T he P ortland O bserver • A ugust 9, 1995
P age AS
Thinking About O.J.
A Conversation With Attorney
John L. Burris
m E m i) B f m ford
()ne positive consequence ofthe
lengthy and highly visible O.J.
Simpson trial, is the emergence in the
public consciousness o f a group of
sharp, insightful black legal analysts
frpm throughout the country.
These lawyers have offered the
American public some first rate in
sights into the many dramatic shifts
and turns, and legal maneuvers that
h?s kept the public in total fascina
tion for months.
One ofthe best o f these attorney
isO akland based John L. Burris Mr.
Burris is seen and heard frequently
on both radio and television, from a
regular spot on “ Rivera Live” and
CNN, to guest spots on “The Today
Show, and on ABC Radio and “Sport
Fan USA Radio.” Plus he is a regular
analyst for New York Newsday and
other local and regional newspapers.
In addition, he is a regular on
several local television shows, in
cluding Fox’s KTVU in Oakland,
and AM Philadelphia.
There is now a pair o f dark sun
glasses in Mr. Burris’ office, and for
good reason. But the O.J. Simpson
trial is not the first big time case for
him. Last year, he was Associate
Trial Counsel for Rodney King, and
helped Mr. King win S3.5 million
from the city o f Los Angeles.
“ When 1 gave the closing argu
ments in behalf o f Mr King, and sat
down, and looked at the face o f the
jury, and the courtroom audience,
who all looked spellbounded, I knew
that something had changed in my
life,” Mr. Burris said, smiling fondly
at that memory.
Change indeed! With that argu
ment, which partially resulted in
Rodney King walking away a multi
millionaire, the public now counts
him' among the top lawyers in the
country.
But according to Burris, “O.J is
something else again.” He offers his
views from a suite o f offices high
above the city o f Oakland that offers
a spectdPular view o f parts o f the San
Francisco Bay.
If the O J. case is “something
else again” what is it that makes it so,
and will the case have a lasting im
pact on both race relations, and on
our concept o f justice, and our faith
in the criminal justice system?
“ Well,: he answered, in that fa
miliar, straight forward manner that
television viewers have grown ac
customed to, “for one, while it does
not have such overriding issues such
as Anita Hill versus Clarence Tho
mas, which dealt with the issue o f
tem And there may be attempts to
limit the kinds o f defenses lawyers
can put on in behalf o f their client
John L. Burris:
"There are blacks
who are unwilling
to hear any
evidence. Just as
there are whites
who say
evidence be
damn. The real
message in
those polls is that
both sides are
wearing race on
their sleeves,
reflecting the still
deep racial divide
in this country."
sexual harassment in the workplace,
or Rodney King versus the Los An
geles Police D epartm ent, which
raised questions about police mis
conduct.
This is a Hollywood soap opera.
“There is the obvious larger is
sue o f domestic violence, no ques
tion about that. But here you have a
rich, handsome, world famous, in
fact, more famous than any o f us
knew, black athlete/actor. And the
w hite b lo n d G o d d e ss. L iste n ,
Shakespeare saw the drama in that
centuries ago when he wrote Othello.
This is what the public is relating to.
“So on the question o f law and
public policy, I don’t think that this
case is going to mean that much. I
think that it is an aberration unless
O.J. is acquitted. Then we may see a
w hite backlash against the jury sys-
Simpson's Defense Team Makes Plans
O.J. Sim pson’s “dr^am team ” o f
lawyers was spending the weekend
preparing a multi-pronged defense
o f the football hero against a strong
prosecution case that he killed his ex-
wife and her friend
The first order o f business, ac
cording to defense attorney Carl
D ouglas, will be to re-establish
Simpson in the ju ro rs’ eyes “as the
O.J. we all know and love” and not
the man the prosecution has sought
to depict as a wife-beater and stalker
who turned into a vicious killer.
To that end, the first witness to
take the stand when the defense opens
its case Monday will be Sim pson’s
daughter from his first marriage,
Amelle, who was living with him at
his multimillion-dollar mansion when
the murders took place on the night
o f June 12, 1994.
Amelle was awakened on the
morning o f June 13 by detectives
who had gone to the mansion to
inform Simpson o f his ex-jvife’s
death. The former star running back
was in Chicago, havingtaken an over
night flight there the night before.
S im pson, w ho parlayed his
prowess on the football field into a
successful career as a popular sports
caster, actor and TV advertising
pitchman, has pleaded not guilty to
th e m u rd e rs o f N ic o le B row n
Simpson and Ronald Goldman, a
waiter at a chic restaurant in the posh
Brentwood neighborhood o f Los
Angeles.
The tw o w ere stab b ed and
slashed to death outside Nicole Sim
pson’s luxury Brentwood townhouse,
where Goldman had gone to return a
pair o f prescription sunglasses left at
his restaurant by N icole’s mother
earlier in the evening.
