Tapes Fallout Continues

A conflict concern.

Was it a ploy for mistrial?

Prosecution blinked.

8/17/95

Marcia Clark threatened to move to recuse Ito over the issue of his wife being a subject of the Fuhrman tapes, but waited over night. Suspicion was she was testing public opinion to see if the public would be against recusal and causing a mistrial.  When she said she decided not to file the motion, Ito and I both said she blinked. No one wanted to have to start that marathon all over again. My guess is that D.A. Gil Garcetti, who was elected to his office, said no to recusing Ito because public uproar would have almost guaranteed he wouldn’t have been re-elected.

Would Recusal Have Derailed the Trial?

Ito’s wife’s a cop.

The tapes are disparaging.

Is recusal next?

8/15/95

Fuhrman’s disparaging comments about Ito’s wife, LAPD Capt. Margaret York, on the McKinney tapes prompt speculation that Ito might have to recuse himself. That would have meant having to start the whole trial over again with a new judge, which in itself might have been why the lawyers on both sides opted not to have him recused. I think by this time everyone was exhausted and both sides thought they had a good chance of getting they verdict they wanted.