We are in the midst of the final arguments. Mr. Cochran, you may continue with your argument, sir.

Thank you very kindly, your Honor. Good morning, judge Ito. Good morning again, ladies and gentlemen.

THE JURY: Good morning.

CLOSING ARGUMENT (RESUMED) BY MR. COCHRAN:

When we concluded last night, ladies and gentlemen, we had discussed a number of things, and I'm sure you have them very much in mind. To summarize some of the things that we talked about and put it in perspective, we talked about a police department who from the very beginning was more interested in themselves and their image, and that carried through. We talked about socks that appeared all of a sudden that weren't there, socks where evidence was planted on them. We talked about police officers who lie with immunity, where the oath doesn't mean anything to them. We talked about messengers where you couldn't trust the message. We talked about gloves that didn't fit, a knit cap that wouldn't make any difference, a prosecution scenario that is unbelievable and unreasonable. In short, we talked about reasonable doubt. We talked about something that has made this country great, that you can be accused in this country for crime, but that is just an accusation, and when you enter a not guilty plea, since the beginning of the time of this country, since the time of the Magna Carta, that sets the forces in motion and you have a trial. This is what this is about. That is why we love what we do, an opportunity to come before people from the community, the consciences of the community. You are the consciences of the community. You set the standards. You tell us what is right and wrong. You set the standards. You use your common sense to do that. Your verdict goes far beyond these doors of this courtroom. As Mr. Darden said, the whole world is watching and waiting for your decision in this case. That is not to put any pressure on you, just to tell you what is really happening out there. So we talked about all of those things, hopefully in a logical way. Hopefully something I said made some sense to you. Hopefully as a advocate, you know my zeal, you know the passion I feel for this. We've all got time invested in this case. But it is not just about winning, it is about what is right. It is about a man's life that is at stake here. So in voir dire you promised to take the time that was necessary, and you have more than done that. Remember I asked you, though, that when you got down to the end of the case, when you kept all your promises about coming here everyday and taking these notes and paying attention, and you know, listening to us drone on and on and on, that pretty soon it would be in your hands and then you couldn't just rush through that, could you? And we tried to make it a little more simple with regard to the issues, but still we are going to have twelve minds coming together, twelve open minds, twelve unbiased minds to come together on these issues. And you will give it, I'm sure, the importance to which it is entitled. Please don't compromise your principles or your consciences in rendering this decision. Don't rush to judgment. Don't compound what they've already done in this case. Don't rush to judgment. Have a judgment that is well thought out, one that you can believe in the morning after this verdict. I want you to place yourself the day after you render the verdict, when you get up and you look in the mirror and you are free, you are no longer sequestered, you will probably look for each other but you will be happy to be home again. But what is important, look in that mirror and say, have I been true to my oath? Did I do the right thing? Was I naive? Was I timid? Or was I courageous? Did I believe in the constitution. Did I believe in justice? Did I do my part for integrity and honesty? That is the mission you are on in this journey toward justice. And now yesterday I touched briefly on some of Mr. Darden's argument and we talked a little bit about the fact of his contention about motive. We talked about his analogy about a fuse. And I referred to him as dr. Darden with regard to what he had to say, and I thought I would just summarize briefly this morning the response to what he had to say and what he tried to weave together. As I said, he talked about an incident in 1985, an unfortunate incident between two people who were married. There was no arrest, there was no physical violence. The one incident in `89, the one he is not proud of, the one he wrote those letters about, the one he apologized for and said he was sorry, and there is no physical violence after that. In the 1993 call, the 911 call, you listen to that entire tape when they cut it off and you will remember that it is unfortunate when anyone has an argument, but you listen carefully to what Mr. Simpson is arguing about, what he is talking about and what the discussion is about. Mrs. Simpson mentions the children and he says, "You weren't worried about the children when you were doing so and so on the couch." He is pretty graphic, but any man or woman would be upset over what he is talking about on that tape. There was no physical violence. There is no excuse for him kicking the back door, but by the end--you remember what Kato Kaelin said and what the police officer said. They resolved this matter. It was an argument, it was loud and raucous and they moved on. There was no fuse after that. And this was during a time, you will recall, that in January of 1992, when they first agreed to separate. You don't hear anything about a dispute, but Miss Nicole Brown Simpson moved out. There was not my question about a dispute. When she got this divorce at the end of `92, there was no dispute. They were both dating other people. He is with Paula Barbieri for that like whole year and then, you know, it wasn't Mr. Simpson who pursued Mrs. Simpson; it was her who wanted to get back with those kids. You heard Arnelle Simpson and then they agreed, but he put on provisos on that. She couldn't move back in that house. She still kept her own house. Who is controlling whom? Who is pursuing whom when he talks about fuse? There is no fuse. They get back together and they tried to make it work. It lasts for almost a year.

