From: Jasper
Date: 9/20/00
Time: 12:45:50 PM
I've been searching, without success, for ways in which John might have been right about Arnelle and Rosa's midnight voices. But in the process I saw where I might have been wrong about where the voices came from. If so, it throws the whole weight of the confusion back on Darden and the networks who didn't allow us to see the diagrams of the location in questions. It means there probably was a diagram that showed Darden, Ito and the jury where Rosa heard the midnight voices. It means I owe Johnnie Cochran an apology.
Mr. Cochran, I apologize. I didn't think of the diagrams until early this morning.
When Mark Fuhrman identified himself to Rosa Lopez he asked for permission to go to her back yard. That much Mark and Rosa agree on. The conversation that followed his return is where I think I went wrong.
Q AND CAN YOU LOOK AGAIN AT THAT MONITOR OR YOU MIGHT HAVE TO STEP DOWN AND SHOW US -- STRIKE THAT. DID YOU GIVE HIM PERMISSION TO GO TO THE BACKSIDE OF THE HOUSE?
A YES, I DID, BECAUSE IT WAS THE POLICE.
Q AND DID HE LEAVE THE DOOR AND GO SOMEPLACE AT THAT POINT?
A HE WENT TO THE BACK OF THE HOUSE.
Q AND WOULD THE BACK OF THE HOUSE, WOULD THAT BE THE AREA IN WHICH YOU HAD WALKED THE DOG EARLIER IN THE EVENING, IN THE REAR PORTION OF THE SALINGER'S RESIDENCE?
A YES.
Q DID YOU GO BACK THERE WITH THIS MAN AT THAT POINT?
A NO
Q DO YOU KNOW, IF YOU KNOW, WAS HE WITH ANYONE ELSE AT THIS POINT OR WAS HE BY HIMSELF IF YOU COULD TELL?
A HE WAS WITH ANOTHER PERSON.
Q WAS THAT A MALE OR A FEMALE?
A MALE.
Q AND WHERE WAS THIS -- WHERE WAS THIS MAN WHO WAS WITH HIM?
A HE SAID HE WAS ANOTHER POLICEMAN.
Q AND WHEN YOU GAVE THEM PERMISSION TO GO IN THE BACKYARD THERE, DID THEY LEAVE YOUR SIGHT AT SOME POINT?
A YES. WELL, THEY WENT TO THE BACK AND I DIDN'T FOLLOW THEM.
Q ALL RIGHT. AND DID -- AT SOME POINT THEREAFTER, DID THEY COME BACK, HAVE FURTHER CONVERSATION WITH YOU?
MR. DARDEN: THAT'S LEADING, YOUR HONOR.
MR. COCHRAN: SHE CAN ANSWER THAT YES OR NO. IT'S FOUNDATIONAL.
THE COURT: OVERRULED.
THE WITNESS: THE FIRST MAN WHO KNOCKED ON MY DOOR CAME BACK.
Q BY MR. COCHRAN: ALL RIGHT. AND DID YOU HAVE A FURTHER CONVERSATION WITH HIM AT THAT POINT?
A YES.
Q CAN YOU TELL US WHAT YOU SAID AND WHAT HE SAID?
A HE SAID, "THANK YOU VERY MUCH," AND AT THAT TIME, I SAID -- AND THEN HE SAID TO ME, "TELL THE GARDENERS THAT IF ANYTHING STRANGE THAT THEY FIND IN THE YARD OR -- NOT TO TOUCH, CALL THE POLICE" (IN ENGLISH).
Q ALL RIGHT. DID HE SAY ANYTHING ELSE TO YOU AT THAT POINT?
A AFTER THAT, BECAUSE I HAD SEEN SO MANY POLICE OFFICERS AND SO MANY CAMERAS AND SO MANY THINGS, I ASKED, "WHAT HAPPENED? WHAT'S HAPPENING?" AND HE SAID, "SOMETHING HORRIBLE HAS HAPPENED ON THE OTHER SIDE." AND I ASKED HIM, "IS MR. SIMPSON DEAD OR WOUNDED," AND HE SAID NO.
