[Bill Pavelic - Famous Investigator]
Bill Pavelic established himself as the foremost insider critic of racism and corruption in the LAPDSimpson Trial Rosa Lopez Recess Wrapup - Part 5
2008-06-29
CNN
March 1, 1995
SHOW: NEWS 1:45 pm ET
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BYLINE: JIM MORET
SECTION: News; Domestic
LENGTH: 1171 words
HIGHLIGHT: The prosecution has been granted additional time to assemble its cross examination of defense witness Rosa Lopez. The court recessed today to consider the handling of the witness's testimony.
JIM MORET, Anchor: Welcome back to our special look at the O.J. Simpson trial. I'm Jim Moret in Los Angeles. We've just heard portions of yesterday's Court session in which both sides talked about investigator, William Pavelic's interviews with Rosa Lopez and how they affect the trial. Let's get reaction now from our CNN legal analysts, Greta Van Susteren and John Burris.
John, first to you. There's an issue of credibility here and I suppose it's really threefold. One, with the judge. Two, with the jury and three, with the public. How- address each if you could with respect to William Pavelic.
JOHN BURRIS, Criminal Defense Attorney: Well, certainly from the investigator's point of view I don't think he had a duty to maintain any of those notes that he took of the statements. I mean, his obligation was to turn over any statements that he had, audio and otherwise in a timely manner. Certainly, the credibility issue is for him is, for the Court, there was some misrepresentations made, or at least there appeared to be, about whether he had statements or notes or etc., and he appeared to be cagey about responding to the judge's inquiry before he went on, before he took an oath.
Once he took that oath, then he became a little clearer. So, from a judge's point of view, he sort of looked at this person as saying, 'You are not being candid with us and you seem to be evasive.' From the public's point of view, of course, he looked like an investigator who had a duty to maintain something. He was being evasive and that he had destroyed a real piece of evidence. So I think he's gotten a real bad rap with respect to the public at large. And certainly, from the Court, he appeared to be evasive. But in terms of his obligation to keep notes, I think he did not do anything illegal or improper.
JIM MORET: Greta Van Susteren, are we seeing a credibility gap emerging here, both with Bill Pavelic and with the defense team as a whole?
GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, Trial Attorney: I think we're certainly seeing one with the defense team. It may have been Bill Pavelic who perhaps didn't turn over the statements to his lawyers, but a lawyer is responsible for the entire team and this happened under the watch of Johnnie Cochran and Mr. Shapiro. So, they really are ultimately responsible.
What I'm surprised about though is that the judge really hasn't zeroed in on exactly what it is that happened. Why didn't the defense do the inventory and come up with a month ago? Why are we revisiting this issue? Was it negligence or was it deceitful? And we simply don't have that answer yet. And if I were Judge Ito, I would zero in on that. And if there is deceit, I would punish the defense lawyers. Not, O.J. Simpson, but the lawyers. I'd probably give them a hefty fine so they don't do it again.
JIM MORET: Greta, in the past, in seems that Carl Douglas, one of the defense attorneys, has been chosen to fall on the sword and it looked like yesterday Bill Pavelic was the person chosen to do so.
GRETA VAN SUSTEREN: Well certainly, every time Carl Douglas takes the lectern, there's always sort of a thought that goes through my head 'What has happened now on the defense team in terms of discovery?' But I don't think the defense team really expected that Bill Pavelic would get hauled into Court and have to answer questions. I think that Mr. Douglas seems to be the appointed man to take all the wrath from the Court, every time there's a problem on the defense team. I think it was only accidental that Bill Pavelic got pulled in.
JIM MORET: After hearing from both sides on the issue of the audio taped interview, Judge Ito settled on a compromise ruling. He called Rosa Lopez' lawyer forward to explain.
Judge LANCE ITO, Los Angeles Superior Court: Ms. Hamburger, would you approach please? All right, good afternoon, counsel. We've had a few developments transpire, as you know, over the last two days. The defense has turned over a tape recording of a statement made by your client, Rosa Lopez, in July of last year. And that tape recording was turned over late this morning and a transcript was just provided by the Court to counsel for both sides. The prosecution has asked for a continuance of the 1335 until Friday morning so that they can evaluate the tape recorded statement and correlate it with all the other evidence that has been engendered, excuse me- has been created by this situation.
