Simpson Jury Is Told That Shoe Evidence Is Fake
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Continuing their summation today, the defense in the O. J. Simpson wrongful-death suit finally confronted one of the few pieces of evidence to arise in the four-month-long civil case but not in the earlier criminal case: 30 separate photographs of Mr. Simpson wearing a type of shoe he earlier had said he never owned. With the case scheduled to go to the jury on Monday, Dan Leonard, one of Mr. Simpson’s lawyers, suggested the pictures could have been faked by photographers out for a quick dollar. No court session is scheduled on Friday, as Judge Hiroshi Fujisaki has a prior engagement. As the Simpson defense team neared the end of its closing argument, Mr. Leonard told the jury, ”That’s what it’s all about: money, evidence for sale.” Early in the civil trial, lawyers for the plaintiffs, relatives of Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald L. Goldman, produced a single picture of Mr. Simpson wearing a pair of shoes that they argued had the same type sole as a shoe that left an imprint in blood at the scene where Ms. Simpson and Mr. Goldman were slain. Asked whether he had ever owned such a pair of shoes, Mr. Simpson said he had not and called the photograph a fake. The shoe issue then slipped somewhat into the background of the trial, only to be resurrected when the plaintiffs produced 30 separate photographs of Mr. Simpson wearing such shoes. The pictures were obtained from two photographers who said they had found them in their files and had decided to make them public, including selling them to news outlets. Confronted with copies of the pictures and asked again whether he had ever owned such shoes, Mr. Simpson said he did not think he had. The plaintiffs’ lawyers made much of the shoes in their closing arguments, contending that Mr. Simpson’s lawyer had never really addressed the issue and suggesting that it was too touchy for the defense team to dispute. But late this afternoon, Mr. Leonard undertook to grapple with the issue. He noted that after the first photo had been shown and Mr. Simpson insisted he had never owned such shoes, no store clerk stepped forward to claim selling shoes like them to Mr. Simpson. ”Where is that person that sold those shoes?” Mr. Leonard asked. ”Why didn’t he come forth? Why is that?” More : query.nytimes.com |