Q AND WHAT HAPPENED THEN?
A AND THEN I SAID -- AND THEN HE SAID, "WHY?" "BECAUSE LAST NIGHT, VERY LATE, I HEARD VOICES. I HEARD MEN THAT WERE TALKING IN THE BACK OF THE YARD."
Q YOU TOLD THIS DETECTIVE THAT?
A YES, SIR.
Q ALL RIGHT. AND WHEN YOU TOLD HIM THAT, WHAT DID HE SAY, IF ANYTHING?
A AND HE ASKED ME IF I HAD HEARD A WOMAN SCREAMING OR SCREAMS OF A WOMAN AND VOICES, WOMEN VOICES.
Q AND WHAT DID YOU SAY, IF ANYTHING?
A I SAY -- I SAID NO, THEY WERE MEN. AND HE ASKED ME IF IT WAS MR. SIMPSON'S VOICE. Q WHAT DID YOU SAY?
A I SAID NO, I DON'T KNOW.
Q AND THEN WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THAT?
A AND AFTER THAT, HE TOLD ME, "WE ARE GOING TO SEND THE POLICE SO THAT YOU CAN GIVE TESTIMONY TO THE POLICE."
Q AND AFTER HE TOLD YOU THAT, DID ANY POLICE OFFICER FROM THE LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT EVER COME OUT TO INTERVIEW YOU AFTER THAT?
A I'M STILL WAITING FOR THEM TELL HIM.
Q NOW, THIS INTERVIEW WITH THIS DETECTIVE MARK FUHRMAN, WHAT TIME OF MORNING WAS THAT, IF YOU RECALL?
A ABOUT 8:30.
Q AND THAT'S ON WHAT DATE? MONDAY, JUNE 13TH?
A JUNE THE 13TH, ON MONDAY.
Q AND WHILE YOU WERE HAVING THIS CONVERSATION WITH THIS GENTLEMAN, WERE THE GARDENERS STILL THERE AT THAT POINT?
A YES.
Q AT ANY POINT WHILE YOU WERE TALKING WITH THIS INDIVIDUAL, DID YOU EVER SEE HIM WRITE DOWN ANY NOTES OF ANY KIND?
A HE DIDN'T WRITE ANYTHING DOWN.
Q DID YOU HAVE ANY FURTHER CONVERSATION WITH HIM AFTER HE TOLD YOU THAT SOMEONE WOULD BE COMING TO INTERVIEW YOU FROM THE LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT?
MR. DARDEN: OBJECTION. THAT'S ASKED AND ANSWERED.
THE COURT: OVERRULED.
THE WITNESS: THEY NEVER CAME BACK.
What do you make of that exchange? Mark and Marcia were talking about the Salinger's backyard and anything strange that the gardeners might find back there. Mark tells her that, "Something horrible has happened on the other side." That's when Rosa tells him about the voices she heard in "the back of the yard"
Was she talking about O.J.'s back yard or the back of his front yard? A driveway on the Salinger's property ran straight from front to rear of the Salinger's estate parallel to the narrow walkway on the south border of O.J.'s estate. Therefore, parking their cars unseen on the unoccupied property of the people across the alley or coasting to a stop in the Salinger's own backyard and walking back and forth between the front and the rear in rubber-soled shoes without being heard, would have been easy. They could have crossed the fence into O.J.'s front yard at any convenient point Is it possible that they were walking along the outer edge of O.J.'s driveway trying to see the blood drops for themselves to determine if they could make a bleeding killer scenario work? If so, the midnight voices could have come from "the back of" O.J.'s front yard. It would explain why Rosa heard them, Kato didn't, and the men would believe they could talk freely without being heard. Although Rosa worked in the Salinger's house for three years, she'd lived there for five days.
What do you think? --Jasper