| Robert Shapiro, one of the nation's | | | | attitudes, we had also been contacted by a |
| best-known attorneys is most notable for | | | | woman named Kathleen Bell. After talking to |
| being part of the defense team which | | | | Bill Pavelic, Bell, a white woman, ultimately |
| successfully defended O.J. Simpson. He is | | | | filed an affidavit with the court that |
| also a co-founder of LegalZoom and a partner | | | | reported a casual conversation she'd had with |
| of Christensen, Miller, Fink, Jacobs, Glaser, | | | | Fuhrman in the mid-eighties. He'd told her |
| Weil & Shapiro, LLP, a full-service law firm | | | | that in his capacity as a policeman, he |
| with approximately 120 attorneys. | | | | frequently pulled over cars driven by black |
| | | | men, for no particular legal reason, and he |
| In his book entitled, The Search For Justice: | | | | especially did so when he saw black men with |
| A Defense Attorney's Brief on the O.J. | | | | white women. Mark Fuhrman had met Nicole in |
| Simpson Case, Shapiro had many things to say | | | | the mid-1980s when he was the responding |
| about Bill Pavelic. Below are actual excerpts | | | | officer on a call Nicole had made initially |
| from The Search For Justice concerning Bill | | | | to the Westec security service. In that |
| Pavelic…. | | | | incident, she reported that O.J. had |
| | | | shattered a car windshield with a baseball |
| "....I then called my friend Bill Pavelic, a | | | | bat. What, then, must have gone through his |
| retired nineteen-year veteran of the | | | | head when Fuhrman arrived at Bundy and |
| L.A.P.D., with eleven of those years spent as | | | | realized who the murdered woman was?...." |
| a detective supervisor. Bill is perhaps the | | | | |
| most anal-retentive, thorough investigator I | | | | "....Bill Pavelic, our investigator, kept |
| have ever seen, and he is passionate about | | | | reminding me that the district attorney's |
| police integrity and behavior. During his | | | | office hadn't turned over to us the police |
| time on the force, he received more than two | | | | logs and tapes for June 13. Some months |
| hundred commendations, including ones from | | | | before, he'd heard from a source inside the |
| the U.S. Justice Department and Los Angeles | | | | L.A.P.D. that Fuhrman and his partner, |
| County District Attorney Gil Garcetti. | | | | Detective Phillips, were using a |
| Pavelic misses nothing. Not only can he find | | | | department-issued cellular phone in the early |
| the needle in the haystack, he can tell you | | | | morning hours of June 13. This source |
| who dropped it there and when. If there is a | | | | contended that Fuhrman and Phillips called |
| mistake made in police procedure, protocol, | | | | from outside O.J.'s house to the West L.A. |
| or timing, no matter how insignificant it may | | | | police station, where Sydney and Justin had |
| appear to the layman, he will find it. Most | | | | been taken, and asked the watch commander to |
| important, Pavelic himself has absolute | | | | find out from the children where O.J. was. |
| integrity, as well as an indefatigable work | | | | Pavelic's source reported that the kids had |
| ethic. When he agreed to come on the case, I | | | | said something to the effect of "out of town |
| felt that one of the strongest links in the | | | | for business." Therefore, contrary to what |
| chain had been forged....." | | | | they'd testified in the preliminary, the |
| | | | police knew quite early that O.J. was not at |
| "....This changed significantly when Bill | | | | Rockingham. This meant the police had no |
| Pavelic contacted Gary Randa, Cathy Randa's | | | | reason to scale the wall in order to notify |
| adult son, and in essence hired him as our | | | | him or protect him from danger. Pavelic was |
| video archivist. Gary's mission was to tape, | | | | adamant that we obtain the watch commander's |
| each and every day, anything on television | | | | log and the cellular phone records to |
| regarding O.J.'s case. That included news | | | | document this call, because his informant was |
| segments in the morning, both local and | | | | suggesting that it was made before the |
| national, all the talk shows throughout the | | | | robbery/homicide detectives, Lange and |
| day, the evening news wrap-ups, and | | | | Vannatter, were in the picture-which gave |
| everything on Court TV and CNN. Every few | | | | Fuhrman time to manipulate evidence...." |
| days, the defense team and the investigators | | | | |
| would go through the tapes, paying close | | | | "....Hodgman knows how important this stuff |
| attention to the "court of public opinion'' | | | | is," Pavelic fumed, "and he and Clark are |
| that was transpiring outside our office | | | | deliberately withholding it." I told him |
| door..." | | | | there was a more likely explanation. "It's |
| | | | the L.A.P.D. that doesn't want us to have |
| Read more about Bill Pavelic at his official | | | | it," I said, "not the D.A. That's why they're |
| site, "....In the meantime, Bill Pavelic was | | | | stalling. I'll bring it up before Ito again, |
| trying to find out who Ron Goldman was and | | | | he's already told them at least once to turn |
| where he fit into the mystery. Was he a | | | | it over. Don't worry, Bill, our chance will |
| boyfriend? Was he a bystander?..." | | | | come...." |
| | | | |
| "....So initially it appeared that we might | | | | "....Over the long Thanksgiving weekend, I |
| have a reasonable basis for exploring a | | | | visited O.J. twice, once on Thanksgiving Day |
| narcotics angle. Bill Pavelic was looking | | | | itself, which, since he was away from his |
| into the record of 911 calls in the area on | | | | family, was a very hard day for him. On the |
| the night of the murders; there had been | | | | following Monday, Bill Pavelic and I spent |
| reports of prowlers, and we couldn't dismiss | | | | four hours at the jail, going over and over |
| the likelihood that if they were borne out, | | | | the now-familiar details with O.J. I |
| they could have some connection to the crime. | | | | suspected that if he took the stand he would |
| At the very least, we had an obligation to | | | | be a typical witness-that is, not as good as |
| investigate further, if only to rule out the | | | | he thought he would be. I often tell clients |
| possibility. Ultimately, our investigation | | | | that they must learn to be witnesses. They |
| was to discover much information about Nicole | | | | must take their time, listen to questions, |
| that was of an intimate and possibly | | | | and answer them simply. Testimony is |
| inflammatory nature. It was relevant to the | | | | definitely not social discourse. Over the |
| case and we chose not to use it as part of | | | | course of the trial, Bill spent endless hours |
| the defense. I choose not to use it now...." | | | | with O.J., keeping him informed and getting |
| | | | his input. During their conversations he |
| Read more about Bill Pavelic at his official | | | | subtly encouraged O.J. to control his |
| site, "....And when we announced an 800 | | | | constant storytelling impulses. In the time |
| number, along with a $500,000 reward for | | | | they spent together, the two men formed a |
| information leading to the arrest of the | | | | bond of trust and true friendship. But that |
| murderer(s), fiber-optic hell broke loose: | | | | didn't mean O.J. didn't get as impatient with |
| within the first two weeks, Pacific Bell's | | | | Bill as he did with the rest of us....." |
| voice-mail system had recorded and logged | | | | |
| 250,000 calls - one a minute - which we then | | | | "....One day, in complete exasperation, O.J. |
| had to log and store on cassette tapes as | | | | said, "Bill, I hope - this doesn't perjure |
| part of the investigation. Callers who | | | | me, and I haven't really told anyone until |
| couldn't get through on the 800 number | | | | now, but I just remembered . . . somewhere, |
| reverted to calling the office number. Every | | | | sometime that day, I spent some quality time |
| hour or so Bonnie had to "dump" the voice | | | | in the head!...." |
| mail and then record the messages in her | | | | |
| computer, deciding which ones were genuine | | | | "....Then Bill Pavelic called me to report a |
| and which ones were cranks, and pass them | | | | phone call he'd received from John McNally on |
| along to Bill Pavelic. We couldn't possibly | | | | Christmas Day. "Hey, Bill," McNally had asked |
| deal with every call, but it was difficult to | | | | him, "what're you going to do once Shapiro's |
| dismiss the possibility that among the | | | | bumped from the case?...." |
| callers who received radio signals in their | | | | |
| fillings or saw the killer's name in their | | | | "....Pavelic was alarmed. "Bob, you know the |
| tea leaves might be the one solid lead we | | | | files that left your office? They didn't go |
| needed...." | | | | to Florida," he said. "Everything went to |
| | | | Cochran's office." Linell had been monitoring |
| "....In addition to DNA, the issue I was most | | | | the goings-on with a growing concern. "Bob, |
| focused on was the search-and-seizure | | | | something weird is going on here. What are |
| procedures of the investigating police | | | | they doing to you?...." |
| officers. Armed with the L.A.P.D. procedures | | | | |
| manual and his own extensive experience, Bill | | | | "....In his carefully detailed report to Skip |
| Pavelic began a log that cross referenced | | | | Taft a few weeks later, Bill Pavelic wrote |
| official procedure with what the police | | | | that his investigation had revealed a |
