Ito’s Order Poses Conflict for DNA Expert

The O.J. Simpson case took on a bicoastal tinge Wednesday when Judge Lance A. Ito ordered a defense expert to be in his court during the same period this month that the expert is supposed to be in a New York courtroom for an unrelated murder case.

Ito’s order sets up a conflict over the scheduling of Peter Neufeld, a leading DNA legal expert whom Simpson’s defense team hired to handle much of the work for and during a crucial hearing on the admissibility of genetic evidence against the former football great in his double murder trial.

Before issuing the order Wednesday, Ito warned Simpson’s lead attorney, Robert L. Shapiro, that Neufeld could be cited for contempt if he is not at the DNA hearing in Los Angeles, which is tentatively scheduled for Dec. 12.

Referring to an unexplained tour that he and lawyers took of the Los Angeles County Men’s Central Jail on Tuesday, Ito said: “Do you think Mr. Neufeld would enjoy five days there?”

Shapiro told the judge he did not believe matters would come to that.

Instead, he said, Ito’s order would be the basis of an appeal of a Manhattan judge’s order issued this week requiring Neufeld to be in court starting today on the New York case, which is expected to last at least three weeks.

State Supreme Court Judge Harold Rothwax has refused to give Neufeld a continuance in the New York case and has threatened him with a contempt charge and possibly jail time if he is not in court there.

If Neufeld loses his planned appeal of that order, opening arguments in the Simpson case could be delayed weeks. Shapiro said he is doing everything he can to avoid that possibility because Simpson has demanded a speedy trial.

Shapiro told Ito that Neufeld was not only involved in the DNA hearing but also involved in many other aspects of the case, including overall defense strategy.

“This is a team effort on behalf of Mr. Simpson,” Shapiro said. “This is not something where someone’s attention can be taken away.”

Simpson is charged with the June 12 stabbing deaths of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Lyle Goldman.

Because there are no known witnesses to the crimes, much of the prosecution case hinges on circumstantial evidence, including the linking of Simpson to bloodstains and drops found at the murder scene, at Simpson’s estate and inside a vehicle he was known to drive.

After Ito issued the Neufeld order Wednesday, the search for alternate jurors continued.

By the end of the day, five of the seven jurors questioned were excused from service, mostly because they had formed opinions about the case based on news reports.

Since Nov. 8, when alternate jury selection began with a pool of 80 people, 38 potential alternates have been chosen. Only about 20 are left in the pool.

Worried that the remaining pool of potential alternates might not yield the 46 he wants before peremptory challenges begin, Ito announced that he would have the jury commission bring in 20 more people to undergo orientation for possible service as alternates.