THE O.J. SIMPSON MURDER TRIAL

UCLA law professor Peter Arenella and Loyola University law professor Laurie Levenson offer their take on the Simpson trial. Joining them is Wyoming defense lawyer Gerry Spence, who will rotate with other experts as the case moves forward. Today’s topic: Denise Brown’s testimony about alleged domestic violence.

PETER ARENELLA

On the prosecution: “Darden lost whatever momentum gained from Friday’s testimony when he offered a photo of a badly beaten Nicole. Since Darden laid no foundation for its connection to domestic violence that the prosecution was allowed to include, Judge Ito admonished the jury to disregard the photo. Ito’s warning may have reminded jurors that the prosecution might be attempting to paint a harsher picture of O.J.’s relationship with Nicole than the evidence warrants.”

On the defense: “Shapiro’s gentle cross-examination gave Brown no opportunity to do more damage to the defense. Whether points were scored with the video of O.J. outside the recital remains to be seen. While the defense employed the video to suggest O.J. was not acting menacing a few hours before the killings, the prosecution can suggest it shows one more example of the split between Simpson’s public persona and the private face of a man planning to kill his wife.”

LAURIE LEVENSON

On the prosecution: “Brown and Candace Garvey described effectively how O.J. wasn’t himself at a dance recital just hours before the killings. They said he kept staring at Nicole and had no contact with her, even though he kissed other family members when he left. The purpose of the testimony was to show that on the day of the murders, O.J. had something on his mind and the prosecutors will argue later that something was that he was planning to kill Nicole.”

On the defense: “In general, Shapiro’s low-key approach to cross-examination was more effective than Carl Douglas’ of Ron Shipp. He did not attack Denise Brown. The defense has obviously learned that they can hurt themselves with too-aggressive cross-examination. Shapiro basically telegraphed to jurors that the defense has their own witnesses to these events who recalled things differently, reminding the jurors to keep an open mind.”

GERRY SPENCE

On the prosecution: “Darden got in his own licks with the defense’s video. He pointed out that you don’t see O.J. having any trouble lifting a 75-pound child; you don’t see him wincing when he is shaking hands, you don’t see him limping. As to the photo that Ito disallowed, the best you could say was that it was poor preparation by the prosecution. At worst, it was a sleazy trick to use a photo for which there is no foundation.”

On the defense: “Shapiro took some very careful steps with Brown, a witness he embraced as if she were a porcupine. He undoubtedly was afraid she would blow up, start to cry, blurt out something that would hurt O.J. and that the jury would hate him. Shapiro used the video well to show a smiling, affable, loving O.J. who hardly could be seen as this drooling monster about to decapitate two people. Shapiro did it masterfully.”

Compiled by HENRY WEINSTEIN / Los Angeles Times