Amelle will be followed on the
witness stand by Sim pson’s mother,
Eunice, and his sister, Carmelita
Durio.
They were expected to be fol
lowed by two witnesses who would
testify to Simpson’s dem eanor in the
week leading up to the killings —
Helen C onnor, who sat next to
Simpson and his girlfriend, model-
actress Paula Barbieri, at a dinner the
night before the murders, and interi
or designer Mary Collins, who met
with Simpson on the Tuesday before
the murders to discuss remodeling
his master bedroom.
“These are demeanor witness
es,” Cochran said when prosecutor
Chris Darden questioned their rele
vance during Friday’s court session.
Darden said he intended to raise
objections to many o f the people on
the defense witness list, adding, “ I
suspect there w on’t be much testimo
ny taken Monday.”
The defense also plans to put
two of Sim pson’s golfing buddies o n ,
the stand, as well as passengers on
the flight to Chicago who will testify
that he did not act like a man who had
just stabbed two people to death.
In a d d itio n , S im p so n ’s high-
po w ered d efen se team was ex
p ected to attack the re lia b ility o f
the D NA b lood e v id e n c e that
a p p e a re d to link Sim pson to the
m urders, w ith pro secu tio n ex p ert
w itn esses saying the ch ances o f
anyone e lse com m ittirtg the m ur
ders w ere b illio n s to one.
Sim pson’s lawyers will also try
to put back the time o f the murders,
which prosecutors say took place at
around 10:15 p.m , a time-frame that
would have allowed the former star
running back to get rid o f his bloody
clothes and the murder weapon and
still drive to his estate two miles
away in time to meet a limousine for
the trip to the airport at 11:00 p.m.
The defense team was also ex
pected to renew its attack on Detec
tive Mark Fuhrman, who testified he
found one o f the infamous bloody
gloves worn by the murderer on Sim
pson’s estate.
Defense lawyers have painted
him as a racist rogue cop out to frame
Simpson. Famed trial lawyer F. Lee
Bailey indicated earlier he might call
Fuhrman back to the stand during the
defense phase o f the trial.
Forensic Testing: What’s It All About?
The prosecution and the defense
in the Simpson trial will rely on sev
eral tests o f physical evidence to link
or not link O.J. Simpson to the crimes
he has been accused o f committing.
Here’s a look at the key techniques:
Blood'
Forensic scien tists perform
chemical tests to determine whether
a sample is indeed blood. Once con
firmed that the sample is blood, spe
cies tests are then run to determine if
it is human blood and then the blood
type
Hair
Hair is first examined under a
microscope for color and details o f
form and shape. Scientists can deter
mine whether the hair is animal or
human and can also identify, what
part o f the body the hair is from,
damage to the hair and whether the
hair is bleached or dyed. If the root is
attached to the strand, gender can
also be determined from the chromo
somes in cells o f the root.
DNA
Each person’s genetic material
is unique and the human body creates
a special “fingerprint” o f chromo
somes (long strands o f DNA) which
can be compared by testing the same
person. If the sample results differ
from those o f a criminal suspect, they
cannot have come from that suspect.
Small DNA samples from a crime
scene can be multiplied millions o f
times using a method called poly
merase chain reaction (PCR).
The PCR test looks at six differ
ent inherited traits, each controlled
by a specific gene. Every gene has at
least two alternative forms, called
alleles. For six different genes, there
are 2 1 possible combinations o f alle
les. PCR analysis looks for matches
in these 2 1 combinations. Results are
recorded as either blue or blank dots
on a nylon strip. A blue dot is a hit
while a blank dot is a miss.
Another DNA test is restriction
fragm ent length po ly m o rp h ism
(RFLP)analysis. This method, which
takes about ten weeks to complete,
consists o f extracting DNA from a
specimen o f blood or tissue, slicing it
into fragments, and tagging them with
a radioactive probe so that they would
expose to a piece o f X-ray film. The
resulting pattern o f stripes on the
film is a DNA “fingerprint” that can
be compared with another from the
same person. If these stripes don’t
match from the known and unknown
samples, this is conclusive evidence
that they came from different people,
but if they do match, experts will
argue they came from the same per
son.
New Law Targets Neighborhood Speeders
A senate bill authorizing the use
o f photo radar in Portland and Bea
verton has been signed into law by
Gov. John Kitzaber.
F la n k e d by P o rtla n d C ity
C o m m issio n e r E arl B lu m en au er,
S tate S e n a to r Ron C ease, Rep.
Ken S tro b e c k , B e a v e rto n C ity
C o m m issio n e rC a th y Stanton and
area re sid e n ts, K itz a b e r put a
stam p on S en ate B ill 382 d e
signed to red u ce e x cessiv e sp e e d
ing in the m etro area.