I am probably not going to grant the continuance until Friday. I am probably going to grant a continuance until Thursday, for this reason. I do not believe we can complete this conditional examination in one additional day. I think we're going to go longer than an additional day. And I'm therefore going to be ordering your client to return back here at 9:00 on Thursday morning, the 2nd of March, and I understand your client is very reluctant to stay. The Court has already, through the Clerk, made arrangements to change her plane reservations for her flight out of town. So I maintain my believe that she is, in fact, going to leave the jurisdiction.
My alternative is that if she does not accept my order to return on March 3rd on 9:00 a.m., then having already determined that she is a material witness, I will have to require her to post a substantial bond. All right, do you want to discuss that with you client?
Ms. HAMBURGER, Rosa Lopez Attorney: May I please, Your Honor.
Judge LANCE ITO: Certainly.
JOHNNIE COCHRAN: March 2nd?
Judge LANCE ITO: March 2nd, which is Thursday. And the reason for that-.
Ms. HAMBURGER: May I have 10 minutes, Your Honor?
Judge LANCE ITO: Certainly.
Ms. HAMBURGER: Thank you.
Judge LANCE ITO: And the reason for that counsel, let me just explain to counsel. I think Ms. Clark, that you're entitled to a substantial amount of time and perhaps overnight is not enough. But I don't believe we're going to complete this conditional examination in one additional day. And if we go to Friday, then we're going to dribble over into Saturday and Sunday and I have other commitments Saturday that I can't break. So, that's that.
JIM MORET: After consulting with her lawyer for several minutes, an obviously unhappy Rosa Lopez again addressed the judge.
Judge JIM MORET: Your attorney has indicated that you wish to talk to me about this.
ROSA LOPEZ: Yes, Your Honor. I want to tell you that I was very honest with you. You told me come back-.
JIM MORET: We're interrupting that taped portion. Judge Lance Ito is once again on the bench. Let's listen in to the Court proceedings as they occur now live.
Judge LANCE ITO: Deputy McNair, let's have the jurors please.
The preceding text has been professionally transcribed. However, although the text has been checked against an audio track, in order to meet rigid distribution and transmission deadlines, it may not have been proofread against tape.
LOAD-DATE: March 1, 1995
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
TYPE: Package
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O.J. sister-in-law mocks defense claim that he's innocent
2008-06-26
The Boston Herald
October 6, 1994 Thursday
BYLINE: HELEN KENNEDY
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 8
LENGTH: 452 words
A member of Nicole Brown Simpson's family questioned O.J. Simpson's innocence for the first time yesterday, as Simpson's lawyers continued fighting to throw evidence out of the case.
"If O.J. is so innocent, why are they trying to suppress all the evidence?" sister Denise Brown asked reporters after yesterday's court session.
"He's 100 percent innocent?" she said mockingly. "Keep the evidence then."
Simpson's team battled to throw out all items seized from Simpson's Bronco after it was burglarized in a police tow yard June 15. Superior Court Judge Lance A. Ito will rule on the matter today.
Simpson's team yesterday again accused police detectives of lying about why they entered Simpson's home June 13.
"What was presented at the preliminary hearing was a well-orchestrated tissue of lies," said defense attorney Gerald Uelmen.
The detectives have testified that they jumped the gate of Simpson's estate after repeated calls to the house went unanswered.
But Uelmen brandished a security company transcript showing police were "at the front door" before any phone calls were made to the house.
Prosecutor Marcia Clark dismissed the claim, saying the employees at the security office actually meant the outside gate.
In an odd development, Simpson attorney Johnnie Cochran questioned Detective Tom Lange about his seizure of a pair of Reebok sneakers from Simpson's closet.
Lange said Simpson was present when he took the shoes.
Cochran then asked if Simpson "lifted up a wad of money" from a pile of clothes while he and Lange were alone in the closet.
"No," said Lange, and shook his head.
