NATIONAL
* ?, 1 ^ * *
prosecutor Shows Personality
jWith Roll of Eyes, Sarcastic Tone
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? The
?ad prosecutor in the OJ. Simpson
jjbuble-murder case is tenacious jmd
\fynfident in the courtroom, some
;5&ries rolling her eyes or turning sar
pastic to make her point
Deputy District Attorney Mar
cia Clark, trying a case with unrelent
ing media coverage, has made it
. clear she will not be intimidated by
the opposition ? lawyers Robert
Shapiro, F. Lee Bailey and Alan Der
showitz.
During an evidence hearing
last week, she smiled frequently,
looked ^kyward on occasion and
took an exceedingly civil tone as she
agreed tQ share prosecution evidence.
i There was even a bit of one
> upmanship when she accused
Shapiro of trying to head the district
"attorney's office.
"She seemed comfortable,
confident and set on saying the
defense will not direct the prosecu
tion's game plan,'1 said Laurie Lcv
enson, a former federal prosecutor
? who's now a professor of criminal
law at Loyola Law School. ,
Clark brought some levity to
the Municipal Court during taLk
about dividing hair samples for
genetic tests... j.
\ "Yes,~your honor, we have fol
licle and shaft. . . . But hairs, uh, can
not be split," Clark told the court in
a.bit of inadvertent wordplay.
Clark was at the center of one
of the most dramatic. courtroom
moments sp far when she was forced
to concede last week that a piece of
- \\idely reported evidence didn't
e^ist. ?. '
? Shapiro demanded to examine
a bloody ski mask. * . ?
After talking her way around
ii, Clark finally told the judge:
'There is no ski mask." There was.
s n. ?
however, a knit cap. she said.
Clark will be. back in the
: cpurtroonifor a preliminary hearing,
' sch^ted ^ "^hufs^y, .
" ? ? "ark is now co-counsel with
Central
Opera
tions
Division
Director
William
H o d g -
man, who
has tried
more than
40 mur
der jbases
and pros
e c u t e d
savings
and loan
executive
Charles
H. Keat
ing. )
Since the
first
Simpson
news con
ference in Q.7. Simpson shown with his attorney Robert Shapiro.
; which she J ' .
answered reporters' questions with
no-nonsense responses, the dark
haired, self-possessed special trials
deputy has shown she's ready to take
~on Shapiro* :
"She can be a very worthy '
opponent to any defense anornev she
faces in this case," said Barry Levin.,
a defense lawyer who worked oppo
site Clark in a death penalty case a
decade ago. ]
. "She's been handling herself
extraordinarily'well. with intelli
gence and dignity and a straightfor
ward style that wears well," said
Susan Estrich, professor of. lav-, and
, political science at the University of
Southern California. "If you see the
men line up on the defense side, her
clear strong voice becomes even
more striking."
The defense team has been
growing in size and national stature
since Clark first was assigned to the
prosecution. It now includes Shapiro,
celebrity attorney Bailey. Harvard
Law Professor Dershowit? and Ger
ald Uelmen. dean of the Santa Clara
University taw School. %
Levin said Clark was "bom to
be a trial prosecutor" She is panics
.Jarly skilled at going before a jury
and standing in the shu>es of the vic
tim. he added. ,
In this case the victims ^were
Simpson" *v.wife Nicole Brown
Simpson. jC. md her friend, waiter
Ronald Goldman. 25. Thev were
slashed to death on June 12 outside
Nicople Simpson's condominium.
Simpson, who was jailed June 17
without bail, has pleaded innocent to
-two counts of muriier. ? =? ?
Clark's most well-known con
viction came in the 1991' trial of
Robert John Bardo for the stalking v
murder of Rebecca^ Schaeffer. an
actress in the "My Sister Sam" TV
series. Clark. 40.- joined the Los
Angeles district attorney's office in
1981. She's a native of Berkeley and
graduate of UCLA and the South
western University School of Law .
Man Accused in Shooting Says He
Had No Grudge Against Muhammad
SEATTLE CAP) ? The man
accused of trying to assassinate for
mer Nation of Islam spokesman
Khallid AMni Muhammad rails him
self a "simple fellow" who doesn't
bear any grudge against Muhammad.
James Edward Bess, a defrocked
Nation of Islam minister from Seat
tle, said he supported Muhammad's
suspension by Nation of Islam leader
1 6u is Farrakhan after Muhammad, in
9 speech, called Jews "bloodsuckers"
&nd urged the killing of South
African whites. *
Bess has pleaded innocent to
charges of attempted murder and five
counts of assault with a deadly
weapon in the May 29 shooting after
a speech by Muhammad on the Uni
versity of California-Riverside cam
pus. Muhammad and five other peo
ple were wounded. Some Nation of
Islam members have said Bess was
ejected from his ministry in Seattle
by either Khallid Muhammad or
close ally Wazir Muhammad.
But Bess, speaking by tele
phone from his California jail cell,
denied being expelled and said he
had never spoken with Muhammad
about his ministry in Seattle.
"I don't know if Khallid Abdul
Muhammad knew what I was teach
ing. 1 never had a conversation with
Khallid Abdulr Muhammad," Bess
told the Seattle wst-lntelligencer.
"1 didn't harbor any ill will
toward him. I supported the state
ment that the Honorable Louis Far
rakhan gave with respect to the state
ments made by Mr. Khallid."
On the advice of his attorney,
Bess, 49. would not discuss the
shooting. If convicted, he faces life in
prison.
He claimed Farrakhan had per
sonally endorsed his ministry in Seat-_
tie" and^thTouahout the Northwest in
the early 1980s. Bess has been well
known for his cable TV religion pro
grams for several years.
Bess said his ministry
extended the teachings of Farrakhan
to all races, not only to blacks.
"He gave me the approval to
Jeach ihe principles of the Nation of
Islam to everyone. . . . rie was
hy fhnt " Hp it nairi
"That doesn't resonate well with
everybody, with the members of the
Nation of Islam and outside." he
added. "There's a double problem,
there's a problem with a lack of toler
ance and ignorance as well. . . ..In the
Nation of Islam it isn^u popuku^-u*
talk about loving humanity."
Bess is recovering from a bro
ken arm and dishvaied shoulder sus^
tained from a beating by an angry
crowd after the sliuuung.
And despite his imprisonment.
Bess said he intends to continue his
ministry. I want to be actively
engaged 'in the ministry of self
improvement of myself and encour
age _a[l others to improve them
selves," he said. 'That's all I'm
about. I'm a real simple feljow."
Winston-Salem Chronicle
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