O.J. gets chance to 'redeem' himself on the stand today

Jonathan T. Lovitt ; Richard Price

01/10/1997

USA Today

FINAL

Page 04A

SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- For the first time since he was accused of murder 31

months ago, O.J. Simpson today gets to tell his story his way.

``This is a huge day for Simpson,'' says Manny Medrano, a lawyer covering the

trial for KNBC. ``This is his last and final bite of the apple to try to redeem

himself after what is uniformly considered to be a terrible performance on the

stand the first time around.''

When Simpson took the stand just before Thanksgiving at his wrongful-death

civil trial, he spent 12 hours in a withering examination by lawyers for the

families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, who were slashed to

death June 12, 1994.

The families, who sued after Simpson was acquitted of the murders in criminal

court, had called the defendant to testify as part of their case. This morning,

Simpson will testify as part of the defense case.

The defense plans to question him all day. But when it's over, he'll face

cross-examination Monday by Daniel Petrocelli, the lawyer representing Ron

Goldman's father.

In November, Petrocelli's aggressive questioning drew dozens of inconsistencies

and contradicitons from Simpson and, as Loyola Law School Dean Laurie

Levenson put it, ``intimidated'' the defendant.

This time, though, Petrocelli must confine his questions to areas that Simpson

lawyer Robert Baker explores during direct testimony, and analysts don't expect

Baker to go over issues that damaged Simpson the first time around.

``He's not going to be able to really clean up any of his problem areas,'' says

CNN legal analyst Roger Cossack. ``He can't now go back and say, `I guess I did

hit her, or I guess I did get that phone message.' He's stuck with those answers.''

Cossack was referring to several key points during Simpson's first appearance.

First, he denied hitting Nicole despite testimony and photographic evidence to

the contrary.

Second, he denied receiving a phone message the day of the murders from

former girlfriend Paula Barbieri breaking up with him. But he was contradicted

by four sources, including phone records.

Analysts expect Simpson's testimony to take a positive bent -- a good husband

and father who had accepted his divorce from Nicole with ease. ``A great guy . .

. who would never butcher the mother of his children,'' says Cossack.

``He's got to make himself human and discuss his relationship with Nicole in a

human way without destroying her,'' says Lawrence Schiller, author of American

Tragdy; The Uncensored Story of the Simpson Defense and co-author of

Simpson's book, I Want To Tell You.The timing of Simpson's second appearance

may help him. On Thursday, defense forensic expert Henry Lee testified by

videotape that in looking over new photographs of the murder scene, he had

discovered a second trail of blood spots leading out the front gate.

Previously, the only known blood trail led out the back gate. If the jury accepts

Lee's seven drops, it could strengthen the defense claim that two people

committed the crime.

PHOTO,b/w,AP