Question Yields Scoop p. 11

By: M.L. Stein

The only one to ask, a reporter scores coup with
O.J. Simpson grand jury transcripts sp.

SOMETIMES A SIMPLE query from a reporter is all it takes to obtain transcripts of secret grand jury proceedings.
It worked that way for Martin Berg of the Los Angeles Daily Journal when he scooped the town in getting the record of the grand jury that heard evidence in the case of O.J. Simpson, charged with the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman.
The transcripts, which other news organizations quickly jumped on, revealed for the first time Simpson's only statements to police when he was held for questioning before being charged.
Although much of what the grand jury record disclosed had been reported in the media, it added several new details.
A key issue at Simpson's trial is expected to be what caused an injury to his left hand that police observed during questioning. According to the transcripts, Los Angeles Police detective Phillip Vannatter told the grand jury that Simpson said he didn't know how the injury occurred.
Simpson, who has pleaded "absolutely 100% not guilty" to the charges, also told police he reinjured his hand in Chicago, where he had flown the night of the murders.
The transcripts also revealed that actor Brian "Kato" Kaelin, who lived in the guest quarters of Simpson's Brentwood mansion, was cited for contempt by the grand jury for initially refusing to testify. The citation was lifted when Kaelin agreed to testify after consulting with lawyers.
The Daily Journal, a legal newspaper, broke the tale of the transcripts on July 29. Editor in chief and associate publisher T. Sumner Robinson released the account to the Associated Press the evening before with a l0:30 p.m. embargo. "There was no leak," said Robinson. "This was just good reporting. Nobody else had asked for the transcripts."
The Los Angeles Times carried a page-one story and sidebar on the transcripts Sunday, July 31, and other news organizations picked up on the disclosures. The Times reported that prosecutors were furious when a star witness, Jill Shively, sold her story to a tabloid TV show for $5,000. Shively, who said she saw Simpson driving away from Nicole Simpson's neighborhood the night of the murders, did not testify at the preliminary hearing, presumably because of her TV deal.
Berg said he asked Superior Court Judge Lance Ito for the transcripts as a long shot, fearing they would have been sealed.
"I thought either the prosecution or the defense would have requested the court to seal them, but I was surprised that this was not the case," Berg recalled. "The judge just gave them to me."
Berg added: "Everyone presumes everything about the grand jury is secret. This is not true."
The presiding judge of the Superior Court dismissed the grand jury in the midst of its proceedings, declaring that it had been tainted by the massive media coverage of the case.
Robinson doubted that publishing the transcripts will add fuel to the controversy over the possibility pretrial publicity could prejudice a jury.
"There have been so many leaks and so much information revealed already that this won't make much difference," he commented. In any event, he asserted, there will be no problem in picking an objective jury in a city the size of Los Angeles.
In another development, a police detective who investigated the murders has threatened to sue Simpson and his lead attorney, Robert Shapiro, for defamation in connection with a New Yorker magazine article.
Attorney Robert Tourtelot said detective Mark Fuhrman has demanded that the two retract statements in the July 25 article alleging Fuhrman planted a bloody glove at Simpson's estate. The anonymous allegations in the article are attributed to members of Simpson's defense team.
"This is a bad cop," one of the attorneys was quoted as saying. "This is a racist cop."
Calling the statements "outrageous," Tourtelot said that defense lawyers must have known the "anguish and pain" Fuhrman and his family would suffer "as the result of this malicious, deceitful and despicable defense strategy."