LAS VEGAS — Was it what he did in a $39-a-night hotel room in Las Vegas last year or what many people think he did on a dark sidewalk in Los Angeles 14 years ago?
A day after a jury convicted O.J. Simpson of armed robbery, kidnapping and 10 other charges, an attorney for the former NFL star dismissed the guilty finding as “payback” from a largely white jury for Simpson’s 1995 murder acquittal.
But jurors insisted that they were focused on the case at hand.
“We went out of our way not to mention that,” juror Fred Jones said, referring to Simpson’s racially charged “trial of the century” in which a mostly black jury found him not guilty of killing his wife and her friend.
The retired steel salesman acknowledged that he thought the Hall of Famer killed Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman in 1994 but said he had put it aside to during 13 hours of deliberations.
“That was never, never in our thoughts,” he said.
The foreman, Paul Connelly, called the Los Angeles acquittal “fair” and said the murders “really didn’t come up” in jury room discussions.
“I honestly believe in my heart of hearts that it did not” affect the verdict, said Connelly, 41, a mechanical engineer.
The jurors’ finding — guilty on all counts — was a complete rejection of Simpson’s defense. His legal team laid much of the blame on the process of selecting jurors. Prosecutors purposely excluded blacks, the defense charged, and the judge prevented them from pressing other prospective jurors on their opinions of Simpson.
There were 11 white jurors and one Hispanic.
“I firmly believe (the case) was lost the night we picked the jury,” said Simpson’s longtime attorney, Yale Galanter.
Judge Jackie Glass ruled then that prosecutors had “race-neutral” reasons for using peremptory challenges to remove two blacks. Galanter said the defense was hindered further when the judge cut off questioning of other panelists who said they could be unbiased even when their questionnaires indicated they had strong opinions.
“We had people who would say, ‘I think he murdered Ron and Nicole. I hate the fact that he wrote the book. I don’t like his life. He definitely murdered them.’ But if they checked the fair and impartial box, they were in the pool,” Galanter said.
Edited jury questionnaires released by the judge today show that several of the 12 jurors said they disagreed with the 1995 Simpson verdict. Most others were uncertain or did not answer the question.
The attorney said jury selection would be “the cornerstone” of an appeal. Simpson, 61, faces 15 years to life in prison when he is sentenced Dec. 5.
A high-profile jury consultant who helped prosecutors select the jury rejected Galanter’s suggestion that the panel were exacting revenge rather than considering the facts of the case.
“What else is he supposed to say? Jurors are conscientious, and more so when they are under a microscope as they were in this case,” said Howard Varinksy, who worked with prosecutors in the Scott Peterson, Martha Stewart and Timothy McVeigh trials.
The two jurors said the panel worked methodically through the 24 counts — a dozen apiece for Simpson and for co-defendant Clarence Stewart, who was also convicted. They said they paid scant attention to testimony about Simpson’s 1997 civil trial and the efforts by the Goldman family to recover their share of that $33.5 million judgment. They also said his fame was not a factor.
“We were not enthralled by his celebrity-ship. There are other famous football players,” Connelly said.
Instead, the panel focused on extensive surreptitious recordings, the use of weapons and robbery law as it related to Simpson’s defense, the foreman and fellow juror Jones said.
Portions of the secret tapes contradicted Simpson’s assertion that he never saw any guns during the encounter and never asked two associates to arm themselves.
Simpson claimed he and five associates went to the Palace Station Hotel &Casino on Sept. 13, 2007, to recover family heirlooms and other personal mementos stolen by a former agent.
Under the Nevada robbery statute, the actual owner of the property that was taken is irrelevant. By disputing the provenance of the memorabilia, the defense appeared to be trying to persuade jurors to ignore that.
The jurors, however, said they used the legal instructions as a guide. The panelists decided that even if some of the $100,000 in sports memorabilia seized belonged to Simpson, a crime still occurred, said Connelly.
“There were several ways that things could have been returned to him. I didn’t think the proper way was chosen,” Connelly said.
Jones said jurors also focused on the law as it applied to guns. He said the recordings and the testimony of others present in the hotel room convinced him that two men were armed. But, he said, he initially struggled with the idea that Simpson could be guilty of weapons offenses when he never touched a gun. Ultimately, the legal instructions persuaded him, he said.
Galanter met with Simpson in jail this afternoon. He said the retired athlete was “obviously disappointed” and eager to start the appeals process. Simpson is permitted to summon witnesses on his behalf at his sentencing but was unlikely to do so given the 15-year minimum sentence.
“I could have a four-day sentencing hearing and call Mother Teresa as a character witness, and it’s not going to matter,” Galanter said. “Our hopes are in the appellate stage.”
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