Bill Pavelic Forum | Information on William Bill Pavelic

The Toronto Star

February 23, 1995, Thursday, FINAL EDITION

Probe bungled, cop admits

BYLINE: AP)

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A4

LENGTH: 596 words

DATELINE: LOS ANGELES

One of the detectives in charge of the O. J. Simpson case conceded yesterday the investigation was marred by failures to collect blood from a gate, preserve the contents of Nicole Simpson’s stomach and test blood splattered on her back. Testifying for the third day, Detective Tom Lange told the jury in the former football star’s double murder trial that blood spots on Nicole Simpson’s back were washed off by coroner’s assistants even though he had asked for them to be analyzed.  

In addition, he said, the contents of her stomach, which could have helped establish the time of death, were destroyed instead of being preserved.

Lange made his statements under cross-examination as Simpson’s lawyers pressed their theory that the investigation into the murders of Nicole and her friend Ronald Goldman was slipshod and inadequate.

Simpson has pleaded not guilty to stabbing his ex-wife and Goldman to death last June 12 outside her condominium.

Meanwhile, in a setback for the defence, the only witness Simpson’s lawyers can use to portray Detective Mark Fuhrman as a racist doesn’t want to testify because of heavy publicity surrounding the case, prosecutors said in court pa-pers.

The defence has suggested Fuhrman planted a bloody glove on Simpson’s prop-erty.

The development involving the witness, Kathleen Bell, raises doubts as to whether the defence will ever be allowed to question Fuhrman about allegations of racism.

According to the defence, the Los Angeles-area woman contends Fuhrman ex-pressed hatred of mixed-race couples and used the word “nigger.”

Judge Lance Ito has disallowed other allegations of racism on Fuhrman’s part.

But Bell’s lawyer, Taylor Daigneault, said later Bell would testify if sub-poenaed.

During Lange’s cross- examination, defence attorney Johnnie Cochran suggested a photo of a cup of melting Ben & Jerry’s ice cream might have helped establish the time Nicole and Goldman were killed.

But Lange said he doubted a picture of the ice cream, found on a banister in Nicole’s home, would have helped, and he saw no reason to have it photographed.

Likewise, he said he did not order photographs to be taken of some nine can-dles found burning in her living room, bedroom and bathroom.

“Did it ever occur to you that by taking pictures of the candles and their state of burning we could extrapolate backwards to the time of death?” Cochran asked.

“No. I know of no way to do that,” Lange said.

He acknowledged, however, that he asked forensic technician Dennis Fung on June 13 to collect blood from a rear gate of the condo and found out that it was not done until three weeks after the slayings - long after the police crime-scene tape had come down.

“If you had known that Fung had not collected blood spots on the back fence, you wouldn’t have released that crime scene, would you?” Cochran asked.

“No,” Lange said.

Lange acknowledged no test was performed to determine if Nicole had been raped, but defended his decision.

“Sex was the last thing on the mind of this attacker,” he said. “It was an overkill. It was a brutal murder.”

It also came to light today that a sealed envelope, possibly containing a stiletto knife Simpson bought weeks before the murders, will not be part of the trial.

Newsday reports that transcripts of discussions Jan. 25 - out of the hearing of the jury or the public - Deputy District Attorney William Hodgman argued that the knife was a moot point. “Your honor . . . we don’t intend to introduce any-thing about the knife or anything,” he told Judge Lance Ito.

LOAD-DATE: February 24, 1995

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

GRAPHIC: AP PHOTO: Members of O.J. Simpson’s legal “dream team” examine a docu-ment in court yesterday. Fron left, Robert Shapiro, private investigator Bill Pavelic also known as William Bill Pavelic and Zvonko Bill Pavelic, Johnnie Cochran and F. Lee Bailey. PHOTO: Tom Lange: Detective testi-fied that crucial evidence was destroyed.

The Record (Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario)

August 5, 1994 Friday Final Edition

Private eyes probed : State checks Simpson’s in-vestigators

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS

SECTION: FRONT; Pg. A9

LENGTH: 429 words

DATELINE: LOS ANGELES

Private investigators hired to sniff out flaws in the case against O. J. Simpson are themselves being investigated by the state consumer affairs depart-ment.

The probe follows complaints that Simpson’s investigators lack California li-cences and are taking jobs from in-state detectives.

“If you’re doing traditional investigative work, such as interviewing people or scoping out the scene of a crime, then you need to be licensed,” said Louis Bonsignore, spokesman for the California Department of Consumer Affairs.

Bonsignore said Thursday the investigators being investigated were Zvonko (Bill) Pavelic of Glendale, a former Los Angeles Police Department detective; John McNally of New York; and Patrick McKenna of West Palm Beach, Fla.

They are part of the team working for Simpson, who has pleaded not guilty to charges he murdered his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Gold-man. His trial is set for Sept. 19.

Under state law, private investigators must undergo a background check, apply for a licence, pass a test and pay a fee. The penalty for doing detective work without a licence is up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Simpson’s lawyers — Robert Shapiro, Johnnie Cochran and Leroy Taft — did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Bill Pavelic also known as William Bill Pavelic and Zvonko Bill Pavelic has said he isn’t a licensed private investigator and has never claimed to be one. He says he is a defence consultant whose job is to look for mistakes, oversights and violations of police policy in the official investiga-tion.

