V

VACATION PLANS—Just as the exhausting trial appeared to be within a few days of reaching a conclusion, the proceeding ran into judge’s personal vacation plans. Ito’s expectations of running off to San Francisco with LAPD Police Captain York for a long weekend already extended by a one-day Jewish holiday was sharply criticized. A few days before, increasingly impatient sequestered jurors cooled their heels at their hotel while the court was recessed for another three-day weekend occasioned by a religious holiday. Court spokeswoman Jerrianne Hayslett told reporters the judge’s planned trip including days off on Friday September 29 and Monday October 2 wasn’t a vacation, but she refused to divulge any more details about the affair. “He doesn’t want the media to follow him,” she said. “He’s a hard working judge. He’s not taken any time off for pleasure during this trial.”

VALDEZ, CARLOS—(See: “Marcia Clark of South Texas.”)

VALERIE, STEPHEN—A graduate student at UCLA who shared the red-eye flight to Chicago with Simpson, and looked at the athlete’s hands to see if he was wearing a NFL championship ring. Valerie testified he didn’t see any evidence of cuts on Simpson’s hands, and also explained he didn’t know that the retired running back never played on an NFL championship team. The student said he turned down a bid of up to $10,000 from a tabloid TV show for his story. (See: Band-Aid.)

VALLEY OAKS CEMETERY—Ron Goldman was interred in a plot under a stately Oregon pine tree at the cemetery in the middle class suburb of Westlake Village after services conducted by a rabbi. More than 20 camera crews recorded the funeral, which was attended by about 400 family members and friends of the young murder victim.

VANNATTER, PHILIP—A rugged, barrel-chested 25-year-veteran of the LAPD, Vannatter was Lange’s partner and spotted Simpson at about noon the day after the slayings as he returned home from the trip to Chicago. The detective noticed a band-aid or bandage near the knuckle of the middle finger on Simpson’s right hand. When the trial proceedings moved underway Vannatter, 53, who had testified many times before, stubbornly resisted fierce cross-examination by Shapiro who accused investigators of illegally searching the Simpson home and of falsifying evidence.

Vannatter, whose close friends call him “Dutch,” wound up back on the witness stand again during surrebuttal after three men surfaced who claimed they heard him say Simpson was a suspect when police first went to the estate. A curious trio composed of two brothers in the federal Witness Protection Program, and an FBI agent working on a mob case all said they overheard the LAPD sleuth make the remarks.

The allegation was significant because if the story held up, then much of the physical evidence the prosecution collected at the estate could be thrown out on grounds it was improperly gathered without a search warrant. And Vannatter’s reputation was at stake, and possibly his freedom if he was shown to have committed perjury.

When he was recalled to the stand, the crusty police gumshoe stood stubbornly behind his previous testimony: Police went to the estate to inform Simpson of Nicole’s slaying. Looking the defense attorney straight in the eye, he declared “Mr. Simpson was no more of a suspect at that point than you were, Mr. Shapiro.” (See: Fiato, Craig Anthony; Fiato, Larry; Search Warrant; Thompson, Donald; and Wacks, Michael.)

VAN SUSTEREN, GRETA—A veteran trial lawyer and an adjunct law professor at Georgetown University, her alma mater, Van Susteren, 41, served as one of CNN’s two leading legal analysts for the Simpson trial. She broke into the business providing legal commentary for a CBS television affiliate during the criminal trial of Washington, D. C. Mayor Marion Barry. A year later, in 1991 she switched to CNN to provide on-camera analysis of the William Kennedy Smith rape case. (See: Burden of Proof; and Cossack, Roger.)

VERDICT NOTICE—After delivering jury instructions near the conclusion of the trial, Ito advised attorneys that he would provide four-hours prior notice before bringing the jury into the courtroom to announce a verdict.

