LOS ANGELES, July 12 -- A witness called by the defense in the O.J. Simpson murder trial may have helped the prosecution when he testified Wednesday he saw a white vehicle -- possibly a Ford Bronco similar to Simpson's -- speeding away from the area where his ex-wife and her friend were murdered. Three days into the defense's case, Robert Heidstra said he saw a white vehicle, possibly a Ford Bronco or a Chevrolet Blazer, speed away from the corner near Nicole Brown Simpson's condominium about 10:45 p.m. the night of the murders. The vehicle came 'out of the darkness' and 'accelerated fast,' said Heidstra, who was walking his two dogs the night Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman were murdered. Simpson, 48, is standing trial in Superior Court on two counts of first-degree murder for the June 12, 1994 stabbing and slashing deaths of Nicole Simpson, 35, and Goldman, 25. If convicted, the former football hero could spend the rest of his life in prison. The jury already has heard testimony that sophisticated DNA tests showed that bloodstains found in Simpson's Bronco contain mixtures of blood matching Simpson and the victims, and the astronomical odds that the same genetic characteristics would be found in the general population. But Heidstra was the first witness to tell the jury he may have seen a white Bronco-like vehicle near the murder scene. Trying to downplay the potentially damaging account by Heidstra, Simpson's lead defense attorney, Johnnie Cochran Jr., elicited the witness's testimony that the white vehicle was going south -- the opposite direction from Simpson's mansion 2 miles away.
'Would you agree that someone leaving that intersection at Dorothy and Bundy (near Nicole Simpson's condominium) could drive to 360 N. Rockingham (Simpson's estate) in four minutes or less?' prosecutor Christopher Darden countered. 'If he's speeding, yes, maybe he could do that,' said Heidstra, who lives near the scene of the crime. Darden later suggested that a trail of bloody pawprints from Nicole Simpson's dog leading southbound indicated that it may have tried to follow the vehicle and that the killer might not want to have been identified driving past the murder scene. Trying to use Heidstra's testimony to conform to the prosecution's theory of the murders, Darden suggested that Heidstra may not have been cognizant of the time when he heard Nicole Simpson's Akita dog, Kato, barking, and the sounds of two men apparently arguing. Under an aggressive cross-examination, the defense witness said he was certain he had left his house at 10:15 p.m. because he looked at his watch, and that one of his dogs has arthritis and walks very slowly. The timeline is considered crucial because prosecutors contend the murders occurred about 10:15 p.m. or 10:20 p.m., about the time a neighbor began hearing the plaintive wail of Nicole Simpson's dog. The defense contends the murders could have occurred later, ruling out Simpson as a suspect because he has an alibi after 10:55 p.m. Darden touched off an explosive courtroom battle when he asked the defense witness whether he had told an acquaintance that he heard the clear voice of a young white man say, 'Hey, hey, hey,' and the voice of an older, black man apparently arguing with him. An enraged Ito quickly ordered the jury out of the courtroom, and Cochran accused Darden of asking a 'totally improper' question. 'You can't tell by listening to someone's voice when they're black,' Cochran said. 'That's a racist statement. I think it's totally improper in America at this time in 1995 just to hear this and endure this.' Darden angrily retorted that Cochran's allegations of racism have 'created a lot of problems for my family and myself.' Both Darden and Cochran are black. Ito, as angry as many courtroom observers have seen him, sent the jurors out for a 15-minute recess, said, 'I'm so mad at both you guys I'm about to hold you both in contempt' and stalked out of the courtroom to cool down. Back in court, the judge warned attorneys that any more personal attacks will be met with 'severe sanctions,' presumably stiff fines or even jail time. When the jury returned, Darden was allowed to question Heidstra about the voices he heard while walking in an alley near Nicole Simpson's condominium. Heidstra, who works as a car detailer, denied he had ever told his friend, Patricia Baret, he thought the second man's voice sounded black or that he recognized it as Simpson's voice and said, 'I know it was O. J. It had to be him.' 'No, I could not recognize it,' Heidstra said. 'There was too much noise with the dogs, how could I recognize the voice?' Faced with an attack on his credibility, Heidstra acknowledged he told one friend he expected to make 'some money' through his testimony in the famed trial. But he said he had turned down offers from tabloids, and even though he needs a new car, has not accepted any money for his story. Cochran tried to discredit Baret, suggesting she had appeared on a tabloid TV show and claimed to be a friend of Goldman's. 'They did a pretty good job of flipping him over to almost a prosecution witness,' said Robert Pugsley, a Southwestern University Law School professor. 'Certainly they (the defense) can't be pleased with the way the day developed. He hurt the defense more than he helped them.' In less dramatic testimony, the defense called three other witnesses to testify that Simpson's demeanor did not appear to be unusual the night of the murders. Two couriers, including one who asked Simpson for his autograph at Los Angeles International Airport, said Simpson appeared friendly and that they did not notice a cut on his hand -- a cut the prosecution contends was inflicted during the struggle with Goldman. 'He was dressed real nice, had on a stone-washed denim outfit, you know, trying to look kind of young, trying to be cool,' Michael Norris said of Simpson. 'He was just real smooth, just walking through like 'Hey, I'm O.J.'' The pilot of the red-eye flight Simpson took to Chicago at 11:45 p.m. the night of the killings said he approached Simpson about 2:45 a.m. American Airlines pilot Wayne Stanfield said Simpson was looking out at the window and appeared to be 'pensive' and 'lost in thought,' but responded to him in a warm and genial manner. Under cross-examination, the defense witnesses acknowledged that Simpson did not complain about any pain, limp or have any difficulty signing autographs. Simpson's defense attorneys contend the former football hero suffered from chronic rheumatoid arthritis so bad that he could not shuffle a deck of cards earlier that day, much less kill two healthy young people. The prosecutors also noted that the witnesses had no way of knowing what kind of mood Simpson was in earlier that night. Outside court Wednesday, District Attorney Gil Garcetti said he does not think the prosecution's case has been affected 'at all' by the defense's case. 'There is plenty of time within the timeline that the defense is giving us for the crime to have been committed and for Mr. Simpson to have gotten back to his house on Rockingham,' the county's top prosecutor said.
