This web site is dedicated to those journalists who covered the criminal and civil trials of O.J. Simpson
The Criminal Trial
One of the longest trials in California history
74% of Americans knew who Kato Kaelin was - only 25% could identify
Vice President Al Gore
91% of the television audience watched it
142 million tuned in on radio or tv for the verdict
An estimated 2000 reporters
80 miles of cable strung through the Criminal Courts Building for 19
tv stations
Coverage from 23 newspapers and magazines
The Los Angeles Times published over 1000 articles on the case
50,000 pages of transcript
Over 80 books published
The trial's estimated cost - more than 20 million to prosecute and
defend
"We this afternoon are talking about the facts. And so it
doesn't
make
any sense.
It just doesn't fit. If it doesn't fit, you must acquit"
-Johnnie
Cochran.
"When you think about reasonable doubt, you think about not only a doubt found in reason opposed to mere possibility as I talked to you about before, but you talk about something that's missing that you need to believe that the Defendant is guilty. And in that sense, I compare it to a jig-saw puzzle. In order to get the picture, to know what a jig-saw puzzle is depicting, if you're missing a couple pieces of the sky, you still have the picture". -Marcia Clark
"There's a killer in this courtroom." -Daniel
Petrocelli
Ron
Olsen
Joe
Bosco
Walter Richards
The "snapping jackals" of the press-
"Snapping Jackals," that's what
Judge Ito called
us.
As is mentioned above, an estimated 2000 reporters covered
the
Criminal
Trial.
It started with a
double murder on Bundy Dr.
on 6/13/94. For some, it did not end until the conclusion of
the
Civil Trial in Santa Monica
on
2/10/97. It was a 7/24
proposition.
Lives were literally put on hold.. People were married and
divorced.
Birthdays were celebrated on
the 12th floor of the Criminal
Courts
Building.
People died. Chris Harris of KTTV, had a heart attack
and
passed
away as the
Criminal Trial was getting
started. Robin
Clark
of the Philadelphia Inquirer, died in an auto accident on Pacific Coast
Highway.
Author Joe Bosco, kept
covering the trial
despite
a broken neck. KTLA Anchor Marta Waller, was hospitalized for
back
surgery.
The Federal Building in Oklahoma
City
exploded.
Through it all, the trial moved on for nine long
months.
Then
came the depositions
at Dan Petrocelli's office in
West L.A. prior to the
Civil Trial in Santa Monica. Most of the old players from the
Criminal
Trial
returned, along with a few
newcomers.
The Civil Trial ended, but the story kept going with
financial
accountability
hearings.
In his book "A Good
Life," Ben Bradlee writes
that
there are certain events that "mark your life."
The Simpson Trials marked many
lives - only
those who were there can understand precisely what that means.
Here is a list of some of the journalists who spent day after day in the legal trenches.
Steve Kindred - Furnell Chatman - John North - Michelle Caruso
-
Mike
Fleeman - Dan Whitcomb - Linda Deutsch
Andrea
Ford
- Cynthia McFadden - Shirley Pearlman - Lonnie Lardner - Dominick Dunne
- David Goldstein - Laura Mecoy
Jessica Seigel - Bill Robles - Dan Abrams - Matt Krasnowski - Chris
Cahan - Joe McGinniss - Bill Boyarski
Henry Weinstein - David Margolick - Joe Bosco - Janet Gilmore
- Mona Edwards - Jacquelin Sonderling - Harvey Levin
Chris Harris - Steve Werblin - Vinnie Schodolski - Marta Waller - Bryan
Bland - Kitty Felde - Larry Schiller - Robin
Clark
Jeffrey Toobin - Monika Evans - David Dow - Rikki Klieman - Fred Graham
- Mary Jane Stevenson - Jane Wells
Robert Virella - Carlos Quintero - Barbara Tarlau - Rodney Gilmore
- Lou Cannon - Walter Richards - Ron Olsen
Sights and Sounds of the Simpson Trial