US:THE POLICE detective first dispatched to investigate reports of an armed robbery by OJ Simpson at a downmarket casino hotel has testified that his initial reaction was it "couldn't be true".
"It didn't make sense," Det Andy Caldwell told a jury at the former football star's robbery-kidnap trial on Wednesday.
The detective said it took a surveillance tape from the Palace Station Hotel Casino to convince him that two sports memorabilia dealers alleging Mr Simpson and five associates robbed them were credible.
"I recognised Mr Simpson instantly," he said of the grainy video. Det Caldwell said the dealers, Bruce Fromong and Alfred Beardsley, immediately volunteered information about the central dispute in the trial: the presence of weapons. "Their primary concern was that they had guns pointed at them," he said.
Mr Simpson (61) insists he never saw a gun during the six-minute encounter. He and co-defendant Clarence Stewart (54) each face a dozen charges. The most serious - kidnapping - carries a potential life sentence.
Defence lawyers contend that Mr Simpson, a former football star, was simply trying to retrieve stolen mementos, including pictures of his children and his late parents, on September 13th, 2007.
Det Caldwell said his amazement that Mr Simpson might be involved in a robbery in his district gave way to a decision to give the high-profile suspect every possible advantage.
The detective said interviews with the two dealers and a third man, Thomas Riccio, who arranged the meeting, provided accounts suggesting Mr Simpson had committed a crime, but officers held off taking action.
"If it was anybody else, we would have arrested him that night," Det Caldwell said. "Because of who he was we wanted to make sure we had everything right." Mr Simpson was arrested two days after the incident.
The detective also recounted dealings with Mr Riccio, a colourful dealer expected to testify later this week. He said Mr Riccio never mentioned that he had surreptitiously recorded the incident, a fact detectives learned only when clips were posted on the website TMZ. "If he had told you about it, would he have been able to make any money off of it," prosecutor Christopher Owens asked. "No, sir, we would have seized it," the detective said.
According to the defence, Mr Riccio sold the tape for more than $100,000 (€70,000).
An FBI audio examiner asked to inspect the recording had testified earlier that he could not determine whether it had been altered. The sometimes garbled, expletive-laced recording is expected to be a cornerstone of the prosecution's case. - (LA Times-Washington Post)