Simpson’s Statement

Re “Prosecution, Defense Rest Cases; Simpson Addresses Judge Ito,” Sept. 23:

Can there be any reason or precedent in law for Judge Lance Ito’s decision to allow O.J. Simpson, on the record, to protest his innocence, to insult the prosecution, to flatter the jury, and to testify as to his reasons for not taking the stand--in statements which are not subject to cross-examination or refutation by the state?

The purpose of Simpson’s speech can only have been to influence public opinion directly or to influence the jury indirectly and inappropriately--neither of which has any place in a court of law.

Judge Ito’s extraordinary lapse of judgment and moral courage is perhaps the final evidence that, for all his geniality and industry, he has no place on the bench in a society that still professes to place the rule of law above and beyond the perks of celebrity.

LLOYD FONVIELLE

West Hollywood

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* What price O.J.? Get ready for the “Letdown of the Century”! For more than a year, wherever you go, television and radios have been blaring the “Trial of the Century” with news reports and legal analyst commentaries. The O.J phenomenon has become a staple of American life.

As a psychotherapist, I wonder what effect its completion will have on those who exercise, eat, talk and sometimes make love to the nonstop droning of O.J. minutiae. I wonder what will happen when the music stops? Could some be headed for P.T.S.D (post-trial stress disorder)? There may be many who didn’t have a life who gotone through their daily O.J. fix. Imagine having to go back to discussing the weather. Is there life after O.J.?

STEVEN B. CHERMAN

Culver City