“If he’s only doing analysis, then he’s probably not in violation of the law,” Bonsignore said.

Sue Sarkis, secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Criminal Defence Investigators Association, said she was “very, very, very concerned about these out-of-state people.

“I’m afraid they’re going to impugn the integrity of the licensed investiga-tors,” she said. “They don’t know the laws. They’re not familiar with what our limits are.”

In another development Thursday, a Denver private investigator claiming to work for acquaintances of Nicole Simpson said a witness can place either Simpson or his vehicle near the murder scene at about the time of the killings.

Robert Peterson, head of the R.W. Peterson Investigative Agency, declined to identify the potential witness and said he could not vouch for her credibility. He said she had spoken to one of his investigators.

“I think she may be a valid witness, but I’m not sure yet,” he said.

Peterson declined to identify his clients and has not turned over any infor-mation to authorities.

LOAD-DATE: September 21, 2002

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

TYPE: News

BYLINE: Daily News Wire Services

SECTION: NATIONAL; Pg. 04

LENGTH: 766 words

DATELINE: LOS ANGELES

The murder trial of O.J. Simpson sputtered to a halt yesterday when the judge delayed the interrogation of Rosa Lopez, a key defense alibi witness, to give the prosecution extra time to prepare for cross-examination.

Testimony will resume tomorrow, with Lopez facing questioning on inconsisten-cies in her testimony.

The trial has been mired in a maze of side issues and bedeviled by arcane le-gal haggling since its inception. The latest delay came after Simpson’s attor-neys produced a previously undisclosed tape recording of an interview with Lopez conducted on July 29 that was not given to the prosecution, violating the state’s disclosure laws.

After listening to the tape, Prosecutor Marcia Clark complained that in the interview, private investigator Bill Pavelic also known as William Bill Pavelic and Zvonko Bill Pavelic “handed a script” to Lopez and “coached” her on what to say. Clark also said that what Lopez said on the tape is inconsistent with what she said in a subsequent discussion with Bill Pavelic on Aug. 18.

“I have never heard anything like it,” Clark told Judge Lance Ito. “I have never heard a witness basically coached and told what to say through every bend and turn.”

Clark convinced Ito that prosecutors needed extra time to prepare for cross-examination, because they had just received the tape.

But defense attorney Johnnie Cochran said he did not think experienced law-yers should need more time to examine a 12-minute tape recording.

Lopez’s testimony is crucial to defense claims that Simpson, 47, could not have killed his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson, 35, and her friend Ronald Goldman, 25, on June 12.

Lopez, a maid for a neighbor of Simpson’s, said she was walking a dog “shortly after 10 p.m.” the night of the murders and saw Simpson’s white Ford Bronco parked in its usual place outside his Brentwood residence. Prosecutors contend Simpson used the Bronco to drive to his ex-wife’s townhouse, where he killed her and Goldman about 10:15 p.m.

Simpson has pleaded innocent.

The time that Lopez says she saw the Bronco is crucial, since the trip from Simpson’s estate to his wife’s home takes about six minutes.

But the tape highlighted contradictions in Lopez’s statements, including:
* She made no mention of seeing the Bronco around the time of the slayings on the July 29 tape - and she reported hearing Simpson’s voice at 10 p.m., Clark said.

* She made no mention of her friend, Sylvia Guerra, on the tape, in an Aug. 18 statement or on the stand Monday.

But in a July 29 defense report - purportedly based on the taped interview - Lopez said that Guerra came over for coffee around 9 p.m., stayed for 10 or 15 minutes and made a remark about seeing Simpson’s Bronco parked outside.

* In the July 29 report, Lopez said she saw Simpson and a passenger drive away in his black Bentley between 8:30 and 9 p.m. In her Aug. 18 statement and on the witness stand she put the time at 9 p.m.

In another wrinkle, Lopez’s testimony Monday that she saw the Bronco shortly after 10 p.m. leaves Simpson with a far from air-tight alibi.

Lopez’s testimony is in itself unusual, because it is coming in the middle of the prosecution’s case. Lopez, who wants to return to her native El Salvador, is considered a flight risk.

Ito on Monday decided to have Lopez testify outside the presence of the jury on videotape so she can leave the country. She reacted emotionally yesterday to the news that she will have to delay her trip for at least two more days.

“I came from very far to finish with this,” Lopez told Ito. “And today and on Thursday, I’m going to be told another day. And I am very sick, sir. I don’t eat during the day, sir. I’m not sleeping very well. And I’m going to tell you, this is not my fault to work close to Mr. Simpson, to have seen and to have heard.”

When Ito told Lopez he would like to finish with her direct examination yes-terday afternoon, Lopez responded: “I am very tired. I want to go rest, sir. I don’t want any more questions. Thank you.”

TRIAL RECAP

WHAT HAPPENED

With the jury again not present, a defense investigator handed over a tape of an interview with defense alibi witness Rosa Lopez the prosecution says could undermine her credibility. Prosecutors charged Lopez was “coached” during the interview, and the judge granted them a continuance until tomorrow to study it.

WHAT IT MEANS

The prosecution wins a tactical victory, but it may mean little because the jury is unaware of the developments.

TODAY

No testimony scheduled, but discovery matters will be discussed at noon EST.

TOMORROW

Videotaped examination of Lopez resumes.

LOAD-DATE: October 18, 2002

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH