USA: FRED GOLDMAN PRESS CONFERENCE ON OJ SIMPSON TRIAL

(16 Aug 1995) English/Nat

The family of Ron Goldman Wednesday accused the OJ Simpson defence lawyers of stooping to new lows by trying to cloud the trial with race issues.

In an emotional news conference, Fred Goldman accused OJ Simpson of 'butchering' his son and Nicole Brown Simpson and said the evidence against the former football star was overwhelming.

The Goldman family is angry with the OJ Simpson defence for trying to introduce tape recordings of the controversial Los Angeles detective Mark Fuhrman --the policeman who allegedly found a bloody glove in the grounds of the former football star's home after the murders.

Tapes of Detective Fuhrman allegedly making racial insults have threatened to completely disrupt the OJ Simpson trial .

Judge Ito has been trying to decide if the jury should hear the tapes.

The defence want to use them to discredit Fuhrman who is a key witness for the prosecution.

The prosecution reminded the court that the defence had originally promised not to use the race issue in this trial and reminded people that it was the murder of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson that was the main issue.

SOUNDBITE:

And the issue here is Kim Goldman, Paddy Goldman, Fred Goldman and the Brown family. The issue here is whether this defendant killed Nicole Brown or Ron Goldman or not. The issue here isn't my ethics, the issue here isn't racism.
SUPER CAPTION: Christopher Darden, Prosecution Lawyer.

The Goldman family were so upset at the turn the trial has taken that they took the unprecedented step of holding a news conference outside the court.

Choking back tears, Fred Goldman pleaded with people to see past the court room rhetoric.

SOUNDBITE:

Ron and Nicole were butchered by their client. Do any of you believe otherwise? You have seen the evidence in this trial. It is overwhelming. This is not now the Fuhrman trial. This is a trial about the man that murdered my son....
How dare they take the position that all they want to do is prove perjury. They are liars.
SUPER CAPTION: Goldman, Father of Ron Goldman

Fred Goldman lambasted the defence for trying to divert attention away from the murders by confusing people with issues that weren't relevant to the trial.

SOUNDBITE:

..is to prove perjury...Are we all fools? Do they take us all for morons? We all know what they want is to inflame the emotions of the jury and to inflame anyone's minds, the public's minds with issues that don't relate to this trial.
SUPER CAPTION: Goldman, Father of Ron Goldman

Ron Goldman's sister was furious at the defence and accused them of insulting not just them but everyone following the trail.

SOUNDBITE:

How offensive, okay, to the human race, to not give them the benefit of the doubt that they would be able to try this case according to the facts and according to the evidence and not have to put in the crap of the racial bias. Okay, that's insulting to the people's intelligence. I don't care what colour you are, what race you are, what religion you practise. That's insulting.
SUPER CAPTION: Kim Goldman, Sister of Ron Goldman

Unlike many involved in the trial, the Goldman family has never held news conferences outside the courtroom before.

Wednesday's outburst showed how much the strain of the trial is affecting the family who lost their son in a brutal murder more than a year ago.

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