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Friday, September 29, 1995 Page 2
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Cochran to jurors: ‘Do the right thing’
President concerned about
trial's racial implications
LOS ANGELES — In a thunder
ing summation that rocked the court,
Johnnie Cochran Jr. exhorted O.J.
Simpson’s mostly black jury Thurs
day to “do the right thing” and acquit
Simpson as a message against racism
andpolice misconduct.
At the end of Cochran’s passion
ate, final presentation to jurors, the
judge said prosecutor Marcia Clark
would conclude her rebuttal Friday,
clearing the way for the case to be
placed in their hands in the after
noon.
In the fevered style of a revival
preacher, Cochran invoked biblical
texts, referred to two key detectives
as “the twin devils of deception” and
told the spellbound jurors that fate
had given them a chance to change
history,
“Maybe there is a reason why we ’re
here,” he said. “Maybe you’re the
right people at the right time at the
right place to say: 'No more!’”
“Stop this cover-up! Stop this
cover-up!” Cochran bellowed. “You
are the consciences of this commu
nity.”
Far from Los Angeles, President
Clinton said he was uneasy about the
racial implications of the trial.
“I’m concerned about it, and I
hope the American people will not let
this become some symbol of the larger
racial issue in our country,” he told
NBC-TV in Washington.
In his final words to the jury,
Cochran implored jurors acquit
Simpson, as he stood before a wall
size blowup of Simpson and his small
daughter, Sydney, and spoke of a
father’s love.
“Someone has taken these
children’s mother,” he said. “I hope
your decision doesn’t take their fa
ther.”
Cochran ’ s impassioned appeal was
followed by the cooler, scientific
analysis of defense attorney Barry
Scheck, who told jurors: “There is a
cancer at the heart of this case.”
Scheck insisted they could not trust
any of the DNA analysis of blood
because the samples were contami
nated and tampered within the “black
hole” of the Los Angeles Police De
partment crime lab.
“Somebody played with this evi
dence,” he said. “There’s no doubt
about it.”
Cochran’s emotion-packed dis
course — often focused on Detective
Mark Fuhrman — clearly was de
signed to rouse feelings of racial soli
darity among the nine black mem
bers of the 12-person jury. The jury
sat mesmerized through Cochran’s
arguments.
“A racist is someone who has
power over you,” he told them. “This
man would lie and set you up because
of the hatred he has in his heart.”
Comparing Fuhrman to Adolf
Hitler and stressing the images of
genocide, Cochran said the former
detective targeted Simpson after
learning in the 1980s that the black
football star was married to a white
woman.
During Cochran’s summation,
Goldman’s father, Fred, sat tapping
his foot in agitation. At the break, he
went before TV cameras and lashed
out at Cochran.
“This man is sick,” he said. “This
man is a horror walking around
amongst us.”
“We have seen a man who perhaps
is the worst kind of racist himself,”
Goldman told reporters, “someone
who shoves racism in front of every
thing, someone who compares some
one who speaks racist comments to
Hitler, a person who murdered mil
lions of people. This man is the worst
kind of human being imaginable.”
Those comments spurred the nor
mally silent Simpson family to re
spond on camera with their own news
conference.
“We have waited all this time, and
now ... the attorneys are telling my
brother’s story. And it’s very shock
ing that once Johnnie gets up and
starts telling what we feel happened
that this has rocked somebody’s
world,” Simpson’s sister Carmelita
Durio said.
In court, the panelists began to
take notes during Scheck’s methodi
cal recounting of the flaws in physi
cal evidence. He said it was clear that
a pair of socks found in Simpson’s
bedroom had been soaked in blood
after they were found — not before.
And he showed evidence pointing to
the planting of blood on a back gate
of Ms. Simpson’s condominium.
Scheck suggested that Ms.
Simpson’s dog, Kato, may have
played a larger role in the investiga
tion than suspected. The dog’s wail
has been credited by the prosecution
as sounding the alert that led to the
bodies.
News
in a
Mlnuti
Student slain studying prostitutes
PONTIAC, Mich. — A student who descended into the underworld
of prostitution for a research project was found slain, and a drifter she
had met through an escort service was charged Thursday with her
murder.
The Oakland Press of Pontiac quoted unidentified detectives as
saying that the victim, Tina Biggar, the 23-year-old daughter of a Coast •
Guard commander, had been working as a prostitute.
At his arraignment, Kenneth Tranchida, 42, declared, “I’m guilty.”
But no plea was entered, and Judge Stephen Cooper urged him to speak
to a lawyer. Tranchida, who was arrested Monday, was jailed without
bail.
Biggar, an undergraduate psychology student at Oakland Univer
sity, was working on a research project on prostitutes and AIDS,
funded by the government’s Centers for Disease Control and Preven
tion.
Reynolds gets five-year sentence
CHICAGO — Rep. Mel Reynolds, his promising political career
ruined by his conviction for having sex with a teen-age campaign
worker, was sentenced Thursday to.fi ve years in prison by a judge who
told him bluntly, “You blew it.” .
“I think of all those things you could have done for education, for
those kids ... who will join gangs because you weren’t there to help,”
Judge Fred G. Suria told the 43-year-old lawmaker. “...You threw it
away.”
Before the sentencing, Reynolds accused the prosecution and media
of racism.
“When they shackle me, like they shackled my slave ancestors and
take me off to jail, nobody in this room will see me crawl,” the black
congressman said.
