Simpson’s Defense Ready To Begin Its Case Today

Defense lawyers will begin their campaign today to prove that O.J. Simpson is not a murderer.

But unless the defendant himself takes the stand, the defense case is unlikely to include anything as dramatic as Simpson’s struggle, feigned or genuine, to fit into a pair of bloody leather gloves.

Simpson’s lawyers say their presentation will focus on three major themes.

One is that Simpson did not have enough time to kill Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. Another is that he never has behaved like a killer, either before or after the slayings. The third is that anything appearing to incriminate him is the product of police bungling or nefariousness.

Simpson’s lawyers predict that their case, which is expected to begin with the testimony of Simpson’s eldest daughter, mother and sister, will last four to six weeks.

That is shorter than originally anticipated because, they say, the prosecution’s case was weaker than they had expected and because of fears that the jury is restless, resentful and fragile, with only two of 12 alternates remaining.

Moreover, several of the most sensational alibi witnesses touted by Simpson’s chief lawyer, Johnny Cochran Jr., in his opening statement last January have proved to be either too tainted or too untrustworthy to call.

The memory of one, a maid named Rosa Lopez, proved porous and unreliable; Mary Anne Gerchas, a businesswoman who said she had seen four men fleeing the crime scene, has been convicted of defrauding creditors in the meantime.

One of Simpson’s lawyers, F. Lee Bailey, said the defense case would be “short, punchy and crisp” and could conclude in a month.

Los Angeles District Attorney Gil Garcetti predicts a parade of “safe” witnesses from the defense, ones who will strive to refurbish Simpson’s image and pick away at the prosecution’s case but who will, he said, “add little or nothing to the ultimate question of ‘is this the man who committed the murders?’

“They’ll show that he is a father, show that he is a son, that he has done some good things in life,” he said in an interview.

Garcetti predicted a struggle in Simpson’s camp over whether he will testify. “Mr. Simpson’s ego will say, ‘I’m going to take the stand,’ and most of his lawyers will say, ‘It’s not worth it - do not take it,”’ he said.

“If it’s done, it’s going to be because it’s Mr. Simpson’s call. Mr. Simpson has been incredibly successful at ingratiating himself to millions of people who don’t even know him, and I’m sure he feels he can continue to do that.”

Prosecutors have lodged objections to some proposed defense witnesses. They complain that some of them, who saw Simpson days - rather than hours - before the killings, have nothing useful to say; materials on others, they have said, improperly were withheld from them.

These objections could consume much of today’s proceedings.