During the brief exchange, Simpson smiled broadly, leaned forward and looked more animated than he has in any court appearance so far.
When Lange denied seeing any money, Simpson grinned, shook his head and clearly mouthed to Shapiro: "I showed it to him."
The defense then tried to introduce evidence from an earlier police misconduct trial that would show that Detective Mark Fuhrman - who found key evidence against Simpson - is a racist and a liar.
Clark said because one of Simpson's investigators worked on that earlier trial, Simpson's lawyers should have brought up the issue at the preliminary hearing.
The investigator, Zvonko "Bill" Pavelic, worked for Joseph Britten, who sued several officers, including Fuhrman, on charges of police brutality and racism.
Simpson's team offered to put Pavelic on the stand to testify that he only worked on Britten's case in a limited capacity.
Ito decided to postpone the issue until next week.
As Pavelic has a reputation for flamboyant outspokenness, the clash promises to be dramatic.
"I warn counsel that I will call the city attorney, who will impeach Mr. Pavelic," Clark said firmly.
LOAD-DATE: March 16, 2007
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper
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4-Hour Siege Fails To Turn Up Theft Suspect But A Phone Call Does
2008-06-17
Los Angeles Times
October 31, 1986, Friday, Home Edition
BYLINE: By MICHAEL SEILER and EDWARD J. BOYER, Times Staff Writers
SECTION: Metro; Part 2; Page 6; Column 1; Metro Desk
LENGTH: 413 words
Los Angeles police laid siege for four hours at an Echo Park drugstore Thursday -- only to find when they finally entered after dark that there was no sign of a supposed holdup man believed to have been holding five people hostage.
What heavily armed Special Weapons and Tactics team officers discovered were the owner's wife, a clerk and two customers hiding in a storage room.
Later, a suspect was taken into custody at a home in the area.
Police said the incident began shortly before 3 p.m., when a woman employee at Taylor's Pharmacy, 1700 W. Temple St., ran outside to report that the man who had robbed the place of narcotics two days earlier was paying a return visit.
8 People Rescued
The SWAT team responded, eventually rescuing eight people who did not dare walk down the stairs from a physical rehabilitation center on the second floor, because the stairs went right past the drugstore doorway.
The Glendale Boulevard off-ramp of the Hollywood Freeway and streets for blocks around the pharmacy were closed to traffic.
Hundreds of spectators gathered.
While marksmen trained rifles on the store, police negotiators tried to make contact by telephone, but someone kept hanging up on them.
It turned out that one of the people hiding in the storage room was simply trying to plug in a portable phone and did not have much luck.
At last, owner Shelton Lee, 45, wearied of the bathroom in which he had taken refuge, emerged at about 7 p.m.
Then the officers went in.
"No suspect at the ," Capt. Ron Banks reported. "Apparently before we were able to secure the building, the suspect left."
Late Thursday, police booked James J. Drake, 40, for investigation of robbery in the incident.
Received Call From Neighbor
Officers said they were called to Drake's home on Kensington Road in Echo Park by a neighbor. Drake's mother had sought help from the neighbor after her son began acting irrationally, police said.
"He was sweating and talking excitedly -- symptoms of recent drug use," Detective Bill Pavelic said. "We called him from next door and talked him into surrendering."
Drake was taken to Queen of Angels Hospital for treatment of a possible drug overdose. The victims were taken to the hospital and they were able to identify Drake, officers said.
Detectives said it appeared that the man who entered the pharmacy Thursday afternoon had stolen some drugs.
Times staff writer Nieson Himmel contributed to this article.
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
GRAPHIC: Photo, Members of Los Angeles Police Swat team climbed atop an Echo Park drugstore in which it was believed that an armed man was holding five hostages, above. Lower photo shows LAPD officer watching building from across the street during long police siege. Robert Gabirel; Boris Yaro / Los Angeles Times
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Callers Flood Phone Lines With Simpson Tips With US-Simpson-Slayings
2008-06-11
198 of 244 DOCUMENTS
Associated Press Worldstream
July 28, 1994; Thursday 16:54 Eastern Time
SECTION: International news
LENGTH: 356 words
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES
From tales about a footloose dog to a burglar's reports of mysterious screams, tips are pouring in on the hot line set up in the O.J. Simpson murder case.