My learned friend has the dates all wrong. It is around mother's day when they break up. You remember there is testimony from Kato Kaelin with a pediatric aids affair where Paula Barbieri goes with O.J. Simpson, early part of may, after mother's day, after they break up, with the kids Sydney and Justin. Now, we know they had been friends. Even when they broke up they were friends. You know how you know that? Remember the barber, Juanita Moore, nice lady who came in here and talked about O.J. Simpson not having dandruff, not having treated hair? And she said she came to the house the first part of may and there was Nicole there over at O.J.'s house. There is no fuse. Then they go on later that month. They break up. Even after being broken up, what does Arnelle tell you? That when Nicole gets sick, none of these other people who she may be seeing or whatever, it is O.J. taking her soup trying to help out. Now, you do that for your ex-wife or your ex-boyfriend or whatever. There is no fuse. There is no strings attached to that. He goes on with his life because now he is back with Paula. He had been with her the year before. And Miss Clark tried to get Kato Kaelin to ask, didn't he take Paula someplace in the summer of `93 when she knew they were now back together? And Kato says no, I don't think so, because they made this arrangement to date each other exclusively, and that is what happened, you see, and so we get all the way back past may into June and there is no trigger, there is no fuse, there is nothing going on. The only fuse, the only trigger is in Mr. Darden's mind. The evidence isn't there. And they spent all this time about motive. There is none. These were two people who divorced. The case was settled. They had their homes. They moved on. Christian Reichardt tells you that night he is happier than he had been for a long time because he had gotten his life together and moved on. And so I just wanted you to put that in perspective. If that wasn't enough, you look at that video of June 12th and the photograph of him with his daughter and you see whether or not this is a happy man just getting on with his life. So when he rhetorically asked the question why didn't we call Lenore Walker, I say back to him, why didn't you call Lenore Walker if she had something bad to say about O.J. Simpson? It wasn't necessary. It wasn't necessary. It wasn't necessary. As you know, we could be here forever calling one witness after the other. Sooner or later you were going to revolt and I wouldn't blame you. Mr. Darden agrees, we had to cut it off at some point. So I hope that when you look about this so-called board of abuse and they have things about a divorce, you put this in perspective. Absence of motive tends to establish innocence. That is what the jury instruction says. Evidence of other offenses are introduced for a very limited portion in this case. The bottom line is the positive things in this man's life, the good days far outweigh the bad things. And in your life, in all of our lives we just hope at the end, when we must ultimately meet our makers, that the good days have outweighed the bad days, and in this marriage the lasting monuments and memorial to this marriage are these two beautiful children. They had more good days than bad days by all of the evidence. These two people loved their children. They may have gone separate ways, but they loved their children. That is why he was back in town, to go to that recital, that recital where there is so many people, where it is in this auditorium where Nicole Brown Simpson gets his tickets. You know, that is why they are talking in the afternoon, to make arrangements, and she is the one who holds a seat for him. This is what happened on that date. This isn't about any argument. This is a family thing. So Mr. Darden wants to make a big thing and says, well, he had to go out to dinner with Kato, he had to catch a plane. See the evidence for what it is. Understand these things. Put them in perspective. And so you use your common sense. There is no fuse with regard to that. It is important for you to know that. Take a look at that video when you are back there. Take a look at all of the evidence. In this case Miss Clark in her argument on several occasions said that Mr. Simpson was cut on his razor sharp cell phone. Well, that is not what the evidence is, is it? That is not what was said. I read you what dr. Baden said about that and so we can use these words, but let's hopefully be accurate as we try to say those things.

