(4 of 7)
Petrocelli & Co. has, for instance, rethought the time line. Prosecutors Clark and Christopher Darden built their case on the theory that the murders were committed between 10:15 and 10:20 p.m. on June 12, bringing on Nicole's neighbor Pablo Fenjves to testify that he heard the "plaintive wail" of Kato the Akita at around that time. The prosecutors felt that gave Simpson plenty of time to commit the murders, then return to his Rockingham estate by about 10:45 or 10:50, which is when limousine driver Allan Park says he saw a dark figure entering the house.
Now, though, Petrocelli's team has opted to go with witness Robert Heidstra, who was previously a witness for the defense. In late October, Heidstra told the civil jury that he heard a voice yelling, "Hey, hey, hey!" at about 10:40 and that moments later he saw a white utility vehicle speeding away from the scene. Though this tightens the race Simpson would have had to make between Nicole's house and his own, Heidstra is a strong witness. "Some of us always thought it was a mistake to pin the murders to 10:15," a former Simpson prosecutor says. "[Heidstra's] story has always been consistent."
Instead of using the L.A. County coroners, the plaintiffs put Dr. Werner Spitz, a respected pathologist, on the stand. His testimony that the cuts on Simpson's left hand were caused by the struggle with Ron Goldman, who gouged Simpson with his fingernails, riveted jurors. (Spitz even offered to rake his nails across defense lawyer Robert Baker's skin to demonstrate. "We're not going to have any gouging of flesh out in my courtroom," Judge Fujisaki said.) Even without that dramatic flare-up, the cuts--or rather the assorted stories he has told about them--may prove problematic for the defense. Simpson testified at his January deposition that he cut his left pinkie as he rushed around getting ready to leave for Chicago the night of the murders. "I bleed all the time," he told police when he was interrogated after the murders. He also said he may have cut his hand on a glass in his Chicago hotel room, then testified during his deposition that maybe he cut his hand again after he returned. And last week Kato Kaelin piled on, testifying that he saw no cuts on Simpson's hand at 11 p.m., when Simpson left for his Chicago business trip, even though Simpson has claimed that he saw blood in his kitchen and dabbed at his bleeding pinkie with a tissue.