Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 10, 1994 TAG: 9409120080
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Los Angeles Daily News
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium
Ending weeks of speculation, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office announced Friday it will seek the alternative penalty of life without the possibility of parole should a jury convict the National Football League legend of double murder charges and a special allegation of multiple murder.
Community reaction to the decision was mixed, but legal experts said the decision accurately reflects the facts prosecutors have before them, Simpson's reputation and his lack of an extensive criminal history.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Gil Garcetti, who sanctioned the findings of the seven-member committee that weighs whether to seek death sentences for accused killers before trial, issued a statement that gave no reason for his decision to waive a possible death penalty.
In a letter to Simpson's lawyers, Assistant District Attorney Frank Sundstedt, chairman of the death-penalty committee, said a decision had been made not to seek death for Simpson after ``consideration of all available aggravating and mitigating ... evidence.'' Public feelings about the death penalty in the Simpson case did not play a role in the decision, the letter said.
Lead defense attorney Robert Shapiro said his office did not appear before the committee although there was an invitation to do so.
``Our position was that since Mr. Simpson has unequivocally proclaimed his innocence, this was not an issue on which we could do any more than provide background information regarding the outstanding career and charitable works of O.J. Simpson."
Simpson, 47, has pleaded not guilty to charges in the June 12 knife slayings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. He has been jailed without bail since June 17.
Jury selection in his closely watched trial opens Sept. 26.
Legal experts said the death penalty is difficult to pursue in domestic homicide cases, and the prosecution's decision to seek an alternative sentence could help their chances of persuading a jury to convict.
Robert Pugsley, a professor at Southwestern University School of Law, said Friday it might have been more difficult for prosecutors to win a first-degree murder conviction once jurors knew there was a possibility Simpson might face the gas chamber.
``By eliminating the death penalty as a factor, it's going to be a much more smooth road,'' Pugsley said. ``Their chances are better without the specter of the death penalty hanging over the jury.''
University of California-Los Angeles law Professor Peter Arenella said the decision posed a ``no-win situation'' for Garcetti.
``If he seeks the death penalty he's a racist,'' Arenella said, ``and if he doesn't, he'll be criticized by people like Leslie Abramson,'' attorney for Erik Menendez.
A concern raised earlier in death penalty discussions was a possible community perception of inequity between the case against Simpson and that of Erik and Lyle Menendez. The brothers face a possible death penalty in the slayings of their wealthy parents.
by CNB