Former Los Angeles District Attorney Gil Garcetti
told the New York Post he never wanted Assistant D.A. Marcia Clark to prosecute the O.J. Simpson case, but she was intent on doing it – and the person he chose instead collapsed during a strategy meeting from a heart condition.
"She wasn’t my choice — I didn’t pick her," Garcetti told the newspaper.
Garcetti also said the case suffered from being tried in downtown Los Angeles after an earthquake damaged the courthouse in Santa Monica, which was more affluent and whiter. Clark also didn't listen to a jury consultant, who told her to limit the number of African-American women on the jury.
"Marcia is a very good lawyer, but one of the things with her was that she didn't heed the advice of our trial consultant who told her not to pick African-American women — particularly black mothers — for that jury," he said. "She didn’t listen and once she did that, there was no chance that we'd get a guilty verdict, although I still thought we'd get two or three jurors to hold out for a hung jury."
Garcetti said Simpson's high-profile defense team pushed for a speedy trial because they were alleging racial prejudice in the LAPD as their defense, and they knew sympathy for Simpson would decline over time.
The former D.A. has so far watched three episodes of the recently concluded miniseries "The People v. O.J. Simpson" and wasn't impressed.
"They are making up the dialogue; it’s very misleading," he said.
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