2 - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, January 19, 1995
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EIGHT BALL, CORNER POCKET
TRIAL
Continued from page 1
and 10 other others that were unop-
posed. He said he would not allow
evidence of 12 incidents, most of them
supported by the diary of Nicole
Brown Simpson maintained at the
request of her lawyer to support her
1992 divorce.
Calling the diary, or journal, hear-
say evidence, Ito said that while the
relevance or probative value of such
evidence might be obvious and com-
pelling to "the man or woman on the
street," appeals courts have held that
it is reversible error to admit hearsay
statements by a murder victim who
expressed fear of the defendant.
Ito said he would not allow evi-
dence that Nicole Simpson contacted
aSantaMonica battered wives shelter
five days before her death, saying that
her former husband was stalking her.
Apart from those exceptions, how-
ever, Ito upheld the prosecution's right
to present evidence of most of the
domestic abuse incidents that pros-
ecutors say form one of the main
pillars of their case against Simpson,
the former football superstar who has
pleaded not guilty to two counts of
first-degree murder in the slayings of
Nicole Simpson and Ronald L.
Goldman last June.
Prosecution lawyers had been par-
ticularly eager for the jury to hear
evidence about four incidents that Ito
today ruled admissible. They are a
1985 incident in which Simpson
smashed in the window of his wife's
white Mercedes with a baseball bat; a
widely-publicized New Year's Eve
tight in 1989 thatresulted in his plead-
ing no contest to a spousal battery
charge; and an episode in which
Simpson kicked in a door to his wife's
house and shouted threats against her
while she talked with a police 911
emergency operator..
Ito also allowed evidence of al-
legations that Simpson grabbed his
wife by the crotch in a bar in 1989
and then later that evening pushed
her from their moving car. Also al-
lowed was an incident in which af-
ter the couple returned home from
seeing "Disney On Ice" in 1988, he
threatened her and said he had a gun
in his right hand.
Ito yesterday also dismissed from
the jury two jurors who had been
questioned about possible conflicts
of interest.
' awaits Simpson
trial with skepticism
By MARIA KOVAC
Daily Staff Reporter
After seven months of intense build-
up, the O.J. Simpson trial begins Mon-
day. Are the American people ready?
As the media gear up to begin
coverage of one of the most publi-
cized trials in history, University stu-
dents and faculty offered various opin-
ions about the actual importance of
the trial.
"This trial will have more social
significance than legal significance,"
said communication Prof. Joan
Lowenstein.
Domestic violence has become
more of a social issue because of the
case, Lowenstein said, even though
the case will probably not set any
legal precedents.
LSA junior Jody Kamon said, "I
think the publicity has been good be-
cause it has exposed violence against
women, but the victims in this case
have already been forgotten."
Kamon believes the case has be-
come so sensationalized because of
Simpson's fame.
Chris Gilbert, an LSA sophomore,
agrees. "If he wasn't so popular, (the
trial) wouldn't be on TV."
Law Prof. Samuel Gross said the
media coverage may be the most im-
portant factor in this trial.
Gross, who specializes in crimi-
nal procedure and evidence, said many
previously unknown defendants in
sensational cases have become celeb-
rities because of media attention. He
cited the Menendez brothers and Wil-
liam Kennedy Smith as examples.
But in this instance, Simpson be-
gan as a well-loved celebrity, Gross
said. "This case is bizarre, gruesome
and interesting - plus it's O.J."
As to whether or not the media are
inundating the public with too much
coverage, Lowenstein does not be-
lieve so.
"I don't think the media is over-
reacting...they are responding to the
public's interest," she said.
Lowenstein said the case has ele-
ments of drama: celebrity, sex, mur-
der, power and the added dimension
of race, which interest people.
However, Gross believes "the cov-
erage is designed to pique people's
interest."
David Simon, an Engineering se-
nior, said, "It seems like the public
wants to hear about it and the media
exploits that interest."
First-year Art School student Sue
Park said she's "sick of hearing about
the case."
Lowenstein foresees the coverage
being intense at the beginning of the
trial. She said people will probably
lose interest as it drags on, but will
become interested again when the
verdict is announced.
"It will be good for people to watch
the proceedings and learn how a trial
works...it will have educational
value," Lowenstein said.
Gross is not as optimistic.
"Everyone's impression of criminal tri-
als will be based on this trial ... but this
is not a typical proceeding," he said.
Simon thinks that this trial has the
potential to educate the public on how
trials work, "but this is an example on
how it shouldn't work," he said.
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Continued from page 1
reach out to students who are not like
them," Hartford said. "I don't think
there was any intention of diminish-
ing our attention on students of color,
but an attempt to involve more of the
University in the issue. They're is-
sues that need to be taken very seri-
ously and addressed by white faculty,
staff and students also."
After six years of work on the
Michigan Mandate, the number of
minority students on campus has in-
creased from 13.5 percent to 24.2
percent.
For Black students and faculty,
the gains still lag behind.
In 1988, the number of Asian
American and Black students on cam-
pus was equal, with both making up
6.2 percent of the student body. To-
day there are 706 more Asian Ameri-
cans on campus than Black students.
And in the past year, Black faculty
declined by 1.2 percent.
STEPHANIE UM/Daily
Ruben Reyna, a first-year Law student, plays pool in the Michigan Union.
STUDENTS
Continued from page 2.
heard from a former co-worker that a
mutual friend had his residence and
the auto part factory where he worked
damaged.
The disaster hit Business School
student Toshiaki Yamashita closer to
home. His town of Nishi Nomiya was
in the area affected by the quake. "My
father called my sister before the
phones went down," he said. "My
parents are OK, and the house didn't
fall down, but inside, it's messy."
LSA senior Ema Osaki's family
lives east of the affected area, but
friends at the University were quick
to inquire how they were doing. "I
called my family as soon as I heard
about the earthquake," she said, "and
since then lots of my friends and
friends of the family have called to
see how they were."
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JAPAN
Continued from page 1.
own homes, but they had to line up at
army tanker trucks to get water. At.
Kami-Koshien Elementary School in
Nishinomiya, for example, people
waited more than an hour to get a
water ration that was restricted to one
quart per person.
There was a moment of terror
shortly before 2 a.m. when an after-
shock registering 3.4 on the Richter
scale shook everything and everyone
all over again.
Shortly afterward, there was an
explosion at a chemical-storage tank
on Kobe's Port Island, a man-made
island just off the coast. But since
Port Island had already been evacu-
ated, the resulting fire evidently did
not endanger human life, police said.
In Washington, the State Depart-
ment said the residence of the U.S.
consul general in Osaka was badly
damaged in the Tuesday quake and
the l -story building housing the con-
sulate suffered some structural dam-
age, but no employees were hurt.
U.S. officials also identified the
lone American known to have been
killed in the quake as Voni Lynn
Wong, a teacher from California who
was living in Kobe.
The main earthquake, which struck
at dawn Tuesday, measured 7.2 on
the open-ended Richter scale. It col-
lapsed a major freeway, buckled
streets, mangled railroad tracks, rup-
tured water mains and gas lines an*
sent buildings tumbling into streets
like the playthings of a petulant child.
The tremor also raised questions
about the effectiveness of Japan's
elaborate systems for earthquake pre-
paredness.
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