Now, let's go back to where we were when we broke last night. We had started talking about the messengers in this case. We talked briefly about Vannatter and about all of his big lies. Lies become very important because he is the co-lead investigator in this case. From the very beginning he was lying to you. And it was interesting--and I thought about this last night after I left you. Just about ten days ago, a week or ten days ago, Vannatter took that stand again, and you saw him, you had a chance to again observe his demeanor, and you are smart, you know when somebody is lying and not telling you the truth. I don't have to go into that. You don't need the jury instruction. You have got this visceral experience and you have got your experiences in life and you know when somebody is lying. And he said something really interesting. It was really preposterous when you think about it. He said, "Mr. Shapiro, Mr. O.J. Simpson was no more a suspect than you were." Now, who in here believed that? Did he really think he was going to come back in here and we were going to believe that that O.J. Simpson was no more a suspect than Robert Shapiro? That is what he told you. Big lies. You can't trust him. You can't believe anything he says because it goes to the core of this case. When you are lying at the beginning, you will be lying at the end. The book of Luke talks about that. Talks about if you are untruthful in small things, you should be disbelieved in big things. There is no question about that. We have known that all along. So this man with his big lies--and then we have Fuhrman coming right on the heels and the two of them need to be paired together because they are twins of deception. Fuhrman and Vannatter, twins of deception who bring you a message that you cannot trust, that you cannot trust. Let's continue on where we left off then with this man Fuhrman who says some very interesting things in the course of his testimony, and as we talked about Vannatter's big lies, we have Fuhrman's big lies. Vannatter, the man who carried the blood; Fuhrman, the man who found the glove. You will recall that he was asked, as I read to you yesterday briefly, the question well-phrased by lee bailey, "Have you ever used this `n' word in ten years?" Went right back to `85. And he picked that `85 date. You know why? Because of the Kathleen Bell letter. Just like they knew about it, picked that date, so he knew he was lying. Honed in on it. Liars can be tricky. And so he was at that point trying to pin it down for you, ten years, `85 to `95. This was like in February of this year. He says also he never met Kathleen Bell at this marine center. He tells you that Rokahr, the photographer, took this photograph after seven o'clock in the morning. Remember that? Go back through your notes. And the reason he tells you that is because he wants that photograph of him pointing at the glove taken after he supposedly finds the glove at Rockingham. Now, you may not have caught that right at the beginning when this was happening. He says he took the photograph at Rockingham after seven o'clock A.M., after they returned from Rockingham. You know they all go over to Bundy after five o'clock. Strike that. At Bundy. They all go over to Rockingham at five o'clock, from 5:00 to 7:00, and so it becomes very, very important, as we look at this photograph in a few minutes. Rokahr then comes here near the end of the case, and there has been nobody called to refute him in rebuttal, and says these photographs on this contact sheet are all taken while it is dark. He says he could tell the difference in a photograph taken an hour and a half before sun rise, 5:41, 5:42, and an hour and a half afterwards, so then why then is this big liar in the crime scene with access to the glove and the hat? Why is he down there pointing at this glove where he is walking all in the blood and everything when he wants you to believe it is seven o'clock? Now, we know it is not seven o'clock. You see that photograph up there? That is Mark Fuhrman pointing. You see the envelope. Pointing under this neatly arranged cap. Glove supposedly just happened to fall right under that bush in that fashion. That is what you are asked to believe. There he is pointing at it. Well, now let me tell you why you recognize it. You recognize Fuhrman, personification of evil. When he is doing is that he is trying to tell you this is an important piece of evidence here and I just came back from Rockingham and this matches the glove found over there. That is what he tells you. But he is lying again. He is lying and that is why he is central to this case, because he hadn't even been to Rockingham at that point and he is tracking in that blood at that point and that becomes very important because you remember he slips up and says "In the Bronco" at some point. You get "In that Bronco." He put a bloody footprint in that Bronco. Are his shoes size 12? He talks about "In the Bronco." He talks about them. Remember there is a question he was asked about gloves and lee bailey asked him about. Well--he says, well--he is talking about gloves and he says, "Them." He never explained that. He says "Them." Does that mean two gloves? He said, "I saw them." Is that two gloves? Why would you say "Them"? He is intelligent enough to come and lie to you. So that picture, that photograph there, that seals their doom. That seals their doom. This man who in `85 in his mind started this, this man who is asked to go over and help O.J. Simpson and notify him and take care of the kids, this man, this perjurer, this racist, this genocidal racist, this is the man. And he says then inferentially he didn't plant the glove and now we know about these photographs, when they were taken, and you will have that contact sheet and you will see a photograph of Miss Nicole Brown Simpson and the last two on the roll taken at nighttime with the flash at 4:30 or so in the morning. Why else is this important? Because they are going to tell you, well, he didn't have an opportunity to get the glove or get access to anything. Remember they brought all these police officers in here, including Lieutenant Spangler, to say, well, you know, we were just watching Fuhrman the whole time. First of all, you knew that was a lie at the beginning. Why would they necessarily be watching him. They were always covering for him anyway. But we know that wasn't true because remember Rokahr got there shortly after three o'clock. Rokahr goes to that back alley and he sees Riske who is back there then. Remember Rokahr sees Riske in the back alley. Rokahr doesn't even see Fuhrman for like a half hour after he gets there, he says, and all of a sudden Fuhrman shows up. Where has he been? What has he been doing? And then Riske is out in the front of Bundy there and Riske testifies about the taking of this photograph. He wants to place the time later, but he said it is before the sun comes up, before daylight. That has to be because we've stipulated to it before 5:41. So inadvertently he corroborates Rokahr, but Rokahr knows because he took these photographs. Why then, ladies and gentlemen, is he pointing at this glove when he hasn't even been over there? Why then would they try to tell you he doesn't have time at Bundy when he is by himself for this period of time? He is not with Spangler; he is walking around by him. Why then is he walking in that crime scene and why does he lie to you and said he didn't have access to the crime scene? These are the facts. These are the facts. I haven't made them up. This is what you heard in this case. This is what we have proved. Some of it came in late; some of it came in early, but our job here is to piece this together so that you can then see this, so when he refers to the gloves as "Them," that has never been cleared up for you and he can't. That is a Freudian slip when he talks about "In the Bronco." And there was a dispute. Well, did he really say that? Remember the tape was played at the preliminary hearing and his voice was heard saying "In the Bronco." You can see all these things. He is strolling down to Rockingham, the big man, figuring a way to do this, to carry out this plan, this spot he has in his mind since 1985, to make the big score, and so Rokahr severely impeaches Fuhrman about these photographs, and once again, these photographs speak a thousand words. Concluding about Riske, he said on cross-examination that the photograph pointing at the glove was taken at least forty minutes before daylight, the sun rose at 5:41, maybe a little bit late, but it was before daylight and so we know that. That is now clear. Why did they then all try to cover for this man Fuhrman? Why would this man who is not only Los Angeles' worst nightmare, but America's worse nightmare, why would they all turn their heads and try to cover for them? Why would you do that if you are sworn to uphold the law? There is something about corruption. There is something about a rotten apple that will ultimately infect the entire barrel, because if the others don't have the courage that we have asked you to have in this case, people sit sadly by. We live in a society where many people are apathetic, they don't want to get involved, and that is why all of us, to a person, in this courtroom, have thanked you from the bottom of our hearts. Because you know what? You haven't been apathetic. You are the ones who made a commitment, a commitment toward justice, and it is a painful commitment, but you've got to see it through. Your commitment, your courage, is much greater than these police officers. This man could have been off the force long ago if they had done their job, but they didn't do their job. People looked the other way. People didn't have the courage. One of the things that has made this country so great is people's willingness to stand up and say that is wrong. I'm not going to be part of it. I'm not going to be part of the cover-up. That is what I'm asking you to do. Stop this cover-up. Stop this cover-up. If you don't stop it, then who? Do you think the police department is going to stop it? Do you think the D.A.'s office is going to stop it? Do you think we can stop it by ourselves? It has to be stopped by you. And you know, they talked about Fuhrman, they talked about him in derisive tones now, and that is very fashionable now, isn't it? Everybody wants to beat up on Fuhrman, the favored whipping boy in America. I told you I don't take any delight in that because you know before this trial started, if you grow up in this country, you know there are Fuhrmans out there. You learn early on in your life that you are not going to be naive, that you love your country, but you know it is not perfect, so you understand that, so it is no surprise to me, but I don't take any pride in it. But for some of you, you are finding out the other side of life. You are finding out--that is why this case is so instructive. You are finding out about the other side of life, but things aren't always as they seem. It is not just rhetoric, it is the actions of people, it is the lack of courage and it is a lack of integrity at high places. That is what we are talking about here. Credibility doesn't attach to a title or position; it attaches to the person, so the person who may have a job where he makes two dollars an hour can have more integrity than the highest person. It is something from within. It is in your heart. It is what the lord has put there. That is what we are talking about in this case. And so why don't they speak out? Why do they take him to their breast? Compare how our prosecutors treat Fuhrman as opposed to Kato Kaelin. Look at how they treated mark partridge as opposed to Kato Kaelin. Look at how they embraced him. And now they want to distance themselves. These same people say, oh, he is not important, but the Rokahr photograph puts the lie to that. He is very important. And what becomes so important when we talk about these two twin demons of evil, Vannatter and Fuhrman, is the jury instruction which you know about now and it says essentially that a witness willfully false--I think Mr. Douglas is going to put that up for us--