Suria sentenced Reynolds to the mandatory minimum four years in
prison for criminal sexual assault, a concurrent four year term for child
pornography and one year for obstruction of justice.
Court delays cutting down old tree
ALBANY, Ga. — A 300-year-old oak tree threatened by a road
widening project will remain standing in the middle of a busy intersec
tion, after the Georgia Supreme Court granted it a temporary reprieve
Thursday.
The high court ordered a delay in cutting down the tree to give
justices time to rule on an appeal by tree supporters, whose efforts to
save the tree were rejected by a lower court judge.
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Arafat, Rabin sign milestone accord
WASHINGTON — In another
milestone toward peace, Israeli Prime
Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO
chief Yasser Arafat signed an agree
ment Thursday ending Israel’s mili
tary occupation of West Bank cities
and laying the foundation for a Pales
tinian state.
“We want you as good neighbors,”
the gravelly-voiced Rabin told Arafat,
his onetime blood enemy.
“Enough killing and enough kill
ing of innocent people,” Arafat de
clared to loud applause.
President Clinton presided over
two hours of speeches and pageantry
before an audience of 200 diplomats,
foreign ministers, Cabinet secretar
ies and members of Congress. Egyp
tian President Hosni Mubarak and
Jordan’s King Hussein joined Clinton
as witnesses to the accord.
“Chapter by chapter, Jews and
Arabs are writing a new history for
their ancient lands,” Clinton said.
Arafat and Rabin both called on Syria
and Lebanon to drop their reluctance
to join the peace process.
To worldwide acclaim, Arafat and
Rabin signed a tortuously negotiated
agreement for Israel to relinquish
control of territory it captured from
Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War.
The agreement outlines in pains
taking detail the step-by-step with
“This means that by the beginning, middle or end
of December, all populated areas in the West Bcmk
... will be free of Israeli soldiers. ”
YASSER ARAFAT
PLO chief
drawal of Israeli forces and the trans
fer of governing authority for Pales
tinian self-rule in 30 percent of the
West Bank, containing most of its
Arab population. The accord also
allows for Palestinian elections.
Arafat, addressing a group of busi
ness leaders investing in Palestine,
said Thursday night that the Israeli
pullout would begin within 10 days
and require about two months to com
plete.
“This means that by the begin
ning, middle or end of December, all
populated areas in the West Bank —
cities, towns, villages, hamlets and
refugee camps — will be free of
Israeli soldiers,” he said.
The accord also calls for the re
lease of 5,000 Palestinian prisoners
by Israel. The first group was to have
been released Thursday, but Arafat,
offering no reason for the delay, said
it will occur Sunday. He said the
second group would be released be
fore the election and the third group
after it.
The document was a follow-up to
the 1993 White House agreement
that brought Rabin and Arafat to
gether for a historic handshake of
peace.
“Please, take a good, hard look,”
Rabin told the hushed audience. “The
sight you see before you at this mo
ment was impossible, was unthink
able just three years ago.”
But Rabin also warned that peace
could crumble unless both sides unite
against terrorists who are trying to
prevent peace. “Don’t let it happen,”
he implored. ^
“If all the partners to the peace
making do not unite against the evil
angels of death by terrorism, all that
will remain of this ceremony are color
snapshots, empty mementos,” Rabin
said.
U.S. servicemen formally charged with rape
TOKYO — Three U.S. service
men were charged Friday with ab
ducting and raping a 12-year-old girl,
clearing the way for their delivery to
Japanese authorities as protesters
nationwide have vehemently de
manded.
The rape has caused a major up
roar on Okinawa, one of the United
States’ most important military out
posts in the Pacific, and generated a
nationwide debate over whether Ja
pan should revise the terms under
which 45,000 U.S. troops are sta
tioned.
Charged Friday were Marine Pfc.
Rodrico Harp, 21, of Griffin, Ga.;
Pfc. Kendrick M. Ledet, 20, of
Waycross, Ga.; and Navy Seaman
Marcus D. Gill, 22, of Woodville,
Texas.
The charges were filed Friday
r.. — 1 1
morning at the Naha District Court,
court spokesman Hidekatsu Shinjo
said. Marine spokesmen had no im
mediate comment but have promised
to cooperate fully with the Japanese
authorities.
Authorities believe the three ab
ducted the girl Sept. 4 near her home,
threw her into the back of a rented
van and bound her with electrical
tape. They drove her to a beach,
where they raped her, police say.
Local police sought custody of the
three shortly after the rape was re
ported, but their request was denied
by the U.S. Marines, who cited a
bilateral agreement that gives U.S.
forces custody over personnel sus
pected in crimes until formal charges
are filed.
Hoping to soothe Okinawan an
ger, U.S. Ambassador Walter
Mondale, Defense Secretary Will
iam Perry and President Clinton have
offered apologies and vowed to pre
vent more such violence.
Marine Maj. Gen. Wayne Rollings,
the top commander on Okinawa, has
declared next Wednesday a “day of
reflection” and said routine training
would be replaced by a full day of
discussions on the military’s stan
dards of conduct and host nation sen
sitivities.
Both Tokyo and Washington have
stressed that they do not want the
current storm to affect their overall
security ties. Both sides fear a review
of the pact, particularly at a time
when public emotions are high, could
open up a Pandora’s Box of poten
tially divisive issues.
Nebraskan
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