VERDICT POSSIBILITIES—As the jury began deliberations there were several options:

• Acquittal. Simpson would walk out of the courtroom a free man for the first time in more than a year, and could not under any circumstances be retried for the murders.

• Hung Jury. If the jury became hopelessly deadlocked on any or all counts, the DA would be faced with a decision whether to seek a second trial. Simpson would remain in jail.

• Conviction on first-degree murder without a finding of special circumstances. The mandatory sentence was 25-years-to-life in prison, with the possibility of parole.

• Conviction of first-degree murder with special circumstances applied for multiple murders. Prosecutors previously ruled out the possibility of a death sentence, so the mandatory penalty was life in prison without the possibility of parole.

• Conviction of second-degree murder, which was a possibility if jurors concluded there was insufficient evidence of premeditation and deliberation. The penalty was 15-years to life.

• Conviction of one charge of first-degree murder, and of second-degree murder for the other slaying. In that event they would still need to decide if they wished to apply special circumstances for committing multiple murders. Application of special circumstances would mean a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.

VERDUGO HILLS HOSPITAL—The hospital where dismissed juror Tracy Kennedy was rushed on May 28 following a suicide attempt at his home. After a few days at the hospital, he was moved to a psychiatric clinic in Pasadena for more treatment. (See: Juror Stress; Kennedy, Tracy; and Mistrial of the Century.)

VICTORY PARTY—Stretch limousines and luxury cars carried dozens of people to Simpson’s Rockingham estate after his exoneration by the jury, for a huge victory celebration. Friends and family members were already waiting for him at the mansion with balloons, hugs, kisses and handshakes when he arrived home. Other celebrations were held by supporters across the country, including the Potrero Hill housing project in San Francisco where he was raised. Residents there shouted, danced and fired pistols into the air.

VIERTEL’S—The impound lot where police had Simpson’s Ford Bronco hauled after removing it from in front of the Rockingham estate. (See: Blasini, William Jr.; Meraz, John; and Mulldorfer, Kelly.)

VINER, MICHAEL—After Laura Hart McKinny testified outside the presence of the jury that the Fuhrman tapes weren’t for sale, the Dove Books CEO reported her attorney had already tried to peddle them to him. He later said his company had abandoned plans to publish a book by former LAPD detective Mark Fuhrman. (See: Dove Audio/Dove Books.)

VINSON, DONALD—The jury consultant for the prosecution, it was Vinson’s job to help select panelists who were most likely to wind up voting for conviction. He worked largely by feeding information from the questionnaires handed out to prospective jurors into DecisionQuest computers for analysis. Ironically, the prosecutors wound up making their jury selections basically on their own, using a mixture of information from the replies to questions from members of the pool, experience and intuition.

VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ACT—An element in the national 1994 crime bill adopted by the federal government providing stiff punishment for assaults on women, extending the validity of restraining orders across state lines, and creating other protective measures. Observers credited the heightened awareness of domestic violence created by the overwhelming publicity tied to the Simpson case for helping force the issue and moving Congress to take action dealing with the problem. (See: Nicole Brown Simpson Charitable Foundation.)

VISITING REGULATIONS—Simpson was allowed visits from relatives and close friends from Thursdays through Sundays in the jail visiting room, according to the normal procedure established for inmates. During visits, he sat on one side of a bulletproof glass with his guest on the other side, while they used telephone headsets to chat. Most visits lasted about 30-minutes. As it quickly became apparent however, his visiting arrangements were much more generous.

Regulations covering visits by attorneys were unlimited, and his older children by his marriage to his first wife sometimes tagged along with the lawyers. Most of those meetings, which often extended for hours, were held in a special visiting room which was remodeled so that he could meet with as many as four lawyers at once. Simpson shelled out $3,000 to pay for the remodeling. (See: Material Witnesses.)

VOICE MAIL MESSAGE—Callers wishing to leave voice mail messages with Simpson before his arrest were greeted by his voice and the salutation, “This is yours truly.”