There’s Little Order Outside Courthouse

Inside the courtroom, it was decorum-as-usual. Outside it was another matter, as hundreds of frenzied O.J. Simpson spectators on Friday convened their own contentious court of public opinion--a forum where passion trumped due process and anger was as admissible as evidence.

Joining the crush of reporters and media technicians on the muddy lawn outside the Santa Monica courthouse, surging throngs of pro- and anti-Simpson partisans not only applauded their favorites among the lawyers and litigants, but also jeered their opponents and the pundits they despise.

In one particularly ugly incident, hecklers disrupted a televised interview with former prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi, forcing the ubiquitous legal commentator to take refuge in a nearby news truck.

Afterward, the spectators vented their anger on one another with verbal clashes that broke down along racial lines.

“O.J. was found innocent by our justice system, you moron!” an African American woman yelled at a white man, to which he threw up his arms and responded, “You’re a disgrace.”

Media organizations mounted a virtual assault on the courthouse.

Several local television stations and newsmagazine shows such as “Inside Edition” and “American Journal” deployed extra correspondents and legal analysts who stumbled over each other in a race to snare the best pictures.

Many stations aired live updates throughout the day, but with cameras banned from the courtroom, reporters were forced to recite Simpson’s testimony from notes. A helicopter whirled above the scene, beaming live shots of the frenetic courthouse scene to local viewers.

KCBS broke into its regular programming Friday afternoon for a special newscast on the day’s developments. But “American Journal” and “Inside Edition”--both syndicated shows--took their coverage one step further: They hired actors to read portions of the court hearing so that viewers in cities across the nation could get a taste of the action.

Reporters and television crews blocked the parking lot immediately outside the courthouse, straining against steel barricades to capture every utterance as Simpson, his attorneys and their opponents passed by.

At one point, Simpson was greeted with shouts of “Murderer! Murderer” and “Wife beater!” At another, supporters yelled, “Right on, O.J.!” and “The Juice has arrived!”

When Fred Goldman emerged from the courthouse during the lunch break, someone yelled, “We love you, Fred!”

The crush of news crews whipped up the frenetic mood, giving provocateurs a chance to holler their opinions at the top of the lungs.

“You’re not going to frame an innocent man!” Morris Griffin, 30, shouted at one set of cameras. “All you hate mongers, you’re living in total denial.”

A Venice Boardwalk stalwart named Jingles made his rounds, too, trying to expose Simpson as a “wife-beater and an animal killer.” He told reporters that Simpson’s onetime financial stake in the Honeybaked Ham company showed a hatred of animals.

And a Simpson gadfly who has shown up faithfully at both trials brought along a pair of Bruno Magli shoes--the same type that the plaintiffs allege Simpson wore at the murder scene--and waved them in front of photographers.

At lunchtime, reporters descended upon the people who were lucky enough to nab one of 16 courtroom seats reserved for the public, turning the anonymous spectators into instant analysts.

“I think O.J. is holding up,” Aliene Kuhn, a homemaker from Amarillo, Texas, declared as reporters elbowed past one another to hear her comments. “The only time he really lost it was when they wouldn’t let him explain his answers.”

A few feet away, Ronni Ashcroft gave her own spin on the morning’s testimony.

“O.J. is his own worst enemy,” said Ashcroft, a Beverly Hills screenwriter. “He was totally incensed that he couldn’t say more. He’s holding, but I’d love to see him when he’s worn down. He’s a guilty man.”

A moment later, realizing she had just given an interview to the world’s press, Ashcroft reflected on her newfound--if short-lived--fame. “I want hair and makeup,” she quipped. “I want Streisand lighting.”

Trial watchers like Ashcroft had waited two years for this day: Simpson on the stand, under oath, telling his story to the world. Loyal trial followers said they wouldn’t dare miss it.

Karen Brown, 53, came from Studio City for the big day carrying a sign that read: “We are Behind You O.J. Christian Women for Justice.”

About 250 others began lining up outside the courthouse Friday morning, some as early as 4 a.m., to get a courtroom seat. Gail Palma, an avowed Simpson junkie who said she watched virtually every day of the criminal trial on television at her Santa Monica home, showed up at 6:45 a.m.

It was too late. She had to settle for a spot in the parking lot with the reporters and gadflies. And she wasn’t happy about it.

“There are a lot of paranoid schizophrenics walking around here,” Palma said, surveying the crowd. “Total nut cases.”