Trial Highlights : THE O.J. SIMPSON MURDER TRIAL
Some of the key events Monday in the O.J. Simpson murder trial:
* SUMMARY: Simpson attorney Robert L. Shapiro had his client display the middle finger of his left hand to the jury, a request that appeared to take Simpson by surprise but that brought him in close contact with the panel for the second time since the trial began. In testimony, prosecutors concluded their questioning of Detective Philip L. Vannatter and Shapiro began his cross-examination.
* WITNESSES: Vannatter spent the entire day on the witness stand. Under questioning by Deputy Dist. Atty. Christopher A. Darden, he described his handling of blood samples--in order to preclude the defense argument that officers could have used the samples to stain evidence in the case. Shapiro conducted the cross-examination, attempting to portray Vannatter as out of touch with modern police techniques such as the use of DNA evidence. Outside court, a police organization and defense attorney Alan M. Dershowitz traded barbs over Dershowitz’s assertion that police are trained to lie on the witness stand.
* COMING UP: Vannatter is expected to be back on the witness stand this morning. City officials are scheduled to hold a rally in defense of the Police Department and its officers.
*
“Monday morning quarterbacking is wonderful. I still to this day don’t believe that the ice cream is connected to the crime scene.”
--Vannatter, dismissing defense contention that analysis of a cup of partly melted ice cream might have helped establish time of death.
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