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O.J. jury: We didn’t trust witnesses
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ASIANAGE on 06 October, 2008 03:21:16
 
Las Vegas, Oct. 6: Jurors who convicted O.J. Simpson of armed robbery and
kidnapping said that they did not trust witness testimony and instead relied on
recordings and other documented evidence to convict the former football star.
It might have been a waste for prosecutors to give plea deals to several
Simpson co-defendants in exchange for their testimony, since the jury did not
rely on it, foreman Paul Connelly said.
Seven members of the 12-person jury agreed to the extraordinary news conference
two nights after the verdict was announced because they said they were being
hounded by reporters.
They answered questions for an hour in the same courtroom where Simpson and
Clarence "C J" Stewart were convicted of robbing two memorabilia dealers at
gunpoint in a hotel room.
The jury listened repeatedly to recordings made by collectibles dealer Thomas
Riccio, the host of the hotel confrontation, who was granted immunity, and felt
they heard things that had not been fully transcribed by the police, juror
Michelle Lyons said on Sunday.
But jurors could not trust the credibility of witnesses who were given plea
deals, Ms Lyons said.
"We felt we could not rely on that witness testimony," she said. Simpson, 61,
was famously acquitted in 1995 of murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson,
and her friend Ronald Goldman in Los Angeles.
Meanwhile, Simpson is in a state of "shock" over his conviction. "I can’t
believe I'm in here for this nothing incident," he said, and termed his
incarceration a conspiracy.
—AP, ANI