them all here, your Honor. I thought she had given them to you as well.

# 12 (Brief pause.)

# 13 MR. GOLDBERG:

Your Honor, is it permissible for us to handle this issue when Miss Clark was here, since she was addressing the Court on it previously?

# 14 (Brief pause.)

# 15 THE COURT:

When will Miss Clark be available?

# 16 (Discussion held off the record between the Deputy District Attorneys.)

# 17 MR. DARDEN:

Soon, your Honor.

# 18 MR. GOLDBERG:

We believe that she will be available soon.

# 19 MR. BLASIER:

Your Honor, I'm going to be getting into this relatively quickly. Miss Clark said she was going to provide you with the reports. Mr. Blasier knows what is in the reports. It is not terribly complicated.

# 20 THE COURT:

Do we have the item here?

# 21 MR. GOLDBERG:

Yes, we do. Your Honor, as the Court recalls, the People did ask permission to reopen, which the Court said you would consider in the event the Court were going to allow us to get into this issue, so I just wanted to remind the Court of that. Because if that were the case, then perhaps counsel would--

# 22 THE COURT:

Is 118, item 118 here?

# 23 MR. GOLDBERG:

Yes.

# 24 MR. MATHESON:

Yes, it is.

# 25 THE COURT:

All right. Unfortunately, Mr. Blasier, the reports that were just submitted to me appear to be twelve, fifteen pages.

KEY QUOTE

# 26 MR. BLASIER:

Uh-huh.

# 27 THE COURT:

All right. I haven't had the opportunity to read them at this point, so until I have that opportunity and hear from counsel, we won't get to that.

# 28 MR. BLASIER:

Well, then I would ask that we wait. That is part of my cross-examination and I'm going to get to it probably within an hour or so.

# 29 THE COURT:

Well, then why don't we proceed for an hour and then when we get there maybe we will be at an appropriate time to break and I will be able to read the reports. All right. Any other comment?

# 30 MR. GOLDBERG:

No.

# 31 THE COURT:

All right. Let's have the jurors.

# 32 MR. BLASIER:

Your Honor, may we have that copy back or have extra copies made so that Mr. Goldberg can review it?

# 33 THE COURT:

Oh, sure. I thought you had provided copies to Mr. Goldberg.

# 34 MR. BLASIER:

That was my only one.

KEY QUOTE

# 35 THE COURT:

Maybe I can get one of the law clerks to make me a copy of these items.

# 36 THE COURT:

All right. Let's have the jurors, please.

Temperature

procedural

Key Quotes (3)

Robert Blasier

Also, we did not deal with knife 118 yesterday, I think we forgot, but we need to deal with that this morning.

Flags that a court-ordered production of a knife was overlooked the prior day, requiring resolution before cross-examination proceeds.

Lance A. Ito

Unfortunately, Mr. Blasier, the reports that were just submitted to me appear to be twelve, fifteen pages. All right. I haven't had the opportunity to read them at this point, so until I have that opportunity and hear from counsel, we won't get to that.

Judge signals he will not rule on item 118 until he has reviewed the reports, setting up a natural pause point mid-session.

Robert Blasier

That was my only one.

Minor but illustrative of the informal logistics scramble that often preceded testimony — defense counsel operating with a single copy of a key document.

Evidence (2)

Informal

Excerpts from the California Association of Criminalists Code of Ethics, obtained by Blasier the prior evening

flagged for use in upcoming cross-examination; only one copy existed, needed photocopying

118

A knife that was court-ordered to be produced; accompanied by 12-15 pages of reports

deferred — judge had not read the reports; parties agreed to revisit within approximately one hour

Notable Exchanges (1)

Hank Goldberg•Lance A. Ito

Goldberg asked whether the knife 118 issue could wait for Marcia Clark, who had been handling it previously. The judge deferred, then noted he hadn't read the reports anyway, making the point moot.

strategic

Light Moments (1)

Lance A. Ito

Ito offered to have a law clerk make copies of the ethics document after learning Blasier had surrendered his only copy to the court.

Witness Demeanor

(Brief pause.)

(Discussion held off the record between the Deputy District Attorneys.)

Objections

None recorded

Proceeding 5904 • 36 utterances

Criminal Trial

Department 103