"A witness willfully false in one material part of his or her testimony is to be distrusted in others. You may reject the whole testimony of a witness who willfully has testified falsely to a material point unless from all the evidence you believe the probability of truth favors his or her testimony in other particulars." Why is this instruction so important? We got the bullet points up there. First of all, both prosecutors have now agreed that we have convinced them beyond a reasonable doubt, by the way, that he is a lying perjuring genocidal racist and he has testified falsely in this case on a number of scores. That is what his big lies tell you. And when you go back in the jury room, some of you may want to say, well, gee, you know, boys will be boys. This is just like police talk. This is the way they talk. That is not acceptable as the consciences of this community if you adopt that attitude. That is why we have this, because nobody has had the courage to say it is wrong. You are empowered to say we are not going to take that any more. I'm sure you will do the right thing about that. So that what then it says we must do is you have the authority, you may reject the whole testimony, you can then wipe out everything that Fuhrman told you, including the glove and all the things that he recovered with the glove. That is why they are so worried. That is why when people say Fuhrman is not central, they are wearing blinds. They have lost their objectivity. They don't understand what they are talking about. It is embarrassing for learned people to say that, but they are entitled to their opinions, but we are going to speak the truth. In a courtroom you are supposed to speak the truth. A witness who walks through those doors, who raises his or her hand, swears to tell the truth. You've heard lie after lie after lie that has been exposed and when a witness lies in a material part of his testimony, you can wipe out all of his testimony as a judge of the facts. That is your decision again. Nobody can tell you about that. Lest you feel that a greater probability of truth lies in something else, they said wipe it out. This applies not only to Fuhrman, it applies to Vannatter and then you see what trouble their case is in, because they lied to get in there to do these things when Vannatter carries that blood. They can't explain to you why he did that, because they were setting this man up, and that glove, anybody among you think that glove was just sitting there, just placed there, moist and sticky after six and a half hours? The testimony is it will be dried in three or four hours, according to MacDonell. We are not naive. You understand there is no blood on anything else. There is no blood trail. There is no hair and fiber. And you get the ridiculous explanation that Mr. Simpson was running into air conditioners on his own province.

