THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LAS VEGAS — The judge in O.J. Simpson’s armed robbery trial has rejected an attempt by the prosecution to present evidence related to his acquittal in the slayings of his ex-wife and her friend.
Clark County District Court Judge Jackie Glass decided not to allow testimony by David Cook, a California lawyer for the Ronald Goldman estate.
Prosecutors wanted him to testify about answers Simpson gave in February 2007 in response to a legal questionnaire about his assets.
Glass began court Wednesday by telling prosecutors to call another witness, and prosecutor Chris Owens called former co-defendant Walter Alexander to the stand.
Alexander, 47, a Simpson golfing buddy from Mesa, Ariz., testified that Simpson asked for guns to be brought to a confrontation with memorabilia dealers Bruce Fromong and Alfred Beardsley.
Simpson has said he didn’t ask anyone to bring guns and that he didn’t know anyone in the room was armed.
Defence lawyers say Simpson wanted only to retrieve personal belongings, photos and family heirlooms that had been stolen from him years earlier.
“He said, ‘Do you think you can get some heat?”‘ Alexander said of Simpson. “My friend, Spencer, spoke up and said, ‘No problem. I got plenty of heat. I’m licensed to carry a gun.”‘
Alexander, who used the nickname “Goldie,” said Michael (Spencer) McClinton gave him a .22-calibre pistol that he tucked into his waistband while McClinton wielded a larger handgun during the alleged robbery.
Alexander said Simpson told the men to keep the guns in their waistbands, not display them or use them.
“He said, ‘Just bring them so we can be protected,”‘ Alexander said. “I can’t remember the exact words, but something to that effect. He said, ‘Just bring the guns so they know that we mean business.”‘
Alexander and McClinton once faced the same charges as Simpson and his one remaining co-defendant, Clarence (C.J.) Stewart. McClinton and Alexander pleaded guilty to reduced charges and agreed to testify for the prosecution.
Simpson and Stewart have pleaded not guilty to 12 charges including kidnapping, armed robbery, coercion and assault with a deadly weapon. They face prison if convicted.
Alexander is the fourth of nine men in the room at the time to testify about the night of Sept. 13, 2007, at the Palace Station casino hotel.
The judge’s decision to exclude the lawyer for Goldman’s estate came after she sent the jury home early Tuesday and heard more than two hours of arguments about whether he should appear.
Cook has pursued Simpson for more than a decade to obtain payment of a $33.5-million wrongful death judgment levied in March 1997 against Simpson by a California judge.
District lawyer David Roger said Cook could help show that Simpson tried to squirrel away memorabilia and avoid paying the Goldman judgment, and that anger at the Goldman family was a reason he organized the ill-fated raid on the hotel room with five other men.
“It establishes his motive,” Roger said, “his common scheme and plan with regard to this robbery.”
Simpson lawyer, Yale Galanter, told Glass that testimony about the judgment and Simpson’s acquittal in 1995 in the slayings of Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson would prejudice the jury.