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