OJ Simpson Trial - Verdict - October 3rd, 1995

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: All right. Back on the record in the Simpson matter. Mr. Simpson is again present before the court with his counsel, Mr. Shapiro, Mr. Cochran, Mr. Kardashian, Mr. Bailey, Mr. Blaser, people represented by Ms. Clark, Mr. Darden, and Mr. Hodgman. The jury is not present. Good morning, counsel. All right. The record should reflect that earlier this morning at 9 o'clock, the court met informally with counsel here in the courtroom because there are too many lawyers to go into chambers this morning for the purposes of discussing notifications to the jurors regarding their rights of privacy and the interest of the news media to interview them or speak to them following the delivery of the verdict in court here today. The court distributed to the parties copies of the questionnaire that has been distributed to the jurors and also the notice to them regarding confidentiality under 237 of the Code of Civil Procedure, and those two questionnaires have been returned by the jurors. They have uniformly indicated their desire that their public, excuse me, their private information will remain confidential. They have also indicated to the court unanimously a desire not to speak to the attorneys, including after the conclusion of the trial, and not to speak with the news media either. All right. Counsel, is there anything else we need to take up before I invite the jurors to join us? All right. Deputy Trower, let's have the jurors, please. Thank you. [00:02:00] Speaker ?: Thank you. [00:02:30] Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen, please be seated. And the record should reflect that we have now been rejoined by all the members of our jury panel and our alternates. Good morning again, ladies and gentlemen. [00:03:10] Speaker ?: Good morning. [00:03:12] Speaker 1: All right. Mrs. Robertson, would you, do you have the envelope with the sealed verdict forms, please? Yes, Your Honor. All right. Would you give those to Deputy Trower? And would you return those to our four-person, juror number one? All right. Madam four-person, would you please open the envelope and check the condition of the verdict forms? Thank you. All right, Madam Foreperson, you've had the opportunity to review the verdict forms. Yes. Are they the same forms that you signed, and are they in order? Yes, they are. All right, would you hand those, please, to Deputy Trevor? And you have signed and dated those verdict forms indicating the jury's verdict? [00:04:55] Speaker ?: Yes. [00:04:55] Speaker 1: All right, thank you. Thank you. [00:05:01] Speaker ?: Thank you. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. [00:05:10] Speaker 1: Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen and the jury, I am going to ask that you carefully listen to the verdicts as they are being read by the clerk, Mrs. Robertson, as after the verdicts have been read, you will be asked if these are your verdicts. And I would caution the verdicts, and I would caution the verdicts to remain calm, and that if there is any disruption during the reading of the verdicts, the bailiffs will have the obligation to remove any persons disrupting these proceedings. All right, Ms. Robertson. All right, Mr. Simpson, would you please stand and face the jury? Mrs. Robertson. [00:06:38] Speaker 2: Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles. In the matter of the people of the state of California v. Orenthal James Simpson, case number BA097211, we the jury in the above-entitled action find the defendant, Orenthal James Simpson, not guilty of the crime of murder in violation of penal code section 187A, a felony upon Nicole Browne Simpson, a human being, as charged in count one of the information upon Nicole Browne Simpson, a human being, as charged in count one of the information. Superior Court of the state of California, County of Los Angeles. In the matter of the people of the state of California v. Orenthal James Simpson, we the jury in the above-entitled action find the defendant, Orenthal James Simpson, not guilty of the crime of murder in violation of penal code section 187A, a felony upon Ronald Lyle Goldman, a human being, as charged in count two of the information. We, the jury in the above-entitled action, further find the special circumstance that the defendant, Orenthal James Simpson, has in this case been convicted of at least one crime of murder of the first degree and one or more crimes of murder of the first or second degree to be not true. Signed this second day of October 1995, juror 230. