Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 5, 1995 TAG: 9510050068
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Long
One cop lied, another was a racist, the gloves didn't fit on O.J. Simpson's hands and one was planted on the grounds of his estate - so Simpson had to be acquitted, a juror said Wednesday.
Brenda Moran, a computer technician from South Central Los Angeles, said a glove found behind Simpson's mansion was key to her decision to vote to acquit Simpson on charges of killing ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.
``Somebody planted it,'' Moran said, signaling she agreed with the defense contention that Simpson was framed by rogue cops.
The juror discussed the case with more than 100 reporters, who were assembled on the roof of a Beverly Hills parking garage because there wasn't enough room inside the offices of Moran's attorney.
Another juror, Gina Rosborough, said a straw poll taken less than an hour into deliberations was 10-2 in favor of acquittal. One of those voting guilty was black or Hispanic and one was white, she said. The next vote was unanimous.
Rosborough said on ``Oprah'' that jurors had ``a lot of reasonable doubt from the beginning'' about the prosecution's evidence, including the blood.
``If he committed such a bloody crime, then there should have been more blood in that Bronco than just this little speck that we saw,'' she said.
Also on Wednesday, Simpson spoke out for the first time since his acquittal, criticizing prosecutors and legal commentators for distorting the trial evidence to make him look bad.
``My basic anger is these misconceptions,'' Simpson said in a surprise phone call to CNN's ``Larry King Live,'' the latest twist in a case that has shown no shortage of surprises.
Simpson also offered a brief comment about his first reunion with his two small children, Sydney and Justin, since he was arrested for their mother's murder.
``It's been great,'' Simpson said without elaboration. He then thanked King and got off the phone.
Simpson's call came during King's interview with lead defense attorney Johnnie Cochran Jr.
At Simpson's estate, more than a hundred reporters gathered outside the wall that Detective Mark Fuhrman scaled the morning after the murders.
Simpson's business attorney, LeRoy Taft, emerged from the mansion after a four-hour visit and delivered a brief report to those waiting.
``He's doing fine,'' Taft said. ``You'll hear from him when he's ready.''
Simpson representatives have suggested he may speak on a pay-per-view TV special, similar to those staged for boxing matches. The event could net Simpson millions of dollars.
Summations ended a week ago, but attorneys kept arguing - this time with each other. F. Lee Bailey responded to an interview in which Robert Shapiro attacked Johnnie Cochran Jr. for playing up race and vowed never to speak to Bailey again. Bailey called Shapiro a ``sick little puppy.''
Judge Lance Ito, swamped with more than 100 interview requests, issued a news release saying he couldn't talk because California law bars a judge from discussing a matter with litigation pending. Three wrongful death lawsuits have been filed against Simpson by relatives of the victims.
But the fallout from the verdicts in Ito's court continued.
At the news conference, Moran, 45, who repairs computers and printers for the county courts, said jurors spent less than four hours deliberating because the prosecution case was so thin and the evidence was so untrustworthy.
``Mr. Simpson was not guilty. It was not proven. I didn't have enough evidence to convince me he was guilty,'' Moran said.
She said she believed Detective Philip Vannatter lied and Fuhrman was a racist. Neither, she said, could be trusted as witnesses, especially Fuhrman, whose testimony she totally disregarded. It was Fuhrman who said he found the bloody glove.
Moran also said the glove demonstration, in which Simpson struggled to put on the glove from his estate and its mate found next to the bodies, was crucial.
``In plain English, the gloves didn't fit,'' she said. The statement was reminiscent of Cochran's closing theme: ``If it doesn't fit, you must acquit.''
One other juror was heavily influenced by the defense contention that Fuhrman's testimony was not to be trusted because of his racist views, according to reports.
The daughter of juror Anise Aschenbach, a 61-year-old retiree, told ABC-TV her mother told her she thought Simpson was probably guilty but voted to acquit ``because of Mark Fuhrman'' and a lack of evidence.
The jury was made up of nine black members, two whites and one Hispanic.
Another juror, Lionel ``Lon'' Cryer, told the Los Angeles Times he and other jurors kept finding holes in the prosecution case and concluded there were many opportunities for contamination of evidence.
``It was garbage in, garbage out,'' he said. ``There was a problem with what was being presented to prosecutors for testing from LAPD.''
And when Rosborough, a 29-year-old Compton resident and postal worker, was asked if she thought evidence was planted, she said, ``I had my reason to believe that some of that could've been true.''
But, she said, she didn't believe there was a conspiracy and didn't base her final decision on the glove.
by CNB