Excuse me, your Honor. We need to take a break.

All right. Anybody else?

All right. The record will reflect that we now have our complete jury panel. Mr. Cochran.

Witnesses willfully false in one material part, distrusted in others. These two form basically the cornerstone of the prosecution's case. Now, you know people talk all the time, well, you know, you are being conspiratorial and whatever. Gee, how would all these police officers set up O.J. Simpson? Why would they do that? I will answer that question for you. They believed he was guilty. They wanted to win. They didn't want to lose another big case. That is why. They believed that he was guilty. These actions rose from what their belief was, but they can't make that--the prosecutors can't make that judgment. Nobody but you can make that judgment. So when they take the law into their own hands, they become worse than the people who break the law, because they are the protectors of the law. Who then polices the police? You police the police. You police them by your verdict. You are the ones to send the message. Nobody else is going to do it in this society. They don't have the courage. Nobody has the courage. They have a bunch of people running around with no courage to do what is right, except individual citizens. You are the ones in war, you are the ones who are on the front line. These people set policies, these people talk all this stuff; you implement it. You are the people. You are what makes America so great, and don't you forget it. And so understand how this happened. It is part of a culture of getting away with things. It is part of what looking the other way. We determine the rules as we go along. Nobody is going to question us. We are the LAPD. And so you take these two twins of deception, and if as you can under this law wipe out their testimony, the prosecutors realize their case then is in serious trouble. From Riske to Bushey they came together in this case because they want to win. But it is not about them winning; it is about justice being done. They have other cases. This is this man's one life that is entrusted or will be soon, to you. So when we talked about this evidence being compromised, contaminated and corrupted, some people didn't believe that. Have we proved that? Have we proved that it was compromised, contaminated and corrupted? And yes, even something more sinister--I think you will believe we do, but there is something else about this man Fuhrman that I have to say before I am going to terminate this part of my opening argument and relinquish the floor to my learned colleague Mr. Barry Scheck, is something that Fuhrman said. And I'm going to ask Mr. Douglas and Mr. Harris to put up that Kathleen Bell letter. You know, it is one thing, and I dare say that most of you, when you heard Fuhrman said he hadn't used the "N" word, that you probably thought, well, he is lying, we know that is not true. That is just part of it. That is just want the prosecutors want to do, just talk about that part of it. That is not the part that bothers us on the defense. I live in America. I understand. I know about slights everyday of my life. But I want to tell you about what is troubling, what is frightening, what is chilling about that Kathleen Bell letter. Let's see if we can see part of it, and I think you will agree, so I want to put the focus back where it belongs on this letter and its application to this case. You will recall that god is good and he always brings you a way to see light when there is a lot of darkness around, and just through chance this lady had tried to reach Shapiro's office, couldn't reach it, and in July of 1994 she sent this fax to my office, and my good, loyal and wonderful staff got that letter to me early on. And this is one you just couldn't pass up. You get a lot of letters but you couldn't pass this one up because she says some interesting things. And she wasn't a fan of O.J. Simpson. What does she say? "I'm writing to you in regards to a story I saw on the news last night. I thought it ridiculous that the Simpson Defense team would even suggest that there might be racial motivation involved in the trial against Mr. Simpson." Yes, there are a lot of people out there who thought that at that time, and you know, you can't fault people for being naive, but once they know, if they continue to be naive, then you can fault them. That is what it is and this is why this case is important. Don't ever say again in this county or in this country that you don't know things like this exist. Don't pretend to be naive any more. Don't turn your heads. Stand up, show some integrity.