Simpson attorney Robert L. Shapiro said Wednesday that the toll-free telephone line established by the defense had recorded 250,000 calls in a week.
''It's beyond belief,'' Shapiro said.
Simpson has also offered dlrs 500,000 for information leading to the arrest of the ''real killer.''
''We're hearing from every psycho and every crazy person,'' said Bill Pavelic, an investigative consultant working with the Simpson team. ''But if I get one call in a hundred that's a good lead, it's worth it.''
A Santa Barbara woman called police and the hot line suggesting that Nicole Brown Simpson's white Akita could have carried a bloody glove from the murder scene to Simpson's estate two miles (3.2 kilometers) away.
She suggested tests of the glove to see whether the dog's saliva was on it. So far, neither police nor defense lawyers have requested the tests.
A Maryland woman has called the hot line repeatedly, telling of dreams in which she sees another killer. To her frustration, lawyers haven't called her back.
Investigators for the defense and the police are looking into many of the tips in the June 12 slayings of Simpson's former wife and her friend Ronald Goldman.
''There's people that are giving us theories, there's psychics, that kind of thing,'' Detective Dennis Payne said. ''And then there's people who have information. We're checking it all out.''
Some officers said they are concerned defense lawyers will present a huge number of tips to police, then argue that the investigation wasn't thorough if all aren't tracked down.
One caller who identified himself as a burglar said he was casing homes in the neighborhood the night of the slayings. He said he heard a woman scream and saw two white men fleeing the crime scene about the time of the killings.
The burglar said he isn't interested in the reward money.
''I just want to straighten this out,'' he told the Los Angeles Times, speaking on condition of anonymity.
LOAD-DATE: July 28, 1994
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
Copyright 1994 Associated Press
All Rights Reserved
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Simpson Detective Portrayed As Bitter, Vindictive Ex-Cop With Simpson-Slay
2008-06-06
Bill Pavelic gave up a generous pension package when he quit the department 18 months ago after nearly 20 years on the force. He contends he was forced out because he had complained about racism and corruption in the department.
''I was sick and tired of watching innocent people get framed, especially members of minority groups, and that includes African-Americans and Mexicans,''Bill Pavelic, a Croat born in the former Yugoslavia, told The Associated Press. ''I was disturbed about officer-involved shootings, and how they covered up the incidents.''
Bill Pavelic, who has sat in court behind Simpson, was hired to review the police investigation in the case, looking for mistakes, violations of LAPD policy and skeletons in investigators' closets.
Simpson, 47, is charged with murder in the June 12 stabbings of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson, 35, and her friend Ron Goldman, 25. He faces a Friday arraignment.
Court papers describe Bill Pavelic as angry, bitter and paranoid.
''Bill Pavelic thought there was a big conspiracy among the supervisors at Southwest Detectives and command staff officers of LAPD who were 'out to get him,''' prosecutors wrote in a case in which the defense was considering calling Bill Pavelic as a witness.
In recent days, the Simpson camp has leaked unflattering details about Detective Mark Fuhrman, who testified at a preliminary hearing that he found a bloody glove at Simpson's estate.
The defense was reportedly going to argue that Fuhrman planted the glove. However, an internal police investigation has concluded that scenario is virtually impossible, unidentified police sources told the Los Angeles Times.
Many of Fuhrman's defenders suspect Bill Pavelic was responsible for revealing details to the media of a 1983 lawsuit that portrays Fuhrman as racist and violent.
Bill Pavelic makes no secret of his hatred toward the LAPD, and Fuhrman in particular.
A review of his personnel file suggests, however, that Bill Pavelic enjoyed a successful career. He strongly defended his reputation, pointing to 175 commendations he received.
But his career apparently took a turn for the worse in his latter years, when he started openly criticizing command staff, including former Chief Daryl Gates.
Bill Pavelic retired in 1992 on a service-related disability pension of half pay, claiming his working conditions aggravated his health.
LOAD-DATE: July 21, 1994
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
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