Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current, October 04, 1995, Image 1

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    Volume XXV, Number 40
(. ommitted to cultural diversity
October 4, 1995
Join In Celebrating Our
Walnut Park
Manager Promoted
Escaping A
Hopeless Life
Penny Monerief moves up in
management at Walnut Park
Videoland store.
See Minority Enterprise Development, page B6.
Larenz Tate concealed behind
w hiteface, chooses a
dangerous criminal path, in the
drama “Dead President. “
$ &
A N N IV E R S A R Y
CLlie
See Arts & Entertainment, page A9.
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Not Guilty
The Chronology Of Events
In The O.J. Simpson Case:
1994
JU N E 13 - The bodies o f Simpson's ex-wife Nicole
Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman are
found outside her Brentwood townhouse. Simpson
returns home after an overnight flight to Chicago, is
questioned by police and then released.
JU N E 16 - Victim s are buried in separate ceremonies
Simpson attends his ex-w ife’ s funeral.
JU N E 17 - Simpson is arrested after a nationally
televised slow-speed pursuit along Los Angeles free
ways.
JU N E 20 - Simpson pleads not guilty.
JU N E 24 - Judge Cecil M ills halts a grand ju ry probe
into the murders, saying panel tainted by unprece­
dented media coverage. Harvard law professor Alan
Dershowitz and flamboyant trial lawyer F. Lee Bailey
jo in defence team.
JU N E 30 - Simpson’s preliminary hearing begins.
JU LY S - Judge Kathleen Kennedy-Powell orders
Simpson to stand trial.
JU LY 20 - Simpson offers $500,000 reward for infor­
mation leading to the “ real k ille r or k ille rs .”
J U L Y 22 - Sim pson pleads “ a b s o lu te ly , 100
percent not g u ilty ” at his arraignm ent. Case
assigned to Judge Lance Ito. Noted trial lawyer
Johnnie Cochran joins defense.
SEPT. 9 - Los Angeles district attorney’s office says it
w ill not seek death penalty against Simpson.
SEPT. 26 - Jury selection begins.
N O V. 3 - July o f 12 sworn in.
DEC. 8 - Twelve alternate jurors sworn in.
Get Out Of Jail
With Visa
The Linn County Jail in Albany has
started taking VISA and MasterCard in an
effort to make it easier for people to post
bail and security deposits. S heriff Dave
Burright said he hoped it would free up
more ja il space.
Powell Considers
Perot Party
Ross Perot’s pledge to build the “ larg­
est party in the country” got a boost last
week as Colin Powell opened the door to
becoming its first presidential nominee.
Perot’s said he plans to form an Indepen-
I dence Party that would nominate a 1996
| presidential candidate.
Speed Bumps Opposed
On Boulevard
Dozens o f angry north Portland resi-
I dents last week demanded city officials
I reject plans to instal speed bumps and bike
lanes along Willamette Boulevard. “ By
I the time the city gets through it’ ll look like
an East Berlin border crossing,” said Ruth
Tuttle, a protest organizer. However, trans­
portation officials continue to hold to the
plans which call for slowing down traffic.
1995
Marsalis Says
He Despised Leno
Former “ Tonight Show” bandleader
Branford Marsalis says he “ despised” Jay
Leno and quit last January after his role on
I the show changed. “ The jo b o f musical
Defendant O.J. Simpson confers with his attorney Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. during closing arguments in Simpson's
double-murder trial in Los Angeles. (Photo courtesy of The Oregonian)
Vows To Pursue True Killers
director I found out later was just to kiss the
(posterior) o f the host,” Marsalis said.
SEI Center
To Become Reality
Students, public officials, business
leaders and community residents gathered
in Unthank Park in inner north Portland
last Wednesday for the groundbreaking o f
the $8.5 m illion Center for Self Enhance­
m e n t. The two-story fa cility w ill include
J classrooms, computer labs, a library, health
clinic and performing arts complex with a
300-seat auditorium and music, dance and
recording studios. It w ill also feature a
cafeteria, game and T V room, child-watch
area, gym, running track and weight room.
Time Warner
To Sell Rap Label
Tim er Warner, Inc. decided last week
I to get out o f the gansta rap business. The
' New York entertainment giant announced
it would sell its $115 m illion stake in the
I successful, but controversial Los Angeles-
! based Interscoe Records, home to such
ormer football star O.J.
overnight at the judge's order.
Simpson was acquitted of
When the verdict was announced,
double-murder on Tues­
Simpson - the most famous murder de­
day after a sensational trial fendant
and in U.S. history - smiled quietly
vowed to dedicate his life to
with relief, patted his hand over his heart
tracking down the “killer or killers”
and hugged his lead attorney, Johnnie
of his ex-wife and a friend.
Cochran.
F
Nearly 16 months after his arrest
and less than an hour after the not-guilty
verdicts were read to a hushed court­
room. Simpson was released and issued
a statement expressing re lie f that “ this
part ofthe incredible nightmare... is over.”
W hile his fam ily and defence attor­
neys, sm iling and patting one another on
thp back, appeared in a televised news
conference, Simpson returned to his
mansion in the exclusive Los Angeles
suburb where he was arrested on June 17,
1994, follow ing a bizarre highway chase.
In a remarkably sw ift conclusion to
a trial that transfixed America for a year,
the mostly black ju ry deliberated for less
than four hours on Monday before reach­
ing the verdict, which was kept secret
award-winning rap stars as Snoop Doggy
I Dogg and Dr. Dre.
Furse Drops Out
Of Senate Race
U S. Rep. Elizabeth Furse, D-Ore.
