ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 16, 1996 TAG: 9603180042
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
note: below
Prosecutor Christopher Darden says justice suffered at the O.J. Simpson trial because of a judge who lost control of the courtroom and a defense that cynically played to the black jurors' desire for a racial ``payback.''
``Collectively, we're all a bunch of failures,'' Darden said Friday on ABC's ``20/20.''
Launching his publicity campaign for his book, Darden called the trial ``a monumental waste of time and taxpayers' money'' and said Simpson's speedy acquittal in October was unfair to Ronald Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson.
Darden said there was plenty of blame, starting at the top. Judge Lance Ito let Simpson's lawyers take control, Darden said.
``Johnnie Cochran ran that courtroom, not Judge Ito,'' he said. ``He surrendered his gavel, essentially. ... The law was being ignored. There was no judge.''
Calls Friday to Ito and the defense attorneys weren't returned.
Darden said he believes the mostly black jury acquitted Simpson to get even for years of racial injustice.
``From the very moment I saw that jury, I didn't believe we had a snowball's chance in hell,'' Darden said. ``I saw anger in that jury. ... I sensed it's payback.''
Darden also said he wanted to slug Cochran ``with a right cross'' after the two black lawyers debated the impact of the jury's hearing ``the n-word.''
``What he was saying to African-Americans was that I was a sellout, I was a race traitor,'' Darden said. ``I was an Uncle Tom. I wasn't to be trusted. ... That's what he was saying.''
Darden also suggested with annoyance that Cochran flirted with prosecutor Marcia Clark. ``I don't know if they came on to each other. ... But the manner in which they behaved toward each other ... I thought was inappropriate,'' he said.
Darden was vague with interviewer Barbara Walters about his reported romantic involvement with Clark.
``Was I a little bit in love with Marcia Clark?'' he said. ``I don't know - love is a scary thing for me. But I care about Marcia Clark. ... We still spend time together.''
As for Simpson, now facing a lawsuit filed by the victims' families, Darden portrayed him as a pathetic figure. Simpson recently called Darden a ``punk.''
``I wasn't the guy riding around in the back of a van crying, with a gun to my head, afraid to pull the trigger,'' Darden said. ``I don't care what O.J. Simpson thinks of me, and if O.J. Simpson thinks poorly of me, then I have to feel like somehow I'm enhanced by that.''
Darden's book, ``In Contempt,'' is to be released Wednesday.
LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: headshot of Dardenby CNB