who was the lawyer in the oj simpson case

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Dec 31, 2007 · (Court TV)-- Profiles of the key attorneys in the murder trial of O.J. Simpson: THE PROSECUTION TEAM (in alphabetical order) Marcia Clark , born 8 …

Who did Goldberg prosecute?

He helped prosecute Catherine Thompson, convicted of killing her husband for his insurance money and sentenced to death in 1992. Goldberg also prosecuted Jose Guerra for the murder of as registered nurse who was attacked in her home. Goldberg is a graduate of UCLA and the Loyola Law School.

How many murder trials has Hank Goldberg prosecuted?

As a deputy district attorney, he has prosecuted about 30 felony trials including eight murder trials.

Who is Marcia Clark?

THE PROSECUTION TEAM (in alphabetical order) Marcia Clark, born 8-31-53, is the lead attorney in the case. She is assigned to the Special Trials Division. She joined the District Attorney's Office in 1981 and has prosecuted about 60 jury trials, including 20 murder cases.

Who is Christopher Darden?

Christopher Darden, born 4-7-56, is co-counsel. He has taken more than 19 homicide cases to jury since becoming a Los Angeles County prosecutor in 1980. Darden became a deputy district attorney in 1981 and completed a six-and-a-half year assignment with the Special Investigations Division before joining the prosecution team. He is a graduate of San Jose State University and Hastings College of the Law.

How many cases has Darden taken?

He has taken more than 19 homicide cases to jury since becoming a Los Angeles County prosecutor in 1980. Darden became a deputy district attorney in 1981 and completed a six-and-a-half year assignment with the Special Investigations Division before joining the prosecution team.

Who is William Hodgman?

William Hodgman, born 12-14-52, is director of the Bureau of Central Operations, which includes the Special Trials Division. He joined the District Attorney's Office in 1978 and has prosecuted about 130 trials, including 40 murder cases. He helped win the 1992 conviction of Charles Keating for securities fraud.

Who did Bailey defend?

Bailey has been involved in numerous high-profile cases. He defended Albert De Salvo, the Boston Strangler, and worked on an unsuccessful defense of Patricia Hearst. He was successful in overturning the conviction of Sam Sheppard, a Cleveland doctor accused of murdering his wife.

Who was the attorney who won the Simpson circus?

Following the Simpson circus, defense attorney Johnnie Cochran, he of the famous phrase “If it doesn’t fit you must acquit," went on to represent Haitian immigrant Abner Louima, winning him an $8.75 million settlement in his police brutality case against New York City.

Who is Robert Shapiro?

Robert Shapiro, who has gone on to represent celebs like Lindsay Lohan and Eva Longoria, doesn’t like to talk about how the Simpson trial changed his life. “It’s just something I don’t like to comment about,” the attorney told Fox411.

Who was the LAPD criminalist who testified in the 1995 trial?

LAPD criminalist and hair fiber expert Susan Brockbank testified on June 27, 1995, and FBI Special Agent and fiber expert Doug Deedrick testified on June 29, 1995, to the following findings:

Who was the victim of the Lance Ito trial?

J. Simpson was tried and acquitted for the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald "Ron" Goldman.

How many women were on the jury in the trial of the murder of the slain man?

From an original jury pool of 40 percent white, 28 percent black, 17 percent Hispanic, and 15 percent Asian, the final jury for the trial had ten women and two men, of whom nine were black, two white and one Hispanic. The jury was sequestered for 265 days, the most in American history.

Where did the Santa Monica trial take place?

District Attorney Gil Garcetti elected to file charges in downtown Los Angeles, as opposed to Santa Monica, in which jurisdiction the crimes took place. The Los Angeles Superior Court then decided to hold the trial in Downtown Los Angeles instead of Santa Monica due to safety issues at the Santa Monica Court house.

Who assisted Clark and Darden?

Prosecutors Hank Goldberg and William Hodgman, who have successfully prosecuted high-profile cases in the past, assisted Clark and Darden. Two prosecutors who were DNA experts, Rockne Harmon and George "Woody" Clarke, were brought in to present the DNA evidence in the case and were assisted by Prosecutor Lisa Kahn.

