Juror’s comment about O.J. Simpson ignites mistrial debate in Charlotte murder trial

A Charlotte murder trial nearing its close came to a sudden halt Thursday due to a reference to one of the most divisive figures in U.S. legal history — O.J. Simpson.

A juror’s comment — outside the courtroom — about Simpson’s mythic 1995 murder case led to a two-hour hearing on whether the juror should be expelled and a mistrial declared in the murder trial of Roger Best.

Superior Court Judge Lou Trosch eventually ruled that the two-week trial against Best should go on — despite the objections of the Charlotte man’s attorney.

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A quarter of a century ago, Simpson, a former college and NFL football star turned Hollywood celebrity, went on trial in Los Angeles for the brutal slashing deaths of his former wife and her friend. His nationally-televised acquittal divided the country along racial lines. Simpson is African American. His alleged victims were white.

Two cases, two sets of gloves

One of the pivotal moments in the Simpson case occurred when the defendant was asked to put on what prosecutors insisted were the gloves he wore during the killings. But they were too small. Defense attorney Johnny Cochrane turned the moment into a meme.

“If they don’t fit, you must acquit,” he told the Simpson jury.

Best is accused of the Feb. 15, 2017, shooting death of Wes Scott, a longtime Charlotte Observer carrier. Prosecutors say the killing occurred during a botched robbery near uptown’s Romare Bearden Park.

Ironically, Simpson’s entanglement in the Charlotte case centers on a glove.

On Thursday afternoon, a DNA expert testifying for the state linked a batting glove to Best that had been found in a South Tryon Street recycling can two blocks from where Scott died.

Afterward, the jurors were sent from the courtroom while lawyers for both sides debated a legal point before Trosch. The 12 — nine white and three black — gathered around a table in the private jury room, according to an alternate juror who reported what followed to the judge.

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According to the alternate’s account, Juror 11, a white middle-aged female, spoke up: “If we had had (modern) DNA technology for the O.J. Simpson case, things would have been different.”

The alternate juror, a former law enforcement officer who is African American, told Trosch during an interview in the courtroom that he thought the comment was inappropriate and revealed his fellow juror’s thinking about the Best case.

“It sounded to me like she made up her mind,” the alternate told Trosch.

The alternate juror also said the comment had been heard by most, if not all, of the jurors and might compromise the eventual verdict.

When Juror 11 was brought into the courtroom, she acknowledged making the comment, but said it was a general observation about the improvements in DNA testing, not a judgment on Best’s guilt or innocence.

Trosch, who has repeatedly warned the jurors not to discuss the case before they begin their formal deliberations, asked the juror a series of questions.

The judge: Have you made up your mind on Best’s guilt or innocence?

“No,” she replied. “Because we haven’t heard all the evidence.

Trosch then brought all the remaining jurors and alternates into the courtroom, one at a time, to ask the same two questions:

Have you heard any juror conversations about the evidence? Have you heard anything that personally prejudices you against either side of the case?

No, the jurors said.

That was good enough for the prosecution team of Mecklenburg Assistant District Attorneys Bill Bunting and Terra Varnes.

But Best’s attorney, Samuel Randall, told Trosch that Juror 11 had been guilty of misconduct, and that her comment had indicated bias. He called on the judge to expel her from the jury or declare a mistrial.

Randall argued that the alternate juror had initially said the Simpson comment followed some other juror’s remark about the glove in the Best case. Randall also referred to another juror’s response to Trosch that he had stopped a conversation in the jury room Thursday morning that had threatened to veer into the evidence.

“What happens if he’s not there,” Randall asked.

The defense attorney said he had “great concerns” that the juror had referenced the Simpson trial, which he described as one of the most racially divisive on record. Best is African American; Scott was white.

In refusing the defense’s call for a mistrial, Trosch said he had been convinced by his interviews with the jurors that the Simpson comment did not demonstrate prejudice or bias and had not influenced the trial in any way.

He said he would continue to take whatever steps necessary “to make sure that our jury makes a decision based on the evidence in this matter ... and not based on the improper comments or information from anyone.”

The jury is expected to get the case late Friday afternoon. If convicted, Best, 25, faces life in prison without parole.

Correction: This story has been changed to correct the day of the juror’s comment. The comment and the judge’s ruling to continue with the trial happened Thursday.

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