On Cover-Ups

I have been outraged at the way O.J. Simpson’s attorneys, in televised interviews since the verdict, have been rationalizing away and diminishing the seriousness of Mr. Simpson’s record as a wife-beater (“So Who’s Really in Charge in These Interviews?” by Howard Rosenberg, Oct. 6). In addition to F. Lee Bailey’s comments to Paula Zahn, Johnnie Cochran made offensive statements on Oprah Winfrey’s show that went unchallenged.

Cochran declared that “the cover-up continues.” I say Mr. Cochran and the defense team are also involved in a cover-up: the cover-up of Mr. Simpson’s record as a wife-batterer. It is just as wrong to cover up for a man who beats his wife as it is to cover up for a racist. If television interviewers such as Oprah Winfrey and Larry King do not challenge Mr. Simpson’s lawyers on their statements regarding domestic violence, then they are participating in a cover-up that could have severe consequences for battered women everywhere.

ERIN DAVIS

Garden Grove