USA: OJ SIMPSON TRIAL: DEFENCE SUMMING UP

(28 Sep 1995) English/Nat

OJ Simpson's lead defence attorney called on the 12 jurors Thursday to stop what he called the cover-up at the Los Angeles Police Department by setting his client free.

In his summing up, defence lawyer Johnnie Cochran accused the police of racism and even made comparisons to Adolf Hitler.

The remarks triggered an angry response from Fred Goldman, father of murder victim Ronald Goldman which in turn provoked the Simpson family to speak outside the courtroom for the first time.

Round two of closing arguments for OJ Simpson's defence team continued in Los Angeles as lawyers targeted the Los Angeles Police Department.

The team's top defence lawyer Johnnie Cochran accused the police of lying and of trying to frame Simpson for murder at any cost.

SOUNDBITE:
"That is what I'm asking you to do. Stop this cover-up. Stop this cover-up. If you don't stop it then who will."
SUPER CAPTION: Johnnie Cochran, Defence lawyer

Cochran then singled out lead Detective Phil Vanatter for what Cochran called lies and Detective Mark Fuhrman for his racist views.

Cochran claims the police went to OJ Simpson's house after the murders because they had already decided that OJ had committed the crime.

SOUNDBITE:
"The two of them need to be paired together because they are twins of deception, Fuhrman and Vanatter, twins of deception who bring you a message that you cannot trust."
SUPER CAPTION: Johnnie Cochran, Defence lawyer

During the trial, Vanatter strongly denied that OJ was framed as the main suspect and that police had only gone to his house to inform him of the death of his wife.

But Cochran continued his racist theme by comparing Fuhrman, who during the trial was exposed as having racist attitudes, to Adolf Hitler.

SOUNDBITE:
"People didn't care, people say he's just crazy, he's just a half-baked painter. They didn't do anything about it. This man, this scourge, became one of the worst people in the history of this world, Adolf Hitler, because people didn't care, didn't try to stop him. Because he had the power over his racism and his anti-religionism. Nobody wanted to stop him and it ended up in World War Two."
SUPER CAPTION: Johnnie Cochran, Defence lawyer

Fred Goldman, father of the murdered Ron Goldman, and his family were extremely upset by Cochran's tactics.

In an emotional outburst outside the court, Goldman viciously attacked Cochran saying that he should be sent to jail along with his client.

SOUNDBITE:
"He is one of the most disgusting human beings I have ever had to listen to in my life. He suggests that racism ought to be the most important thing that any one of us has to listen to in this court, that anyone of us in this nation should be listening to and its because of racism that we should put aside all other thought, all other reason and set his murdering client free. He's a sick man and he ought to be put away. He's a disgusting human being."
SUPER CAPTION: Fred Goldman, Ron Goldman's father

This personal slur on Cochran so upset the members of OJ's family that they broke their silence and spoke to the press.

OJ's sister, flanked by relatives including OJ's wheelchair-bound mother Eunice and his two children from a previous marriage, Jason and Arnelle, hit back.

SOUNDBITE:
SUPER CAPTION: Shirley Simpson, OJ Simpson's sister

She demanded that arguing during the remaining days of the trial should be left to the lawyers.

SOUNDBITE:
SUPER CAPTION: Shirley Simpson, O.J Simpson's sister


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