"And so I then glanced up at the television. I was quite shocked to see that officer Fuhrman was a man that I had the misfortune of meeting. You may have received the message from your answering service last night that I called to say that Mr. Fuhrman may be more of a racist than you could even imagine. I doubt that, but at any rate, it was something that got my attention. "Between 1985 and 1986 I worked as a real estate agent in Redondo Beach for Century 21 Bob Maher Realty now out of business. At the time my office was located above a marine recruiting center off of pacific coast highway. On occasion I would stop in to say hello to the two marines working there. I saw Mr. Fuhrman there a couple of times. I remember him distinctly because of his height and build, you know, he is tall.

"While speaking to the men I learned that Mr. Fuhrman was a police officer in Westwood." Isn't that interesting? Just exactly the place where Laura McKinny met him. "And I don't know if he was telling the truth but he said that he had been in a special division of the marines. I don't know how this subject was raised but officer Fuhrman says that when he sees a Nigger, as he called it, driving with a white woman, he would pull them over. I asked what if he didn't have a reason and he said that he would find one. I looked at the two marines to see if they knew he was joking, but it became obvious to me that he was very serious." Now, let me just stop at this point. Let's back it up a minute, Mr. Harris. Pull it back down, please. If he sees an African American with a white woman he would stop them. If he didn't have a reason, he would find one or make up one. This man will lie to set you up. That is what he is saying there. He would do anything to set you up because of the hatred he has in his heart. A racist is somebody who has power over you, who can do something to you. People could have views but keep them to themselves, but when they have power over you, that is when racism becomes insidious. That is what we are talking about here. He has power. A police officer in the street, a patrol officer, is the single most powerful figure in the criminal justice system. He can take your life. Unlike the supreme court, you don't have to go through all these appeals. He can do it right there and justify it. And that is why, that is why this has to be routed out in the LAPD and every place. Make up a reason because he made a judgment. That is what happened in this case. They made a judgment. Everything else after that is going to point toward O.J. Simpson. They didn't want to look at anybody else. Mr. Darden asked who did this crime? That is their job as the police. We have been hampered. They turned down our offers for help. But that is the prosecution's job. The judge says we don't have that job. The law says that. We would love to help do that. Who do you think wants to find these murderers more than Mr. Simpson? But that is not our job; it is their job. And when they don't talk to anybody else, when they rush to judgment in their obsession to win, that is why this became a problem. This man had the power to carry out his racist views and that is what is so troubling. Let's move on. Making up a reason. That is troubling. That is frightening. That is chilling. But if that wasn't enough, if that wasn't enough, the thing that really gets you is she goes on to say: "Officer Fuhrman went on to say that he would like nothing more than to see all niggers gathered together and killed. He said something about burning them or bombing them. I was too shaken to remember the exact words he used. However, I do remember that what he said was probably the most horrible thing I had ever heard someone say. What frightened me even more was that he was a police officer sworn to uphold the law." And now we have it. There was another man, not too long ago in the world, who had those same views who wanted to burn people, who had racist views and ultimately had power over people in this country.