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, is this your verdict? So say you one, so say you all? Yes. [00:07:58] Speaker 1: All right, counsel, Mr. Simpson, would you be seated, please? Yes. Have it quiet in the courtroom, please. All right, Mrs. Robertson, would you please poll the jurors? Poll the jurors. [00:08:15] Speaker 2: Juror number one, as to count one, is this your verdict? Yes. Juror number two, as to count one, is this your verdict? Yes. Juror number two, as to count one, is this your verdict? Yes. Juror number three, as to count one, is this your verdict? Yes. Juror number four, as to count one, is this your verdict? Yes. Juror number five, as to count one, is this your verdict? Yes. Juror number six, as to count one, is this your verdict? Yes. Juror number seven, as to count one, is this your verdict? Yes. Juror number eight, as to count one, is this your verdict? Yes. Juror number nine, as to count one, is this your verdict? Yes. Juror number ten, as to count one, is this your verdict? Yes. Juror number ten, as to count one, is this your verdict? Yes. Juror number ten, as to count one, is this your verdict? Yes. Juror number ten, as to count one, is this your verdict? [00:08:56] Speaker ?: Yes. Juror number ten, as to count one, is this your verdict? Yes. [00:09:00] Speaker 2: Juror number one, as to count two, is this your verdict? Yes. Juror number two, as to count two, is this your verdict? Yes. Juror number three, as to count two, is this your verdict? Yes. Juror number four, as to count two, is this your verdict? Yes. Juror number five, as to count two, is this your verdict? Yes. Juror number six, as to count two, is this your verdict? Yes. Juror number seven, as to count two, is this your verdict? Yes. Juror number eight, as to count two, is this your verdict? Yes. Juror number nine, as to count two, is this your verdict? Yes. Juror number nine, as to count two, is this your verdict? Yes. Juror number ten, as to count two, is this your verdict? Yes. Juror number ten, as to count two, is this your verdict? Yes. Juror number eleven, as to count two, is this your verdict? Yes. Juror number twelve, as to count two, is this your verdict? Yes. Juror number twelve, as to count two, is this your verdict? Inspector. All right. [00:09:37] Speaker 1: The clerk is directed to record the verdicts as read. The parties agree to waive reading of the verdicts as recorded. Mr. Cochran, do you waive reading of the verdicts as recorded? Yes. Mr. Clark. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. All right. Ladies and gentlemen, I want to, at this time, take this opportunity to publicly thank you for the service that you've given to us. The burdens that we've placed upon you were enormous, and I can't begin to express the debt that we owe to you for the time and patience and exertion that you've given to us during the course of this case. I will have an opportunity to meet with you privately later, and I'll give you my private comments when we have a chance to meet. I want to caution you at this time that there is, as you know, intense media interest in this case. The news media will probably seek you out at your home or at your place of business. And I would implore that the news media act responsibly to avoid harassing you or identifying you without your consent or otherwise causing you concern. Whether you wish to cooperate with the news media is, of course, entirely up to you. However, I must warn you to expect the worst as far as that is concerned. We want to -- I know I share with you in expressing our thanks to the bailiffs from the sheriff's department, to our court reporters, Ms. Moxham and Ms. Olsen, to the research attorney, John Byrne, who's assisted us, our Pepperdine law clerks, Mr. Golub and Ms. Carswell, our media liaison jury Ann Hazlett and her staff, and, of course, the jury commissioner, Gloria Gomez and her staff. All right, counsel, is there anything we need to take up before we excuse the jurors? Mr. Cochran? Thank you. All right, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I am now going to excuse you from further service on this case. As you know, this does absolve you from your vows of silence. You may take with you your juror notebooks as you have requested, and we'll be chatting with you shortly. All right, thank you very much, and I'll see you all later. All right. Everybody have a seat, please. All right, Ms. Clark, Mr. Cochran, anything else we need to take up? [00:13:22] Speaker 2: Ms. Clark? Thank you. [00:13:24] Speaker 1: All right, the defendant, having been acquitted of both charges, he is ordered transported to an appropriate sheriff's facility and released forthwith. All right, we'll stand and recess. Thank you, Mr. Cochran. [00:13:35] Speaker ?: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Cochran. Thank you, sir. [00:13:35] Speaker 1: Thank you, Mr. Cochran. [00:13:36] Speaker ?: Thank you, Mr. Cochran. Thank you, Mr. Cochran. Thank you, Mr. Cochran. Thank you, Mr. Cochran. Thank you, Mr. Cochran. Thank you, Mr. Cochran. Thank you, Mr. Cochran. Thank you, Mr. Cochran. Thank you, Mr. Cochran. Thank you, Mr. Cochran. Thank you, Mr. Cochran. Thank you, Mr. Cochran. Thank you, Mr. Cochran. Thank you, Mr. Cochran. Thank you, Mr. Cochran. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Cochran.