You’d be hard pressed to find someone in California, or anywhere in the nation for that matter that hasn’t heard about the O.J. Simpson trial, made infamous by Johnnie Cochran’s statement of “if it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.” The Simpson defense was relieved when the jury returned a verdict of not-guilty.
But 17 years later, the former Los Angeles deputy district attorney accused the now deceased Cochran of “manipulating” one of the famous gloves allegedly used in the murders. “I think Johnnie tore the lining,” he insisted during a panel discussion about the trial at Pace Law School in New York City. “There were some additional tears in the lining so that O.J.’s fingers couldn’t go all the way up into the glove,” he continued.
In a follow-up interview, the former prosecutor says that, when Simpson was trying on the gloves, he allegedly noticed that its structure appeared to have changed. He noted that he spoke to the bailiff who apparently told him that the defense had the glove during the lunch hour. Putting two and two together, he became formulating his suspicions.
When asked why he hadn’t brought this alleged misconduct to the bar association’s attention, he responded that it would have made him a snitch, something he did not believe in being. He also claims that it wouldn’t have changed anything in the criminal defense trial.
One of Simpson’s former defense attorneys disagrees, stating that the defense could not have tampered with the glove, pointing out that the defense doesn’t get access to evidence except under controlled circumstances. He also says that if the former prosecutor had evidence that there had been tampering, then he would have had an ethical obligation to report the alleged misconduct.
Simpson’s former defense attorney is shocked by the former prosecutor’s accusations against Cochran, stating that after 17 years, “he’s trying to blame it on the dead man.”
Source: Reuters, “Ex-prosecutor claims O.J. Simpson attorney tampered with glove,” Terry Baynes, Sept. 8, 2012