SIMPSON CIVIL TRIAL TO BEGIN.Byline: Linda Deutsch Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. It's a different courtroom with different lawyers, different jurors and a different standard of proof. The question, however, is the same: Did O.J. Simpson kill Nicole Brown Simpson Nicole Brown Simpson (May 19, 1959 – June 12, 1994) was the wife of American football player O.J. Simpson. Found murdered at her home in Los Angeles, California, along with her friend Ronald Goldman, her death led to one of the most controversial and widely-discussed criminal and Ronald Goldman Ronald Lyle Goldman (July 2, 1968 – June 12, 1994) was murdered in Los Angeles, California in 1994 at the age of 25 along with his friend Nicole Brown Simpson, the ex-wife of American football player O.J. Simpson. ? Opening statements will begin today in the wrongful-death lawsuit brought against Simpson by the Brown and Goldman families. They are demanding unspecified damages from Simpson for the slayings, of which he was acquitted in criminal court a year ago. The lawyers in the civil case have both the advantage - and disadvantage - of having seen the evidence unfold in court already. ``The prosecutors were blindsided last time,'' said Laurie Levenson, dean of Loyola University Law School. ``This time there will be fewer surprises to deal with.'' Among other things, the allegations of racism against Detective Mark Fuhrman will no longer carry the element of surprise. It was Fuhrman who reported finding the bloody glove at Simpson's estate. Simpson's lawyers are expected to sound the same themes that echoed so powerfully at his murder trial: claims that he was the victim of botched botch tr.v. botched, botch·ing, botch·es 1. To ruin through clumsiness. 2. To make or perform clumsily; bungle. 3. To repair or mend clumsily. n. 1. or tampered-with evidence as well as a racist police frame-up on Fuhrman's part. For the plaintiffs, the challenge is to prove something prosecutors could not - that Simpson stabbed to death his ex-wife and her friend in 1994 in a fit of rage and that a trail of blood, DNA DNA: see nucleic acid. DNA or deoxyribonucleic acid One of two types of nucleic acid (the other is RNA); a complex organic compound found in all living cells and many viruses. It is the chemical substance of genes. and other physical evidence prove it. This time, though, the standard of proof is lower. The jury need only be convinced by ``the preponderance of the evidence preponderance of the evidence n. the greater weight of the evidence required in a civil (non-criminal) lawsuit for the trier of fact (jury or judge without a jury) to decide in favor of one side or the other. ,'' not ``beyond a reasonable doubt.'' That means the jury can hold Simpson responsible for the slayings if 51 percent of the evidence goes against him. And unlike the criminal case, the verdict does not have to be unanimous. Only nine of the 12 jurors must agree to reach a verdict. It won't be a ``guilty'' or ``not guilty'' verdict, but rather a finding of whether Simpson is or is not responsible for the slayings. In another dramatic difference, the jury is a reverse image of the one that acquitted Simpson of murder. The old jury had nine African-Americans; the new one has nine whites. Also, the entire affair has been moved from downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area. The sprawling, multi-centered megacity is such that its downtown core is often considered just another district like Hollywood or to Santa Monica, a prosperous, mostly white seaside city. |
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