ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, September 8, 1996 TAG: 9609090064
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A10 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
That famous look of relief on O.J. Simpson's face when the jury acquitted him of murder was an acting performance, says an author who claims a jail guard tipped Simpson to the verdict the night before.
Jeffrey Toobin, who covered the trial for The New Yorker magazine, also said defense attorneys Johnnie Cochran and Robert Shapiro thought Simpson was guilty, and told others so.
Shapiro did not immediately return phone calls. Cochran, in a statement issued Friday, denied he ever said or felt Simpson was responsible for the stabbing deaths of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. Cochran called Toobin's assertion an ``unmitigated, bold-faced lie.''
``During the Simpson trial, I had to constantly chastise Mr. Toobin for his biased misrepresentation of facts, always in favor of the prosecution,'' Cochran said. ``My experience has taught me that you cannot trust much of what Jeffrey Toobin writes or reports.''
``One of the things I've learned since the trial is that one of the most famous moments in television history, which is that shot of O.J., is fundamentally a fraud,'' Toobin said on NBC's ``Dateline,'' which will air today. ``Because he looked surprised, but he wasn't.''
After jurors reached their verdict and placed it in an envelope on Oct. 2, Toobin said, they went back to their hotel and had a party.
A deputy guarding the jurors asked, ```Come on, what happened?' [They] said the same thing: `N' - not guilty,'' the author said. A deputy called a friend who was guarding Simpson, and the guard told Simpson, Toobin said.
``One of the sheriffs came up to him and said, `I want your autograph tonight because you're going home tomorrow,''' Toobin said.
LENGTH: Short : 41 linesby CNB