What was the defense team's reasonable doubt theory?

The defense team's reasonable doubt theory was summarized as "compromised, contaminated, corrupted" in opening statements. They argued that the DNA evidence against Simpson was "compromised" by the mishandling of criminalists Dennis Fung and Andrea Mazzola during the collection phase of evidence gathering, and that 100% of the "real killer (s)" DNA had vanished from the evidence samples. The evidence was then "contaminated" in the LAPD crime lab by criminalist Collin Yamauchi, and Simpson's DNA from his reference vial was transferred to all but three exhibits. The remaining three exhibits were planted by the police and thus "corrupted" by police fraud. The defense also questioned the timeline, claiming the murders happened around 11:00pm that night.

Who was the author of the book Journey to Justice?

In 1996, Cochran wrote and published a book about the trial. It was titled Journey to Justice, and described his involvement in the case. That same year, Shapiro also published a book about the trial called The Search for Justice. He criticized Bailey as a "loose cannon" and Cochran for bringing race into the trial. In contrast to Cochran 's book, Shapiro said that he does not believe that Simpson was framed by the LAPD, but considered the verdict correct due to reasonable doubt. In a subsequent interview with Barbara Walters, Shapiro, who is Jewish, claimed that he was particularly offended by Cochran for comparing Fuhrman's words to the Holocaust, and vowed that he would never again work with Bailey or Cochran, but would still maintain a working relationship with Scheck.

Who was the lead prosecutor in the Simpson murder trial?

An ace trial lawyer for the L.A. District Attorney's office, Clark spent years in the Special Trials Unit, which involved some of the most complex investigations, before becoming the lead prosecutor of the Simpson murder trial.

What did Cochran say about Simpson?

After prosecutor Darden made the mistake of demanding Simpson try on the ill-fitted bloody gloves, Cochran uttered the famous phrase: "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit.".

Who was the attorney for Nicole Brown?

Pleading not guilty to the murders of ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman, which occurred on June 12, 1994, Simpson hired a "dream team" defense, which included lead attorney Robert Shapiro, Johnnie Cochran (who later took over as lead counsel), F. Lee Bailey, Barry Scheck, Robert Kardashian and Alan Dershowitz.

Who was the lead counsel in the trial of the murder of the slain woman?

On the prosecution side, Marcia Clark served as lead counsel, supported by Christopher Darden. Lasting close to a year, the trial and the events surrounding it were considered the most publicized events the world had ever seen. To many, it became a media circus full of colorful characters, opportunists and courtroom dysfunction ...

Who was Christopher Darden?

Christopher Darden (Prosecution ) Despite being a co-prosecuting attorney with Clark, Darden had limited trial experience. Still, as a Black man amid a majority Black jury, his participation was important so as to dismiss the notion that the otherwise all-white people prosecution had racist motivations against Simpson.

Did Darden get intimidated?

Although Darden floundered at the start of the trial and was purportedly intimidated by Cochran, he gained momentum as events progressed. However, he made a consequential mistake when he demanded that Simpson try on the infamous bloody gloves, which ended up being too small for the accused's hands.

Who was the defense counsel of the year 1994?

A lover of the spotlight, lead defense counsel Shapiro knew how to make a deal without going to trial and was a master at manipulating the media in order to garner sympathy for his famous clients. In fact, he was praised as the "Defense Counsel of the Year" in 1994, which even Judge Ito applauded.

The Evidence

The murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman was a violent crime. Accordingly, there was a large amount of blood at the crime scene. Almost all of the blood was found to have come from Nicole Brown Simpson and Goldman.

Prosecution Case

There were two pieces of physical evidence relied on by the prosecution:

Conclusion

The above discussion details just some of the many instances of mishandling and contaminating evidence that occurred during the investigation. It is no surprise that the jury were left with a reasonable doubt about whether OJ Simpson had murdered Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.