Blumenauer told the Governor
thatthe largest num berofcom plaints
received from the citizens o f Port
land are about excessive traffic speeds
in residential neighborhoods and
around schools.
“ W e have w orked hard to im
p le m e n t e d u c a tio n a l p ro g ra m s
and e n g in e e rin g so lu tio n s, such
as sp eed b um ps, to e n co u rag e
d riv e rs to slow dow n, but until
now , w e have lacked e n fo rc e
m ent re so u rc e s. P hoto ra d a r is an
e x cellen t traffic safety and n e ig h
b orhood liv ab ility to o l,” the P o rt
land city c o m m issio n e r said.
The two-year photo radar test
period will start Jan I . Photo radar is
a system that combines a photograph
o f a vehicle and it’s driver with a
record o f the speed o f travel as
checked by a radio microwave or
other electronic device.
During the first month of the test
period, only warnings will be issued.
Photo radar will me operated out o f a
marked police vehicle staffed by a
police officer only in residential and
school zones.
Signs will be posted at major
entrances of Beaverton and Portland
and a reader board displaying the
speed o f the vehicle will be posted
within 150 feet o f the photo radar
unit.
Citations will be mailed to the
registered owner o f the vehicle with
in six business days and vehicle own
ers will have 30 days to respond to
the citation.
An evaluation o f the radar dem
onstration project will be prepared
and provided to the 1997 Legisla
ture, transportation officials said.
this country.”
The irony o f blacks so staunchly
defending Mr. Simpson, who was
never know to be affi hated with many
black causes, or, as we have since
learned, had any o f his substantial
fortune invested in black communi
ties, was not loss on Mr. Burris.
"Blacks are a very forgiving
people. W eask nothing ofthose cross
over superstars, but for them to please
not forget us, which most always
seem to do, except when they get into
trouble Then it is the black commu
nity who rally to their support, and
stand by them,” Mr Burris said.
But isn’t it profoundly irrespon
sible for people like O.J. and his
lawyers to play the race card, given
the fact that many blacks are already
immobilized by racial fears. D on’t
this just feed the paranoia?
“ I don’t think that O.J. wanted a
race-based strategy, probably for
some o f the reasons that have been
raised in this conversation. I think
that the idea came from his lawyers
because so much o f the evidence
pointed in that direction.
“ But yes, lawyers, and all o f us,
have to be very careful when we use
the so-called race card. We could be
creating a worst situation in a larger
sense, than the short term victory we
may gain,” Burris said.
And (lidt Would be iildjui indeed.”
Wha, the case has pointed out is
the vast gulf between the way whites
view the case, and the way blacks
view the case
“There is no question that race is
playing a large role in this case,”
B urris answ ered. “ A fterall, Mr.
Simpson is part o f a long tradition of
black entertainers gaining favor in
American society. One o f the key o f
the success o f these performers is
that they present a non-threatening
image to the public. O.J. pulled that
comfortable mask o ff for a lot o f
people.”
Burris also believes that both
blacks and whites show signs o f put
ting race ahead of sound judgement
and analysis in this case.
“There are blacks who are un
willing to hear any evidence that
points to O.J All they know is that
he is black, and therefore he couldn't
have done it. Just as there are whites,
just like those blacks, who say evi
dence be damn! H e’s black. He did
it!
“And that is the real message in
those polls. Both sides are wearing
race on their sleeves,” he said, “re
flecting the still deep racial divide in
C R IM E
STO PPERS
Armed Robbery
Portland Police Bureau detec
tives in cooperation with Crime
Stoppers, are asking for your help
in identifying and apprehending the
suspects in a robbery.
On Thursday, June 8, 1995, at
about 9:00 in the morning, a subject
armed with a black handgun, walked
into the Check-X-Change at 2722
N Lombard Street. The suspect con
fronted an employee opening the
store and forced him into a back
room. The suspect told the employ
ee to remove money from the safe
and place it in a red pouch the robber
brought with him.
The gunman was accompanied
by a second suspect who remained in
the lobby. Both suspects lied on foot.
Suspect #1 is described as a black
male, 20 years o f age, 5 ’ 10 tai I, weigh
ing 150 pounds, with black hair,
brown eyes, and a neatly trimmed
beard. He is described as having a
deep voice, and held the gun in his
left hand. At the time he was wearing
a green sweatshirt.
Suspect #2 is described as a black
male, 28 years o f age, 5’8” tall,
weighing 160 pounds, clean shav
en, with black hair and brown eyes.
At the time he was wearing a blue
hooded parka or sweatshirt and sun
glasses.
Crime Stopper is ottering a
cash reward o f up to $1,000 for
inform ation, reported to Crime
Stoppers, which leads to an arrest in
this case, or any unsolved felony
crime, and you can remain anony
mous. Call Crime Stoppers at (503)
823-HELP.
