Edition: U.S. / Global

Alternate Simpson Juror Is Dismissed for Boasting About Case

Published: December 18, 1996


The friend, who happened to be a sheriff's deputy, reported the card to court officials, said a person who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Jurors were not told why the alternate, a man in his 40's, was dismissed. But Judge Hiroshi Fujisaki sternly reminded them of the rules against talking about the case.

''I've warned you about talking about this case,'' the judge said. ''You are not to initiate any contact.''

The dismissed alternate told lawyers in the jury selection that he was unbiased and, ''I call them as I see them.''

On Nov. 26, another alternate, Ann-Marie Jamison, was dismissed for what the judge said was improper contact with one of the legal teams. Ms. Jamison said she merely commented that she liked the tie worn by a technician who puts up evidence displays in court. Two other alternates have been dismissed, a woman who got caught sleeping and man who got sick. In the midst of jury selection, a man was dismissed from the primary jury for drinking, and the selection process was reopened.

The jury was seated on Oct. 18. Only four alternate jurors remain.

Before the dismissal, a plaintiff's lawyer, Edward Medvene, accused a defense pathologist, Dr. Michael Baden, of shading his testimony to favor Mr. Simpson and pulled out a tape of a television talk show to illustrate his point.

The lawyer and witness clashed repeatedly as Mr. Medvene sought to undermine Dr. Baden's testimony that he believed two attackers killed Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald L. Goldman on the night of June 12, 1994, and that it took a relatively long time for the victims to die.

Dr. Baden testified earlier that a long struggle and the lack of screams during the slayings supported his theory that two attackers restrained Mrs. Simpson and Mr. Goldman.

Mr. Medvene focused on Dr. Baden's testimony that Mr. Goldman could have been on his feet struggling with a killer for two to three minutes after he was stabbed in the jugular vein.

The lawyer asked Dr. Baden whether he had told a national television audience that Mr. Goldman was standing for 5 or 10 minutes.

''I don't think I said it that way,'' Dr. Baden said.

Mr. Medvene, trying to show jurors that Dr. Baden was changing his testimony to help Mr. Simpson, played a part of Dr. Baden's interview on a Nov. 11 ''Rivera Live'' television show in which Dr. Baden said: ''It would have taken 5 or 10 minutes for the blood to go down to the left shoe. He was standing for that period.''

''Does that refresh you, sir?'' Mr. Medvene asked. ''Yes or no?''

''Yes,'' Dr. Baden said.

The pathologist later said the difference between 2, 3 and 5 minutes did not matter significantly because the gap between the first stab wound and death was still 5 to 10 minutes. He said Mr. Goldman continued to bleed after he collapsed.

Dr. Baden's time line differs dramatically from that of the plaintiffs' pathologist, who said both victims could have died in about a minute.

Mr. Simpson, who was acquitted of murder in a criminal trial last year, watched impassively through the acrimonious questioning from Mr. Medvene. He was then sued for wrongful death by the victims' families, who want Mr. Simpson held responsible for the two killings and a cash award as compensation.