| investigators had actually done at the crime | | | | systematic and elaborate campaign of |
| scene. Very quickly, he came up with a | | | | disclosures to the press, principally to |
| damning list: they had failed to notify the | | | | columnists for Eastern papers, CNN, and |
| coroner in the prescribed time; they had | | | | supermarket tabloids. The object . . . to |
| failed to complete individual chronology | | | | denigrate Shapiro's skills and his ability to |
| reports; they prepared erroneous property | | | | keep client confidences, and to enhance |
| reports; they misrepresented the facts in the | | | | Bailey's own modest role in the case so |
| search warrant affidavit on the first day of | | | | far...." |
| the investigation; they carried forensic | | | | |
| evidence from Bundy to Rockingham, rather | | | | Read more about Bill Pavelic at his official |
| than taking it to a lab; they didn't secure | | | | site, "....Soon after the Bailey fallout, I |
| evidence (Nicole's home, O.J.'s car) in a | | | | was at home, on a conference call with |
| timely manner; they used the crime scene at | | | | Johnnie and Bill Pavelic. Bill was outlining |
| Bundy as a staging area for their | | | | the point by-point chronology of everything |
| investigation, using the phone inside the | | | | Bailey had done, in the weeks before I was in |
| house to make their calls, and the furniture | | | | Hawaii, and in the days since, including the |
| inside to sit on while they talked, rather | | | | leaks to the press about conversations only |
| than cordoning it off completely; and | | | | the lawyers could've been privy to. I was |
| finally, of the chronology reports that were | | | | adamant that Bailey be removed from this |
| completed, not one was contemporaneous. | | | | case, from anything having to do with O.J. |
| | | | and the upcoming trial...." |
| No one, it seemed, made notes while they | | | | |
| looked at their watches. No one had even | | | | "....On March 9, Detective Mark Fuhrman took |
| looked at their watches. Pavelic was irate. | | | | the stand as another star witness for the |
| As a senior police detective, he had actually | | | | prosecution, and a suddenly charming Marcia |
| been responsible for auditing the | | | | Clark treated him like he was a poster boy |
| department's "murder books," the step-by-step | | | | for apple pie and American values. He had |
| records investigating officers complete for | | | | never been alone during the entire first |
| each case. He well knew what an acceptable | | | | morning of the investigation, he told her |
| level of procedural error should be; in this | | | | earnestly, except when he was taking notes. |
| case, they were way over their limit. "I've | | | | Bill Pavelic believed that he hadn't taken |
| never seen a police investigation so screwed | | | | contemporaneous notes but rather had |
| up in the infancy stage," he told me. "If | | | | carefully-and neatly-crafted his report much |
| there's an anatomy of how not to do an | | | | later, to support his version of those |
| investigation, this might be it..." | | | | events. ..." |
| | | | |
| Read more about Bill Pavelic at his official | | | | "....Shortly after the Fourth of July |
| site, "....The sudden prominence of Mark | | | | weekend, our investigator Bill Pavelic |
| Fuhrman in the preliminary hearing rang all | | | | informed me that a friend of mine, a lawyer |
| of Bill Pavelic's alarm bells. Prior to that, | | | | from San Francisco, had called him several |
| we'd barely been aware of Fuhrman's | | | | times about Mark Fuhrman. This lawyer was |
| involvement in the case, let alone that he | | | | someone Bill had worked with before, on my |
| was a key - if not the key - police detective | | | | recommendation. The lawyer was aware, as |
| in the investigation, at least in the | | | | anyone paying even mild attention to the case |
| all-important first hours. In the early | | | | would have been, that Mark Fuhrman was of key |
| reports provided to us by the prosecution, | | | | concern to the defense team. "A lawyer in Los |
| Mark Fuhrman's name never appeared at all: He | | | | Angeles is offering to sell audiotapes of |
| wasn't in the arrest reports filed on O.J. | | | | Mark Fuhrman that will blow your case wide |
| and A.C.; the property reports didn't mention | | | | open," our contact told Bill. He had heard |
| him; the coroner's report didn't mention him; | | | | this from two tabloid reporters, who were as |
| the June 15 follow-up report didn't mention | | | | curious to hear the tapes as one might expect |
| him; the murder reports didn't mention him; | | | | but who were also concerned about being |
| the June 13 and June 28 search warrants and | | | | victims of some kind of scam..." |
| affidavits didn't mention him. Furthermore, | | | | |
