From: treefrog@ix.netcom.com (Ed Sherry)
From: HudsonTom@aol.com
Date: Thu, 19 Dec 1996 15:22:03 -0500
=========================================================================

Subj:	Simpson Photo Called a Fake
Date:	96-12-19 00:01:30 EST
From:	AOLNewsProfiles@aol.net

      The Associated Press
      By LINDA DEUTSCH
      AP Special Correspondent
      SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) -- The most powerful new piece of
evidence against O.J. Simpson -- a picture showing him wearing Bruno
Magli shoes -- is probably a forgery, a photo expert said Wednesday.
      Police say whoever killed Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald
Goldman on June 12, 1994, left footprints of Bruno Magli shoes in
the blood on the walkway by the bodies.
      ``My conclusion is there is a high likelihood of forgery,'' said
Robert Groden, a Dallas photo technician who has spent years
analyzing pictures of the John F. Kennedy assassination.
      The 1993 picture, taken by free-lance photographer Harry Scull,
shows Simpson walking across the field while working as a
commentator at a Buffalo Bills football game.
      Plaintiffs billed the picture as the most incriminating new
piece of evidence against Simpson after his acquittal on murder
charges in October 1995.
      From the minute the picture was published, Simpson labeled it a
fake and denied he ever owned a pair of the Italian shoes. He said
they were ``ugly-assed,'' suede and he wouldn't wear them in
Buffalo in September.
      Groden showed jurors a display of contact sheets and an original
print of Simpson provided by Scull and said the size of the frame
on the Simpson picture was longer than any others on the roll.
      He noted it was also in the No. 1 position on the roll -- the
most convenient place to try a forgery because it has to be in
alignment with only one negative instead of two.
      ``This is one of the most curious things I found,'' he said of
the picture size. ``Frame 1 is longer. ... It's very slight but
it's there.''
      The original was passed around to jurors and Groden showed them
blowups of the contact sheet -- a picture of the negative strips --
to illustrate his contention that the image of Simpson was out of
alignment with other photos on the roll.
      Groden testified that he flew to Buffalo at the request of
defense lawyers. ``I viewed what was purported to be cut negatives
of three separate rolls of film and contact sheets,'' he said.
      Because the pictures had been cut apart, he said it was
difficult to compare them with others on the roll. But he said he
was able to compare measurement of frames, color balance and
alignment and found that there were differences between that
picture of Simpson and the others.
      Court recessed until Friday before Groden could be
cross-examined. Superior Court Judge Hiroshi Fujisaki sternly
warned jurors not to try examining photographs or film on their
own.
      ``The kind of testimony we received today sometimes lends itself
to curiosity,'' the judge said. ``Do not conduct your own research.
Don't go comparing photos.''
      A hearing, outside the jury's presence, was held when plaintiffs
objected to Groden's qualifications. Fujisaki ruled that could be
handled with ``vigorous cross-examination.''
      Earlier, rookie police officer Daniel Gonzalez denied following
a secret police ``code'' to cover up for Mark Fuhrman and other
colleagues, but admitted leaving ``stupid little things'' out of
his official reports.
      One of the things Gonzalez omitted was any reference to Fuhrman
informing him he had found a bloody glove on Simpson's property.
      ``It's true he did come up to me and said he'd found
something,'' Gonzalez acknowledged under acerbic cross-examination
by defense attorney Robert Baker.
      ``I never saw the glove,'' Gonzalez said, asserting he was more
concerned that Fuhrman was then declaring Simpson's estate a crime
scene.
      ``He tells me it's a crime scene and I don't care what he
found,'' Gonzalez said. ``He's the boss. I listen to him.''
      Answering in a breathless, rapid-fire patter, Gonzalez added,
``I was a subordinate. I was probably the most junior officer
there. Some of those guys had more time as police officers than I
had on Earth.''
      Asked to expand on the omission, Gonzalez said: ``It's
irrelevant. There are even more stupid little things that aren't in
the report.''
      Baker gasped: ``Stupid little things?''
      At that point, Gonzalez was dismissed by the judge. He had spent
a combative two hours under Baker's intensive quizzing, fending off
accusations about a cover-up.
      The examination of Gonzalez, who didn't testify at the criminal
trial and was called as a hostile witness by the defense, was one
of the most heated of Simpson's wrongful death trial.
      AP-NY-12-18-96 2359EST
      Copyright 1996 The Associated Press.
  
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