Simpson Trial Legacy Lives On in Courts

It looked so familiar--the gloves, the stocking cap, the black defendant, claiming his innocence against the testimony of a white cop who some jurors had trouble believing.

But this wasn’t the O.J. Simpson trial that we jurors were hearing in Department M of the Santa Monica courthouse. We were called on to judge the case of the People vs. Sean Fisher, a convicted burglar and robber accused of running red lights and crashing his car into an auto showroom while fleeing from the Beverly Hills cops.

Although these accusations are minor compared to the crime of murder, the pervasive influence of the Simpson case was clear in our courtroom.

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The Simpson case was in evidence even outside the courthouse where the Simpson civil trial is being heard.

The scene wasn’t new to me, having covered the two Simpson trials. But it was to my juror colleagues, who had never seen the daily freak show outside the courthouse, the screaming matches between pro and anti Simpson partisans, the nut who shouted “Baker, you scumbag!” at Robert C. Baker, Simpson’s lawyer.

Inside Superior Court Judge Leslie W. Light’s courtroom, we were referred to by our jury numbers, not our names. We were anonymous, a procedure that bothered the judge, a strict but even-handed veteran of 30 years on the bench.

The anonymity was the result of legislation inspired by the Simpson trial, designed to protect jurors from snoopy reporters who might follow them home and pester them with questions. It was also supported by judges who said anonymity would protect jurors from reprisal from friends and relatives of convicted defendants.

These numeric IDs gave the proceedings an inhuman quality, as if we were faceless functionaries in an old Soviet courtroom. Unnecessary, too. It was unlikely that anyone would threaten us over People vs. Fisher or that the tabloids would be interested in our stories.

Fisher, a man in his 20s dressed in casual clothing, sat across the courtroom from us next to his attorney, public defender Karen King.

He remained expressionless as Beverly Hills Police Officer Harry Dexter, a muscular veteran cop, testified he spotted Fisher, in an old pickup truck, pulling out of an alley late on a Friday night. He said the alley location and the expression on Fisher’s face attracted his attention. Most people look “relaxed but cautious” when they encounter cops, he said, but “when someone doesn’t want police around, they will express a surprised look.” Fisher, he said, looked surprised.

When Fisher drove through a boulevard stop, Dexter stopped him. Shielded by his patrol car door, Dexter said, he drew his service pistol, pointing it toward the ground, and repeatedly ordered Fisher to raise his hands. Fisher, he said, accelerated his truck and fled, reaching nearby Wilshire Boulevard, running red lights, crashing the truck into the auto agency and fleeing on foot before he was captured by two other Beverly Hills officers.

Deputy Dist. Atty. John Breault offered evidence--a large knife Fisher carried in a rear pocket; a blue stocking cap Breault said was sufficient to hide his features; gloves recovered from the truck; pistol and rifle bullets found in the truck cab.

Fisher told a different story. He had driven to Beverly Hills after a friend called to ask for help with her disabled car. When he reached the friend, she said someone had already fixed her car. He drove away on city streets, not an alley as Officer Dexter said. He said he fled when Dexter pointed his gun at him. “He could have shot me, shot at the truck, he could have hit me, he could have killed me,” Fisher said.

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Did Officer Dexter stop Fisher because he was a black man driving an old truck in Beverly Hills late at night? Beverly Hills, remember, is the target of a civil rights lawsuit accusing police of targeting African Americans in traffic stops.

Did Sean Fisher, on parole with a burglary and a robbery conviction on his record, flee because he felt in danger and that, no matter how he responded to Officer Dexter, he’d be put away for life on a third strike? Or was Fisher, as Deputy Dist. Atty. Breault implied to the jury, in Beverly Hills with gloves, stocking cap and knife to commit a crime?

As an alternate, I wasn’t part of the jury deliberations. But I talked to some of my colleagues afterward and they said they struggled over the case because they weren’t sure Officer Dexter was telling the truth.

This was a Westside jury, with only one African American. Yet the jurors had trouble with the cop’s story.

In the end, they convicted Sean Fisher because they found his story less credible than the police officer’s and because he continued his high-speed flight down Wilshire. His credibility was badly damaged by his criminal record. Breault, who talked to the jurors, said they also were struck by what they felt were inconsistencies in Officer Dexter’s testimony, by instances where he said he couldn’t recall things. “It bothered them more than anything that with all the training he had, he couldn’t remember,” Breault said.

The deputy district attorney said he’s found such post-Simpson skepticism in other trials, and a sense that juries seem more aware than before of the racial implications of cases.

So, in trials big and small, the legacy of the Simpson case lives on.