Kathleen Kennedy-Powell presided over the preliminary hearing in the Simpson case, managing six days of testimony from late June through early July 1994 that would determine whether the case proceeded to trial. She navigated a gauntlet of procedural disputes — from hair sample collection limits to motions to strike testimony — while overseeing the examination of key witnesses including Mark Fuhrman, detectives Philip Vannatter and Tom Lange, Brian "Kato" Kaelin, limousine driver Allan Park, and LAPD lab director Michele Kestler. Her rulings on evidence handling and forensic standards in those early proceedings helped shape the evidentiary landscape that the trial jury would later confront.