People didn't care. People said he was just crazy, he is just a half-baked painter. They didn't do anything about it. This man, this scourge, became one of the worse people in the history of this world, Adolph Hitler, because people didn't care or didn't try to stop him. He had the power over his racism and his anti-religion. Nobody wanted to stop him, and it ended up in world war ii, the conduct of this man. And so Fuhrman, Fuhrman wants to take all black people now and burn them or bomb them. That is genocidal racism. Is that ethnic purity? What is that? What is that? We are paying this man's salary to espouse these views? Do you think he only told Kathleen Bell whom he just had met? Do you think he talked to his partners about it? Do you think commanders knew about it? Do you think everybody knew about it and turned their heads? Nobody did anything about it. Things happen for a reason in your life. Maybe this is one of the reasons we are all gathered together this day, one year and two days after we met. Maybe there is a reason for your purpose. Maybe this is why you were selected. There is something in your background, in your character that helps you understand this is wrong. Maybe you are the right people at the right time at the right place to say no more, we are not going to have this. This is wrong. What they've done to our client is wrong. This man, O.J. Simpson, is entitled to an acquittal. You cannot believe these people. You can't trust the message. You can't trust the messengers. It is frightening. It is quite, frankly frightening, and it is not enough for the Prosecutors now to stand up and say, oh, well, let's just back off. The point I was trying to make, they didn't understand that it is not just using the "N" word. Forget that. We knew he was lying about that. Forget that. It is about the lengths to which he would go to get somebody black and also white if they are associated with black. That is pretty frightening. It is not just African Americans, it is white people who would associate or deign to go out with a black man or marry one. You are free in America to love whoever you want, so it infects all of us, doesn't it, this one rotten apple, and yet they cover for him. Yet they cover for him. And so how do we do it and what do we do with regard to this man? Well, we call some witnesses. And you recall these witnesses. And before I talk about these witnesses just briefly, and I'm going to conclude my remarks with regard to them, I indicated to you that by the nature of this case I'm going to pass the baton to Mr. Barry Scheck. You have been great from the standpoint of listening and watching, and I stayed longer than I planned to, but I hope you agree that some of these things were important. And I will get one more time to conclude with some concluding remarks after Mr. Scheck finishes. The good news is that Mr. Scheck and I will both hopefully finish today and turn it back over to Miss Clark, so in a day or so you are going to get this case. You don't have to hear lawyers talk to you any more. It will time to hear you talk, time to hear you speak out. And I will be happy. I will be able to relax tonight knowing that soon it will be in your hands. We are real comfortable about that, all of us, and you should know that, so please give Mr. Scheck the attention to which you've given me. And understand all parts of this case are very important and it all ties together because it is--all the evidence in this case went through that LAPD and that black hole over there, that cesspool of contamination and you listen into him about what he has to say in that regard. Mr. Darden said that in a textbook fashion we had impeached Mr. Fuhrman. We thank him for that. We take no pride in that, but that is what did happen. In addition to calling Kathleen Bell where you saw her--and she is not the kind of lady that--you know, in looking at her--you probably remember her. Unless you know it would be very interesting--you know he is lying about not knowing her, but this man used these words and these racial epithets so much he probably can't remember who he said it to you. He said it to whoever came in contact with him, on tape. Can you imagine the gall about that that you would have these racist views and yet would you put it on tape? Thank God he put it on tape. And so Kathleen Bell came in here and told you the same things in those letters. You saw her. You observed her. You know she told us the truth. They couldn't mess with her because now we had those tapes. And then there was Natalie Singer. Barely knew this man. He was dating her roommate. This man is an indiscriminate racist. He talks so bad that she didn't want him back in the house. What does he say to her in her presence? "The only good Nigger is a dead Nigger."

You probably all heard that expression sometime in your background somewhere or heard somebody say this. And that is tremendously offensive. He just says it in the presence of his partner's girlfriend, like they are going to go on a date. I mean, I hope that in homes throughout this country people aren't acting like this. This happened to come to light, but I would be pretty frightened if I felt that the majority of people in this country acted like this behind closed doors or whatever. Because what you do in the dark is going to come to the light. Remember that. That is what this case is about. It came to the light and just in time to get it to you. So you saw her on the stand. You saw her graphically. We will talk about that. Any doubt in anybody's mind she is telling you the truth? Any one of you think she is not telling you the truth? And then finally we had Roderic Hodge, and this series of witnesses. And Roderic Hodge, intelligent young man, understands something about his rights, too, because when--after this run-in with Fuhrman and his partner when he is in the back of the police car, Fuhrman turns around and says to him words that I want you to remember in this case, "I told you I'd get you, Nigger," that is what he tells Roderic Hodge. Why is that important? Because from 1985, when he went on that one call involving the Mercedes, that was this man's mind-set vis-à-vis O.J. Simpson, I'm going to get that guy. And in `89 when he wrote that report, indelibly impressed on his mind, and in `94 he had his chance, still in west Los Angeles, he had his chance. So Hodge is important because you can espouse all these epithets and talk theoretically about your racism, but when it is directed toward a human being--and I said to him, "Mr. Hodge, tell this jury how that made you feel." He said, "It made me feel angry and upset and frustrated." It was dehumanizing in a free society. But this man, Fuhrman, does it with immunity and his partner sat there and heard it and didn't report it. There is something rotten about this kind of conduct, that it is going on too long, and so that is why he is important. But the capper was finding those tapes, something that you could hear. Lest there be any doubt in anybody's mind, Laura McKinny came in here, and I can imagine the frustration of the Prosecutors, they've had the glove demonstration, they have seen all these other things go wrong and now they got to face these tapes. And they didn't know how to handle her. Quite frankly, she was a reluctant witness. You know that. Mr. Darden asked her those questions where he became negative with her. She is very smart, not like some others who didn't know how to handle it. He says, "Why are we having this negative conversation? Why are you acting and treating me like this?" I didn't try to stop him about cover-ups and things. "Why are you asking me these questions? I am the one who is here under subpoena. Why are you treating me like this?" You know it is true because they have heard the tapes. Why are you messing with this lady? You obviously get so wrapped up with what you are doing, I guess. Why are they messing with this lady? We owe a debt of gratitude to this lady that ultimately and finally she came forward. And she tells us that this man over the time of these interviews uses the "N" word 42 times is what she says.