I decided last week to drop out o f the race to
I replace Sen. Bob Packwood. Furse, a sec-
I ond-term congresswoman from Hillsboro,
had hoped her gender and liberal activism
I would bring support, but said she could not
I .raise enough campaign cash to be compet-
' itive.
EDITORIAL
A2
T
Relatives o f the two victim s —
N ic o le B ro w n S im pson and Ron
Goldman — broke into loud sobs as they
realized that the man they had repeatedly
called a kille r was going free.
Witnesses said they had to hold each
other up as they staggered away from the
courtroom, crying loudly.
Outside the downtown courthouse,
hundreds o f Simpson supporters cele­
brated w ildly, dancing and shaking hand­
written signs in triumph.
But many Americans expressed
shock that the jurors had ignored what
prosecutors described as a “ mountain o f
e vid en ce ” lin k in g Sim pson to the
crime. "W e are profoundly disappointed
with the verdict,” District Attorney Gil
who had urged the jury to deliver a ver­
It was a verdict that surprised both
those who believed the former football
idol was innocent and those convinced
he killed ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson
and her friend Ronald Goldman - opin­
ions that often divided along racial lines.
Simnson defender JohnnieCochran.
A4
▼
Continued to page B l l
SIMPSON
VERDICT STUNS THE NATION
he not guilty verdict in O.J.
Simpson's double murder
dict repudiating police racism, said after
trial Tuesday shot across
their decision that the idea the judgment
America with a coast-to-coast was
jolt, based only on the race issue was
prompting both relieved cheers
“ preposterous."
and gasps of disbelief.
But in the end, public reaction re­
HEALTH
Garcetti said
Simpson had pleaded not guilty to
murdering Nicole Brown Simpson, 35,
and Goldman, 25, who were stabbed and
slashed to death on June 12, 1994, out­
side her Brentwood townhouse. I fe could
have been sentenced to life in prison i f
convicted.
Ina statement read by his son, Jason,
Simpson said “ my first obligation is to
my young children who w ill be raised the
way Nicole and I had always planned."
“ But when things have settled a bit I
w ill pursue as my primary goal in life the
killer or killers who slaughtered Nicole
and M r Goldman. They are out there
somewhere. Whatever it takes to identify
them and bring them in. I ’ ll provide
somehow.”
The fast verdict defied the predic­
tions ofmost analysts, who had predicted
only the day before that the ju ry — 10
women and two men, comprising nine
flected earlier polls showing that most
whites believed Simpson guilty and most
blacks thought him innocent, along with
a hint ofsuspicion that Simpson’s wealth
helped to buy him freedom.
“ This was money versus no-money.
Ifv o u 'v e got enough monev inthiscoun-
try, obviously you can hack up your
w ife,” said Jewel Holt, 47, a white tele­
vision producer from Boca Raton, Fla
“ Even i f he did k ill them, he didn’t
do anything wrong, because white peo­
ple have killed us, they have lynched us,
they have hanged us. They took every­
thing we’ ve had,” said Charles M iller, a
black 28-year-old incense vendor in New
Y o rk’s Times Square.
President Clinton said the verdict
must be respected and Americans should
nrav for the families o f the victims
JAN . 11 - Jury sequestered.
IA N . 24 - Prosecutor Marcia Clark begins opening
statement.
JAN . 25 - Cochran begins defence opening statement.
JAN . 31 - Testimony begins.
EEB. I - Ron Shipp, a former LAPD officer and friend
o f Simpson, testifies that Simpson told h i in he dreamed
o f killin g Nicole Simpson
FEB. 3 - Denise Brown takes the witness stand to testify
about Simpson’s alleged abuse o f her sister, Nicole
Simpson.
FEB. 12 - Jury tours crime scene and Simpson’ s man­
sion.
FEB. 24 - Arguments erupt over testimony o f house­
keeper Rosa Lopez, forcing Ito to take her testimony
on videotape.
M A R . 9 - Detective Mark Fuhrman takes the witness
stand to testify about finding both bloody gloves.
MAR. 21 - Simpson houseguest Kato Kaelin testifies
A P R IL 12 - A fter removal from ju ry , Jeannette Harris
says jurors discussed case and deputies promoted
racial divisions.
A P R IL 21 - To protest the removal o f three deputies,
h a lf o f the jurors appear at the courthouse wearing
black.
JU N E 15- Simpson tries on bloody gloves in court and
pronounces
them
“ to o
s m a ll”
J U L Y 6 - Prosecution rests case.
J U L Y 10 - Defence begins its case by calling Simp­
son’ s daughter, Arnelle, to the stand.
AUG. 29 - Portions p f taped interviews with Fuhrman
played in court in which he is heard uttering racial
slurs.
SEPT. 6 - Taking the witness stand with ju ry absent,
Fuhrman asserts Fifth Amendment right against self­
incrimination and refuses to answer questions.
SEPT. 22 - Simpson proclaims his innocence in a
surprise courtroom statement; both sides rest; Ito
instructs jury.
SEPT. 25 - Prosecution’s Clark begins closing state­
ment.
SE PT. 27 - Prosecut ion cone ludes flrst phase o f closing
argument. Defence begins closing statement.
SEPT. 28 - Defence wraps up closing argument.
SEPT. 29 - Prosecution completes final phase o fclos-
ing argument. Case is handed over to jury.
O C T 2 - Jury reaches a verdict after just over three
hours o f deliberations.’
O C T . 3 - Verdicts are read in open court finding
Simpson not guilty o f the murders o f Nicole Brown
and Ron Goldman.
HOUSING
SPORTS
RELIGION
FAMILY
A5
A7
A8
B5
CLASSIFIEDS
B3