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Simpson photo analyst denounced as JFK conspiracy buff
December 20, 1996Web posted at: 11:30 p.m. EST
From Correspondent Anne McDermott
SANTA MONICA, California (CNN) -- With the verdict finally in on O.J. Simpson's fight for custody of his two youngest children, the wrongful death civil trial seemed like almost an afterthought for both his family and the family of Nicole Brown Simpson.
Neither he nor the families who filed the civil suit came to the Santa Monica courtroom, preferring to wait on the verdict from the Orange County courthouse handling the custody suit. Court went on without them Friday, as a witness for Simpson's defense took a beating from plaintiffs' attorneys.
Prosecution attacks photo analyst, defense objects
Robert Groden was put on the stand by Simpson attorney Bob Baker to testify that a photo of Simpson wearing Bruno Magli shoes could have been forged.
Attorneys for the families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman revealed that Groden got $50,000 from the tabloid The Globe for an article on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, in which he supplied pictures from his autopsy. Groden said the assassination of JFK was his life's work, and that he has written five books promoting a conspiracy theory.
He was depicted by lawyers for the families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman as a conspiracy buff, or maybe worse. They suggested he stole the autopsy photos from a government committee looking into the assassination, an accusation Groden denied.
Questionable credentials
Simpson's lawyers angrily denounced the suggestion as character assassination, and Judge Hiroshi Fujisaki sternly ordered jurors to ignore any suggestion of theft. But the plaintiffs' attorneys kept attacking his credibility, establishing that he was a high school dropout with no formal training in photography.
In the photograph, which Groden denounced as "a fake," Simpson is seen wearing Bruno Magli shoes, which he says he has never owned. The expensive and uncommon shoes left their distinctive print in blood by the bodies of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.
In his deposition, taken earlier this year, Groden said he couldn't be sure it was faked; now, he says he is sure, although he cannot say exactly how the photo was faked, and had difficulty even showing jurors the portion he said was faked.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs are expected to call their own expert, a former FBI agent, later in the trial to say the photo is genuine.
Defense presses conspiracy case with blood analysis
Meanwhile, the defense continued to press their theory that some kind of conspiracy was in place to frame Simpson. Fredrick Rieders, a forensic toxicologist, said he detected the preservative EDTA in blood on socks police recovered from Simpson's home, and on a stain on the back gate of his ex- wife's condominium.
EDTA is a preservative used to keep blood from coagulating in laboratory sample test tubes. Rieders' testimony implies that a detective who carried a sample of Simpson's blood in such a test tube then planted the blood in the crime scene.
An FBI agent is expected to try to refute Rieders' testimony, as he did in Simpson's criminal trial, arguing that the blood smear did contain traces of EDTA, but no more than that which is found normally in blood.
Special section:
Related stories:
- Photo expert resumes testimony in Simpson trial - December 20, 1996
- Expert: Photo of Simpson probably faked - December 18, 1996
- Simpson attorney questions officer about 'police code' - December 18, 1996
- Pathologist waffles on cross examination - December 17, 1996
- Simpson witnesses dispute conclusions - December 16, 1996
- Blood expert sides with Simpson - December 16, 1996
- Simpson attorneys push contaminated evidence theory - December 12, 1996
- Defense lawyers suggest Fuhrman could have planted glove - December 11, 1996
- Excerpts from Simpson's police interrogation - December 11, 1996
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