Simpson Attorney Rejects Barring TV From the Trial

Attorney Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. said Saturday that he and other members of the O.J. Simpson defense team do not support Judge Lance A. Ito’s threat to bar television cameras from the courtroom during the high-profile murder trial, which is set to begin Monday.

“I’m not prepared to say, ‘Pull all of the cameras out of the courtroom,’ ” Cochran said at the State Bar of California’s annual meeting in the Anaheim Convention Center. “But if at some point we can’t control this,” the judge “may have to do that.”

Cochran’s comments came one day after Ito, enraged by a Los Angeles television station’s inaccurate reporting on the case, threatened to bar the station from the courthouse and perhaps ban television coverage of the highly publicized trial altogether.

But Cochran said barring television cameras from the courtroom would simply be punitive and would not stop the leaks or “fabrications” outside the courtroom. More effective in assuring responsible reporting, Cochran said, will be the probe of KNBC-TV and its reporter, Tracie Savage, at a special hearing Ito has planned for next week.

“Nobody wants to be embarrassed,” Cochran said. “It’s all about ratings anyway.”

Ito has said he will consider at the hearing whether to cut off KNBC’s access to the Criminal Courts Building and will evaluate whether TV coverage of the case should continue at all.

But Cochran said attention also needs to be focused on the sources of news leaks, who he alleged are members of the Los Angeles Police Department.

“The Police Department, they should be held accountable also,” he said.

Cochran said assurances by Los Angeles Police Chief Willie Williams that an internal investigation of the leaks is underway will have a chilling effect on leakers.

“The LAPD is a paramilitary organization,” Cochran said. “If Chief Williams said there will be no more leaks, they will stop.”

Cochran spoke about the trial during a morning seminar and outside an afternoon mock trial at the State Bar’s annual meeting.

During the morning panel discussion, entitled “Trial Strategies for High Profile Cases” he said that Ito was trying to send the media “a strong message. He’s going to have to take strong action to curb this.”

KNBC incurred Ito’s wrath last week by airing a report that a bloodied pair of socks retrieved from Simpson’s bedroom had been sent to a Maryland laboratory where DNA tests indicated the blood was that of murder victim Nicole Brown Simpson. The report was denied by both the prosecution and the defense.

Other members of the panel included:

Milton Grimes, a Santa Ana attorney who represented police beating victim Rodney G. King; Harland Braun, who defended accused officer Theodore Briseno in the King case; Edi M. Faal, who represented Damian Williams, charged with beating truck driver Reginald Denny; Melanie M. Lomax, the attorney for a woman claiming to have been sexually harassed by Los Angeles City Councilman Nate Holden; and Carl E. Douglas, another member of the Simpson defense team.

The Simpson case easily dominated Saturday’s discussion.

“There is the beginning of a new era,” Douglas said of the vast amount of media coverage the case has engendered. “The rules are changing; things are very fluid.”

Calling the Channel 4 reports “outrageous,” Cochran said they could seriously damage Simpson’s ability to receive a fair trial. He also called a recent Newsweek magazine cover story chronicling what the magazine described as Simpson’s double life particularly offensive to the family of a man who, he said, “has led an exemplary life.”

The leak of the now-famous 911 tapes that appeared to capture a violent quarrel between Simpson and his wife was an especially egregious offense, Cochran said.

“Over 90% of the people in this area have heard those tapes, and they may not even be admissible,” Cochran said. “We will have to question the jurors about that.” The leaked tape raised the issue of spousal abuse, which is not the subject of the upcoming trial, he said.

Yet Cochran said he would oppose Ito’s suggestion that the jury be sequestered or held in seclusion during the trial to shield it from the media’s coverage.

“I would urge the judge to seek another solution,” he said. “You would lose a lot of (potential) jurors through hardship.”

Ultimately, Cochran predicted, the media’s presence could have a positive effect on the administration of justice in general.

“When this trial is over,” he said, “I expect people to have a better idea of what lawyers can do; it upgrades the profession.”

By depicting a multiracial defense team working together in harmony, Cochran said, the coverage will also help the status of African Americans.

And finally, he said, the trial’s wide media exposure will, in effect, provide millions of Americans with a much-needed lesson in civics.

“Everything is more contemplative and introspective when the cameras are there,” the lawyer said. “They put you on your best behavior. Children are now talking about the Fourth Amendment.”