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From: Jasper
Date: 3/19/03
Time: 3:48:38 PM
Remote Name: 68.73.56.19
Prien,
Now we’re starting to get somewhere….
Marcia, Phillips and Fuhrman all played games with the meaning of the word investigator. The entire argument was bullshit – a distraction – totally irrelevant.
As you pointed out, at least two sets of regulations applied to making death notifications to the coroner “immediately.” One of them puts the onus on the “investigators” (Phillips AND Fuhrman). Another one specifies the ranking investigator, which depends on whether you’re talking about the ranking person on the scene with that title (Phillips) or the detective assigned to lead the actual investigation (Fuhrman). By any interpretation, the person or persons responsible for deciding when to do it would be the detective or detectives in charge. That makes crucial the delay of Phillips’ ANNOUNCEMENT that he was going to call the coroner FOLLOWED BY Lt. Spangler’s order not to (cause and effect/cover your ass). At that time the detectives in charge hadn’t even arrived.
Why would Phillips announce that he was going to make the call instead of just doing it except to provoke a predictable response for the record? And who knows that it was his idea? A “little” off-the-record suggestion by Fuhrman (citing the manual) is all it would have taken. If Phillips had not SAID that he was going to call, the delay would have been the same; only the responsibility for not calling would have shifted to him and Fuhrman.
This is where the defense played word games with Rossi and Phillips.
Cochran knew that regardless of what any regulation says, enforcement of it depends entirely on custom. For instance, it is illegal in some states for married couples to practice certain forms of sex but these practices are so common that nobody EVER enforces the law. I’m sure that you can think of a dozen other examples. Cochran used Rossi and Phillips to argue the law. Marcia used them to argue the common practice. Over time, custom MAKES law, which is why lawyers spend so much time researching precedents.
The defense put on the best show for the jury (no lawyers) but the prosecution had a better legal case. Yes, the law said ABC but the common practice was XYZ. Cochran cited no penalties for breaking the notification laws if they had been enforced – for the first time in history. Expecting that they would be enforced would be like dropping a rock and expecting it to go sideways because somebody wrote a law that said it was supposed to. For any LA detective, the long notification delay was as predictable as gravity.
Robbery/Homicide Division’s involvement in the case was also as predictable as gravity. First response in West LA ALWAYS went to Phillips, who had only one detective above the rank of Detective I (rookie) working for him. As soon as a case was identified as a high profile case it was automatically turned over to RHD. That’s why the time that Nicole’s body was positively identified and who did it is so important. It started the clock on RHD’s takeover of the case. (Fuhrman in Murder in Brentwood page 18): “Having the case reassigned to Robbery/Homicide was inevitable”. –Jasper