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From: Maggie
Date: 13 Jul 2000
Time: 23:31:21
If anyone is interested there is a very interesting comparison to be made between Vannatter's testimony at the Preliminary Hearing and Lange's testimony at the Criminal Trial.
Both officers were adamant that they had entered together with Arnelle by the back door of the house. Vannatter even insisted Arnelle used a key on the back door. The back door was proven to have no keyhole in the civil trial. (So glad that jury was awake!!!)
In the Preliminary Hearing Vannatter says he was concerned for the maid and so asked Arnelle where the maid's room was (as soon as they got inside the door of the house). He goes on to say that Arnelle took him to the room right away and opened the door for him to look inside.
See testimony at
http://207.175.199.183/~walraven/simpson/ph_jul06.html
Lange in the Criminal Trial says that he was concerned for the maid so he asked Arnelle as soon as they got inside the door where the maid's room was. He says she pointed to "a location to the rear of the kitchen" (as if he knew where the kitchen was when he entered by the back door) and then he followed behind Arnelle to the maid's room to check on the maid. How was this possible? How did Arnelle hear him ask his question and how did she then answer him given that she had supposedly taken Vannatter "right away" to the maid's room. Also Lange says he followed her to the room and that Arnelle went on to the "vicinity of the kitchen" but he does not say that his partner was with Arnelle as he followed her. He does say that Arnelle got to the kitchen area and he believed that Vanatter was there as well. Why did he not mentioned that he had seen him all along?
See testimony at
http://207.175.199.183/~walraven/simpson/feb21.html
And, why did Lange feel the need to also check the room if he had to have just seen Vannatter check the room with Arnelle? Also remember that Vannatter never told us that Lange was behind he and Arnelle.
Something is weird about this testimony. If they entered together then they could have checked the maid's room together. There was no need for each of them to lay claim to being the one who asked about the maid. Once one heard the other ask that would have been sufficient for Arnelle to answer (both said they asked as soon as they were inside). And if Arnelle pointed to the location for Lange why didn't Vannatter see her point as well. And what is with Lange giving the location of the maid's room as if he had entered by the front door. (From the kitchen (i.e., just inside the fron door) one could say Arnelle had pointed to a location behind the kitchen but one could not say that if one were entering by the the rear of the house unless one said that Arnelle pointed to a location which was later determined to be behind the kitchen.)
This is no small point because these officers were trying to make Arnelle look as if she were not telling the truth when she said they entered by the front door. I think this proves that Arnelle told the truth. So why did these officers want to have seemed to have entered by the back door?
Could it be because if they had admitted that they entered by the front door then they would have had to admit that there was enough light to see what one was doing outside the front door without needing lights on and so OJ was correct in saying that he came out of the house with no lights on and that he had turned them on when he went back inside to get more bags. Recall Kato set the alarm and he never said he needed a light to do that