Abuse Evidence Is Ito’s First Big Decision

With conflicting case law and compelling legal arguments from both sides to guide him, Lance Ito must make what may be his most important decision in O.J. Simpson’s murder trial.

The question before the Superior Court judge this weekend is whether to let the jury hear allegations that Simpson beat, slapped, stalked and degraded Nicole Brown Simpson throughout their 17-year relationship.

Prosecutors want the volatile evidence admitted not only to help deflate Simpson’s sports-icon image in the jury’s eyes, but to point to identity and motive for the killings of Ms. Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.

Prosecutors allege Simpson stabbed his ex-wife to death June 12 in a jealous rage, the final act of an abusive man, and killed Goldman because Simpson saw him as a potential suitor of Ms. Simpson.

The defense wants the abuse evidence excluded on the grounds it amounts to a legally inadmissible character assault that will only inflame jurors’ emotions without adding much to help them decide who committed the murders.

A miscue by Ito on this ruling, more perhaps than in any other area in the trial, could prompt an appeals court to overturn a conviction on the basis of judge error.

“I think this is really a tough call,” said Southwestern Law School professor Robert Pugsley. “The judge is going to have an Excedrin headache this weekend.”

The consensus among several legal analysts was that Ito likely will admit some of the evidence, with the more recent and easily corroborated allegations standing the best chance of reaching jurors.

“I think he’s going to let in a handful of things that show either the fact that O.J. Simpson was jealous of his wife and other men or that he stalked her,” said Stan Goldman, professor at Loyola Law School. “But they may be enough for the prosecution.”

This evidence includes Ms. Simpson’s contact with a battered women’s shelter just five days before her June 12 murder and some form - perhaps an edited transcript - of her dramatic 911 call to police in October 1993.

Evidence less likely to be admitted includes numerous statements from friends and relatives who recounted hearing Ms. Simpson speak of her fear of Simpson. Analysts said this evidence suffers the legal burden of being full of hearsay.

Also in doubt is the eyewitness testimony of Simpson allegedly stalking his ex-wife, in one case spying on her as she had sex with another man. Analysts said these claims may be too prejudicial to warrant their admission.