Simpson’s Defense Team Fumbling The Ball, Legal Observers Say First Full Week Of Trial Appears To Have Been A Bad Kickoff For Simpson’s Lawyers

Much was made when Robert Shapiro, a lawyer repeatedly faulted for being better at schmoozing than at litigating, yielded control of O.J. Simpson’s defense to Johnnie Cochran Jr. Shapiro called Cochran an experienced trial lawyer, “the best man on the planet” to defend Simpson before this jury.

But if anything, many lawyers watching the case believe, Simpson’s defense has sputtered since Shapiro literally moved to the side of the defense table and Cochran took over Simpson’s “dream team.” The first full week of the trial was a bad beginning for Simpson’s saviors.

Cochran seemed oddly flat in his opening statement. Worse, he packed it with names and statements he had improperly withheld from prosecutors, leading Judge Lance Ito to excoriate the defense’s tactics.

To punish the defense lawyers, Ito gave Marcia Clark, the chief prosecutor, another, brief crack at the jury by tacking on 10 minutes to her opening statement. She used that historic luxury - no judge in California had offered it before - to pick apart one of Simpson’s crucial alibi witnesses.

On Wednesday Cochran recused himself from cross-examining Ronald Shipp, a former policeman long friendly with Simpson and his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson. Shipp and Cochran are distant cousins.

But the lawyer to whom he gave the assignment, Carl Douglas, was unusually aggressive with Shipp. His tack might have impressed Simpson, but it elicited far more testimony harmful to his case than the prosecutors did. For example, it was only on cross-examination that Shipp suggested most strongly that he believed Simpson was guilty.

With the cross-examination of Denise Brown, Nicole Brown Simpson’s sister, due perhaps on Monday, the defense will soon be tested anew. Denting her testimony without generating sympathy for her will be tricky. For that, oddly enough, Simpson is apparently turning to Shapiro.

“So far, it’s not been a dream, but a nightmare,” Alvin Michaelson, a defense lawyer in Los Angeles, said of the reconstituted legal team.