Simpson Tries On A New Pair Of Gloves
Seeking to recoup from a major setback last week, Deputy District Attorney Christopher Darden, went hand to hand with O.J. Simpson one more time on Wednesday in a bid to show that gloves found at the crime scene and his mansion could have fit Simpson.
With jurors looking on, Darden asked the defendant to slip on a pair of leather gloves of the same style and size as the bloody ones that Simpson told jurors last Thursday were “too tight.” Although the gloves appeared snug, Simpson was able to get them on both hands without much trouble.
“I think they fit quite well,” glove expert Richard Rubin testified.
The prosecution, intensely seeking to tie Simpson to critical evidence in the double-murder case, won permission from Superior Court Judge Lance A. Ito to try on new gloves that are the same type and size as the ones found at the murder scene and at Simpson’s estate. Simpson has pleaded not guilty to the June 12, 1994, murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald L. Goldman at her condominium.
The degree of importance prosecutors placed on the gloves was made clear by the fact that they tracked down unworn pairs of the gloves in the Philippines where they were made and had them air expressed to Los Angeles.
Ito spurned the bid of defense lawyer Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. to bar what he called “a bogus courtroom demonstration in which they (prosecutors) seek to recapture some credibility for a mistake they made last Thursday.”
Darden countered that using the new gloves, which had not been subject to shrinkage from exposure to the elements or DNA testing, would be more probative than last week’s display.
While most legal analysts said the earlier glove demonstration was a disaster for the prosecution, analysts were divided on the impact of Wednesday’s replay.
“My opinion is that the prosecution recouped a great deal,” said Los Angeles defense lawyer Michael L. Adelson. But fellow defense attorney Harland W. Braun said the prosecutors had “compounded” the errors they made last week. UCLA law professor Peter Arenella said prosecutors had made only a partial recovery from last week’s debacle.
At the prosecution’s request, Rubin returned to Los Angeles from his New Jersey home Tuesday night and spent 3 1/2 hours with Darden and other prosecutors getting ready for his testimony.
Before the jurors entered the courtroom, Rubin measured Simpson’s hands, using a red plastic tape measure.
Cochran and Darden then sparred over how the glove demonstration would be conducted, where Simpson would stand, what his demeanor should be and whether he could speak. Darden urged the judge not to allow Simpson to “jack around and play games for the jury” as he asserted he had done last week.
Cochran strenuously objected to Darden’s language. The judge sternly admonished Darden, saying “I don’t need that terminology here.” Ito fined the two lawyers $250 during a bench conference, but later lowered it to $100 each.
When they finally got to the demonstration, just before noon, Simpson, looking relaxed, walked to a courtroom podium and followed Ito’s instructions to put on the gloves where jurors could see them.
The former football star pulled on the lightweight Aris-isotoner gloves, with a tag still hanging off the right one. He then raised his hands, fingers spread, for the jurors to observe.