Fears Rise That Jury In Simpson Trial May Be Prejudiced Jurors Might Be Ignoring Judge And Discussing The Case Already

The trial of O.J. Simpson appeared to come unglued Thursday as the topic shifted from contaminated gloves and blood to a possibly contaminated - and maybe even endangered - jury.

Three jurors reported sick Thursday, halting testimony in the case. But illness was only one of the jury’s problems.

There also were questions, prompted by the comments of a juror excused Wednesday, about whether jurors had lied to serve in so celebrated a case, were discussing the case among themselves prematurely and were circumventing sequestration by making unsupervised telephone calls.

Hanging over everything was the question whether there would be enough jurors to last the entire trial. Only six alternates remain in reserve; all of them or more could be required should Judge Lance Ito determine that jurors have ignored en masse the stern admonitions he has issued to them daily not to discuss the case among themselves.

That raises the prospect, albeit unlikely, of a mistrial.

Ito ordered an investigation Thursday into the charges brought by the discharged juror, now identified as Jeanette Harris.

Compounding the sense of chaos, Simpson’s chief trial lawyer, Johnnie Cochran Jr., spoke of what he called “a concerted effort,” presumably by prosecutors, to pick off jurors they dislike, and he accused the prosecution of waging a campaign of espionage and harassment against defense witnesses, experts and even some defense lawyers.

Cochran also accused the prosecution of tailing and spying on its witnesses and experts and even on some defense lawyers. “We think that Big Brother is doing more than watching us in this case, and we’re very concerned about this,” he said.

The legal squalls conjured up images of a possible mistrial, particularly if Ito’s inquiry bears out what Harris has implied: that jurors have talked about the case, even breaking into factions favoring guilt or innocence, that sheriff’s deputies have not monitored all their phone calls to the outside world and that those same deputies have promoted racial discord among the panel.

But under California law, prosecutors cannot ask for a mistrial - even though, if some of Harris’ other remarks are to be believed, they may well want one.

In a television appearance only hours after she had been excused, the 38-year-old employment interviewer scorned prosecutors as “saying a whole lot of nothing,” hinted that she believes police had set out to frame Simpson and said the former football star could not receive a fair trial but probably would have another one anyway. “To be perfectly honest, I see a hung jury,” she said.

Harris also said in the interview: “When you make phone calls, it is supposed to be monitored, but there are times when that would break down, and anybody who wanted to say anything could say it because the deputies were not always on their job.”

Harris also talked about pressure both whites and blacks on the jury feel from their peers on the outside.

“There is maybe a person that, say one of the Caucasians, ‘I can’t vote him not guilty, because when I walk out of here, I want to walk back into a life,”’ she said. “Or an African-American might say, ‘I can’t say he’s guilty because I want to walk out of here’ - you know, those things cross your mind.”

Ito could declare a mistrial as a matter of “legal necessity,” but that effectively would require the consent of the defense, and Simpson’s lawyers steadfastly insisted Thursday they do not want one.

“We do not want a mistrial in this case,” Cochran said. “We want to go forward with this jury. Let me make that absolutely clear to everyone. We will never agree to a mistrial.”

He also said that the sentiments of a single genuine juror inclined to believe in Simpson’s innocence should be taken more seriously than those of innumerable pundits convinced of Simpson’s guilt.

In the maelstrom of accusations, even the most sensational evidence probably would have taken a back seat Thursday.

But in the few moments that the court was in session Thursday, Ito authorized the defense to show a videotape that, they say, proves that the leather glove found near the bodies of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman had been moved.

But because of the ill jurors and Ito’s schedule, that will not occur until Tuesday at the earliest.