| nowhere was it stated, in any L.A.P.D. | | | | "....The Los Angeles lawyer's name was |
| report, that Fuhrman was the one who | | | | Matthew Schwartz, and he represented someone |
| discovered the glove at each scene...." | | | | named Laura Hart McKinney. She was a |
| | | | screenwriter and had recently interviewed |
| "....Why are they shielding him?" Bill | | | | Fuhrman as part of a film project she was |
| wondered. He had a nodding acquaintance with | | | | trying to develop about Los Angeles cops. |
| Fuhrman; they'd both once moonlighted for | | | | Schwartz stated that the tapes contained |
| Johnny Carson. In addition, we had reports | | | | many, many examples of clear perjury on the |
| that Fuhrman was involved in a lawsuit, in | | | | race issue, and the use of the "N" word in |
| something called an officer-involved | | | | particular. Furthermore, they were a police |
| shooting" case. Months before jury selection | | | | "textbook" on framing blacks and planting |
| had begun and soon after Mark Fuhrman had | | | | evidence. There were fifteen hours of tape, |
| testified in the televised preliminary | | | | approximately three hundred transcript pages. |
| hearing, Bill Pavelic reported that he was in | | | | The bidding price of these tapes was slated |
| communication with an attorney named Robert | | | | to start at $250,000...." |
| Deutsch, whose client Joseph J. Britton was | | | | |
| suing the City of Los Angeles for excessive | | | | "....A licensed attorney making these |
| use of force. In the fall of 1993, Britton | | | | representations would expose himself to major |
| was apprehended while fleeing from a robbery | | | | criminal liability if he was trying to |
| which he'd committed. Mark Fuhrman had been | | | | perpetrate a scam. I tried to maintain my own |
| one of the police officers involved, and he | | | | skepticism while hoping all the while that |
| had reportedly fired ten rounds at Britton, | | | | Schwartz and his tapes were for real. I |
| both as he was falling and after he was down | | | | instructed Bill to pursue whatever avenues he |
| on the ground. Britton took five bullets, and | | | | could to find out if the tapes existed, and |
| his injuries were quite serious. Fuhrman's | | | | if they actually contained what the lawyer |
| personnel records were included in the | | | | and Schwartz said they did. Bill Pavelic |
| records Deutsch had compiled in the suit, | | | | needed to act as fast as he could. If what |
| which was eventually settled by the city for | | | | the lawyer was telling us was true, I figured |
| $100,000. As a consultant to Deutsch, Bill | | | | we had about one day to stay ahead of a |
| had done what he calls a "biopsy'' of the | | | | tabloid bidding war. I didn't intend to meet |
| case, reconstructing the time line in | | | | or match anybody's price; I wanted the tapes |
| conjunction with the police logs and | | | | subpoenaed...." |
| Britton's testimony. He came to a strong | | | | |
| conclusion that the knife Britton had dropped | | | | "....Pavelic was told how to contact Matt |
| while running from the police had later been | | | | Schwartz and Laura McKinney. In turn, Bill |
| planted near his body in order to justify the | | | | instructed the lawyer to call Carl Douglas |
| shooting...." | | | | and investigator Pat McKenna. Douglas would |
| | | | prepare the subpoena; McKenna was supposed to |
| "....After Fuhrman's televised session at the | | | | serve it. However, Gary Randa, Cathy Randa's |
| preliminary, we started receiving phone calls | | | | son, got the subpoena assignment instead. |
| on both the 800-number line and the office | | | | When he went to Matt Schwartz's office, he |
| lines, from attorneys who'd had dealings with | | | | was told that Schwartz was "on vacation." The |
| Fuhrman, from anonymous police personnel, and | | | | person who told him this, we later |
| from anonymous people who had known him. | | | | discovered, was Matt Schwartz, who evidently |
| Everybody had a Mark Fuhrman story. Bonnie | | | | wanted to keep the bidding war open...." |
| passed these messages on to Bill; Bill | | | | |
| checked out the ones that he could. In the | | | | "....The television tabloid show Hard Copy |
| meantime, Gerry Uelmen and I immediately | | | | knew about the tapes; so, suddenly, did a lot |
| prepared a motion to obtain Fuhrman's police | | | | of reporters. It was time to go directly to |
| department personnel records, certain of | | | | the source-McKinney-and to do that we had to |
| which were already part of the lawsuit | | | | go to North Carolina, where she now |
| against him...." | | | | lived...." |
| | | | |
| Read more about Bill Pavelic at his official | | | | Read more about Bill Pavelic at his official |
| site, "....In addition to the information | | | | site, BillPavelic. |
| we'd gathered on Mark Fuhrman's racial | | | | |