Jury instructions

📄 Jury instructions — Monday, September 18, 1995

Address:

C:\DEPT103\CRIMINAL\1995\SEP\18\JURY-INSTRUCTIONS.DOC

TRIAL

▲ Day 156 of 167

◀ Redirect examination of William Bodziak (part 3) Motion: judicial notice ▶

Date: Monday, September 18, 1995 • Utterances: 13

The shoe print expert William Bodziak was formally excused. Judge Ito then took judicial notice of the moon phase on the night of the murders — a waxing crescent with 12% illumination on June 12, 1994 — a fact the prosecution requested to establish lighting conditions. The jury was then dismissed briefly for a legal discussion before the prosecution conditionally rested its rebuttal case.

# 1 THE COURT:

Thank you. Mr. Bodziak, again, thank you very much, sir. You are excused. All right. Anything else from the people?

# 2 MS. CLARK:

Only the very brief matter that I mentioned to the court.

# 3 THE COURT:

All right. You did ask the court to take judicial notice of one other matter regarding the phase of the moon.

# 4 MS. CLARK:

Yes, I did, your Honor.

# 5 THE COURT:

Do you want me to do that at this time?

# 6 MS. CLARK:

Certainly, your Honor. Thank you.

# 7 THE COURT:

Any comment, Mr. Cochran?

# 8 MR. COCHRAN:

With regard to the phase of the moon?

# 9 THE COURT:

Phase of the moon.

# 10 MR. COCHRAN:

No, I don't think so. I think--

# 11 THE COURT:

We discussed this earlier. All right. Ladies and gentlemen, the Prosecution has asked the court to take judicial notice of a certain fact. And what that means is that if I determine that it's appropriate, this is a fact that is not subject to dispute. And I have agreed to take judicial notice of the following fact: That on June the 12th, 1994, the moon was a waxing crescent with 12 percent of the moon's surface illuminated. All right. I'll read that one more time. On June the 12th, 1994, the moon was a waxing crescent with 12 percent of the moon's surface illuminated. All right. Miss Clark, anything else from the People?

# 12 MS. CLARK:

We have one further request of the court that I think can be resolved quickly and then the People would like to conditionally rest their rebuttal case.

KEY QUOTE

# 13 THE COURT:

Let me ask the jury then to step back into the jury room. I'll have a legal discussion with the lawyers for a few moments, and hopefully we'll be able to conclude with the Prosecution's rebuttal case.

Temperature

procedural

Key Quotes (2)

Lance A. Ito

On June the 12th, 1994, the moon was a waxing crescent with 12 percent of the moon's surface illuminated.

The prosecution sought this fact to establish how dark it was at the crime scene, relevant to witness visibility and timeline arguments.

Marcia Clark

We have one further request of the court that I think can be resolved quickly and then the People would like to conditionally rest their rebuttal case.

Signals the prosecution is nearly finished with its rebuttal, a major procedural milestone near the end of trial.

Evidence (1)

Informal

Moon phase on June 12, 1994 — waxing crescent, 12% illumination

judicial notice taken

Notable Exchanges (1)

Lance A. Ito•Johnnie Cochran

Cochran offered no objection to judicial notice of the moon phase, apparently having already discussed and accepted it earlier.

routine

Objections

None recorded

Proceeding 7718 • 13 utterances

Criminal Trial

Department 103