Suspect Arrested In Home Murder
A third suspect has been arrest
ed in connection with last year’s
burglary and murder o f Joan Ann
Borish at a southeast Portland home.
Mixay Xay Dethsaysongkham,
19, was arrested July 20 during a
traffic stop in Ferdonia, N.Y.
Police said Borisch was killed
when she shot on Aug. I, 1994 while
trying Jo flee from three suspects
who were searching her house for
money. A fourth suspect waited out
side in a vehicle.
Two o f the suspects, Danny
A lcazar, 16, and Som phalavan
Sophanthavong, 17, pled guilty to
murder earlier in connection with
the death
Crimes While On Vacation
Protect Yourself On The Road And At Home
A mugging on an unfamiliar
downtown street, missingairline tick
ets, a stolen wallet, disappearing lug
gage, a fender bender in the rental,
your residence gets “hit” when you
are away...these are the things that
take the fun out o f vacations.
“We are seeing a rise in the num
ber of crimes that happen when people
go on vacation,” warns Marianne
Macina, CP CU, regional manager for
the Western Insurance Information
Service (WHS). “Unfortunately, peo
ple put themselves in the relax’ mode
when they go on vacation and lure
themselves into a sense o f false secu
rity. They take chances that they
wouldn’t when they’re at home. That
makes them prime targets to become
victims of crime ”
According to Macina, the fol
lowing tips from your law enforce
ment agencies and insurance compa
nies will help reduce your chances o f
becoming a victim o f crime while
you are on vacation.
Before you leave home:
• Follow general home security
rules on landscaping and lighting If
you have an alarm system, use It!
• Put important documents and
valuables in a safety deposit box (not
under the mattress or other “secret”
spots at home).
• V aluable items should be
marked with drivers license num
bers. Serial numbers should be re
corded.
• Mail and newspaper deliveries
shouId be stopped while you’re gone.
• Use automatic timers on lights
and radio to make it seem like some
one is home.
• Make sure all windows and
doors are locked.
• Unplug small appliances, for
example a coffeemaker or toaster.
How to insure a safe passage:
• Always plan ahead. Know
where you are going and how you are
going to get there including informa
tion on routes, taxis, shuttles, etc.
• Don’t carry expensive luggage
and tag it appropriately.
• Don’t pack important papers
all in one bag. Carry photocopies o f
important papers and credit cards on
your person.
• Don’t check essential or valu
able items such as medicines and
jewelry. Use your carry-on luggage.
• Keep cash to a minimum. Use
traveler’s checks or credit cards.
• Familiarize yourself with your
rout — study your maps -- before you
leave.
Use street smarts:
• Check out your surroundings
ahead o f time. Ask your travel agent
or hotel manager about safe driving
and walking routes to take.
• Check with your insurance
agent or company representative to
find out if your personal auto insur
ance will cover a rental car If you
have rental car coverage under your
auto insurance, usually the only gap
in coverage without purchasing a col
lision damage waiver would be loss
o f income to the rental car (generally
about 3 days o f rental charges while
the car is in the shop) and an admin
istrative fee o f about $100.
• Also find out what coverage
you have for personal belongings
aw ay from hom e on y o u r
homeowners policy.
• D on't place maps or travel
brochures on the dashboard D on't
leave packages visible in the car.
Hotel/Motel Safety:
• Locate fire exits, elevators and
public phones. (Know the emergen
cy plan o f where you are staying )
• Don’t leave valuables in your
room. Use the safe at the facility
where you are staying.
• Use the peephole to see who is
at your door before opening it. Al-
w ayskeepthedoorclosedand locked
when you’re in the room.
• Leave the television or radio
on when you leave the room to make
it appear occupied.
Macina suggests that you may
want to visit your local library or call
your local law enforcement agency
to check out the video: “Bon Voy
age: tips For A Safe Vacation” be
fore your next trip. The video is a
joint project o f “your insurance com
panies” through WIIS and “your law
enforcement agencies” through the
Crime Prevention A ssociation o f
Oregon (CPAO), both o f which are
nonprofit community service-type
organizations.
The video, with a running time
o f 10 minutes and 24 seconds, is
available at most public libraries in
the state o f Oregon Along with a
corresponding brochure which is free
to the public, the video is also avail
able on a loaner basis from the crime
prevention unit at local law enforce
ment agencies and the WIIS regional
office in Beaverton.
“The video itself is a joint effort
o f insurance company professionals
and crime prevention specialists to
help reduce the view ers’ chances o f
becoming a victim o f crime while on
vacation,” says Ella Kimble, CPA O
president and retired police officer
with the West Linn Police D epart
ment. “ It provides safety tips fortrav-
e lers wh i le away as we 11 as what to do
to their home before they leave.”
Macina says that the vacation
safety committee -- made up o f repre
sentatives from crime prevention and
insurance communities - found a real
need for such a video and brochure
when researching the project.