And so-called Fuhrman tapes. And you of course had an opportunity to listen to this man and espouse this evil, this personification of evil. And so I'm going to ask Mr. Harris to play exhibit 1368 one more time. It was a transcript. This was not on tape. The tape had been erased where he said, "We have no niggers where I grew up." These are two of 42, if you recall. Then this was his actual voice.

This is the word text for what he then says on the tape. Now, you heard that voice. No question whose voice that is. Mr. Darden concedes whose voice that is. They don't do anything. Talking about women. Doesn't like them any better than he likes African Americans. They don't go out and initiate contact with some six foot five inch Nigger who has been in prison pumping weights. This is how he sees this world. That is this man's cynical view of the world. This is this man who is out there protecting and serving. That is Mark Fuhrman. And he is paired in this case with Phil Vannatter. They are both beacons that you look at and look to as the messengers that you must look through and pass. They are both people who have shown that they lie, will lie, did lie on the stand under oath. And you know, one little parenthetical thing how these people all try to stick together from the standpoint of law enforcement. The FBI agent come in here and he talks about--when I bring out the facts he says that Vannatter says they are not there to save lives. On cross-examination, he says, well, I think he was being sarcastic, Vannatter was being sarcastic or maybe it was a joke. But you know, when I listened to that, I thought about that, I said, well, what is the joke? What is the sarcasm? Is the constitution this man's rights to be safe and secure in his home? Is that the joke? Is that the sarcasm? Sad state of affairs. That is the lead detective I'm talking about, these two twin devils of deception. You think about it and keep them in mind. Thank you for your attention during this first part of my argument. I hope that during this phase of it I have demonstrated to you that this really is a case about a rush to judgment, an obsession to win, at all costs, a willingness to distort, twist, theorize in any fashion to try to get you to vote guilty in this case where it is not warranted, that these metaphors about an ocean of evidence or a mountain of evidence is little more than a tiny, tiny stream, if at all, that points equally toward innocence, that any mountain has long ago been reduced to little more than a molehill under an avalanche of lies and complexity and conspiracy. This is what we've shown you. And so as great as America is, we have not yet reached the point where there is equality in rights or equality of opportunity. I started off talking to you a little bit about Frederick Douglas and what he said more than a hundred years ago, for there are still the Mark Fuhrmans in this world, in this country, who hate and are yet embraced by people in power. But you and I, fighting for freedom and ideals and for justice for all, must continue to fight to expose hate and genocidal racism and these tendencies. We then become the guardians of the constitution, as I told you yesterday, for if we as the People don't continue to hold a mirror up to the face of America and say this is what you promised, this is what you delivered, if you don't speak out, if you don't stand up, if you don't do what's right, this kind of conduct will continue on forever and we will never have an ideal society, one that lives out the true meaning of the creed of the constitution or of life, liberty and justice for all. I'm going to take my seat, but I get one last time to address you, as I said before. This is a case about an innocent man wrongfully accused. You have seen him now for a year and two days. You observed him during good times and the bad times. Soon it will be your turn. You have the keys to his future. You have the evidence by which you can acquit this man. You have not only the patience, but the integrity and the courage to do the right thing. We believe you will do the right thing, and the right thing is to find this man not guilty on both of these charges. Thank you very, very much. I appreciate your attention. I think, your Honor, we may need a brief break because he has to be--

Exhibits?

Judge, yes.

All right. Ladies and gentlemen, we will take a 15-minute recess at this time. Remember all my admonitions to you. And we will see you back here in fifteen minutes. All right. We will stand in recess.