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Show Thursday, October By PAMELA KRAMER Knight-Ridd- er Pisano's conclusion: Simpson "would have had to be a magician Newspapers Some people say they're sick of hearing about the O.J. Simpson double-murdcase. Tom Pisano is absolutely, 100 percent not one of them. Every day, the carpenter in San Jose, Calif., clips stories about the case from the newspaper. He and er some of his friends have spent hours poring over grand jury transcripts and videotapes of the preliminary hearing. . They have tried to events from the night of June 12: To estimate travel time be- , tween Simpson's Brentwood estate 2nd the condominium of ct ex-wi- fe licole Brown Simpson. To see how long it might take ; her to answer the front door. To estimate how long it would ' ' " take waiter Ronald Goldman to leave work, go home to change "clothes and then go to Nicole Brown Simpson's condo to return a pair of glasses. They have treated a man's leather glove with honey, ketchup and .1 water to simulate blood. And they ' have dropped the glove on a pile of leaves, hoping to determine whether the bloody glove found on Simp-- . son's estate was accidentally dropped or planted. . i " "(But) what motivated me the most is that listening to people around me, there were people who said he was absolutely guilty or and fly." "A big part of it probably is the 'whodunit,'" said Pisano, 58. "(But) what motivated me the most is that listening to people around me, there were people who said he was absolutely guilty or absolutely innocent. It didn't seem people said that maybe we should wait and see." His interest might seem a bit extreme. But Pisano and his friends are not alone in their fascination with what's arguably the most highly publicized murder for those who haven't mystery in U.S. made up their minds history. "The public involvement in the case is extraordinary it's national in scope," said Lois Heaney, a trial consultant with the National Jury Project in Oakland. "This is a whodunit ... an American dilem- ma." Said Robert Hirschhorn, a jury expert from Galveston, Texas: "This scene is getting played out everywhere. People are arguing, did (Goldman) or (Brown Simpson) get killed first? Everybody's Columbo." The Oprah Winfrey talk show on Friday broadcast results of a Gallup Poll it had commissioned, absolutely innocent. It didn't seem people said that maybe we should wait and see." Tom Pisano, amateur sleuth indicating that one in eight people in the United States have interrupted their work to follow developments in the case. "It's the real world. It's not the soap opera," said one woman interviewed on the show. There is no lead pipe; we know where the slayings happened; and prosecutors say the former football great, regarded by some as an American hero, is the only sus- pect. But as jury selection continues, particulars of the case are being scrutinized by some people like a national game of Clue at least, the particulars that we know. It's important to note that prosecutors have more evidence than they presented in the preliminary hearing. The defense, meanwhile, has revealed virtually nothing of its case. And much of the information people are batting about is based on unattributed sometimes dis-prov- en reports. Heaney, a jury consultant in the Menendez brothers Beverly Hills murder trial, said she saw extraordinary interest as that case unfolded, too. As the Simpson case has stirred debate about spousal abuse, the Menendez trial spawned intense debate about contentions that alleged child molestation could justify the brothers' claim of self-defens- e. "There were people writing back and forth to each other every day" on Menendez computer bulletin boards, she said. But the publicity surrounding the Menendez case now seems like 13, 1994 THE DAILY HERALD, Provo, Utah, a quiet echo compared with that surrounding Simpson's. "People were invited to become junior sleuths in this case by the 800 number" set up by the Simpson defense to collect information, said Laurie Levenson, a Loyola Law School professor who has been following the case closely. Tell John Kobylt about it. Ko-byst of a Los Angeles talk radio show on KFI-Ahas been stunned by listeners' emotional investment in the case. At first, he said, some callers say they're sick of hearing about Simpson. "But then you bring up the latest twist, people ... know all about it," Kobylt said. "It's almost like they're embarrassed to say they're obsessed... . But ratings and newspaper and magazine sales have been skyrocketing. It's lt, co-ho- like people who say they don't watch 'Melrose Place.'" Even members of the media can be buried by the overload of fact and fiction. "Oddball pieces of the case come up, and I don't know where I got the information from, and I don't know if it's true," Kobylt said. "Then I'm wondering, should I say it on the air. Has this been established as fact, or is this one of the crazy things?" And all of it comes against the backdrop of jury selection. - Page EL The prosecution has asked that. Simpson's jury be sequestered? throughout the lengthy trial. attorneys have opposed saying it would yield De--fen- se that-propos- al, panel that doesn't represent of the community. "You have to wonder if it's true," Heaney said. Said Harland Braun, a prominent Los Angeles defense attorney: "It shows that (even) with all the publicity ... he's being acceded the presumption of innocence that most people don't get. ' ' For his part, Hirschhorn said he thinks the defense "would want jurors who have followed this case intensely. There has been so piucrf exposure that I think it has caused people to rethink the issues. . j. , "I'd want people who read the Globe, the Star, the National Enquirer. Although there have been a lot of damning articles, there also have been articles that have Raised a doubt." Also important, experts say, is the bias with which the stories are read or viewed. Last hours or soldier's life being revealed By DEB RIECHMANN Associated Press Writer - In a moSHARPSBURG, Md. ment of peace before the battle, the Union soldier must have looped his rosary around his neck. BERKLINE rounds Then three pierced his chest, shattering his breastbone, and the New York Irishman fell to the ground, one of the 23, 1 10 casualties of the Battle of .58-calib- er You TOUCH MOTION harvest the savings! You'll love the great basic design with horizontal padded base, diagonal seams on the back cushions, and a surprise: n a Hideaway unit with pull-oand storage tabletopS drawer. Comfort Chaise cushions give continuous support for your legs. EXCEPTIONAL VALUES ON BERKLINE ITV DCPI IMIKin CIIDMITIIRP nilAI S UUHLI I I I ELULII1II1U I UIII1II Wlih. ThTTJT V9ll!l!2 TokVn AHuontono flf Thoco lung rtuvuiiiutjw is inugw Antietam. His grave and those of three comrades were unearthed in 1988 126, years after the bloodiest day in U.S. military history by Civil War buffs who had been looking for relics on private land within the battlefield boundaries. For the past six years, archaeologists and anthropologists have analyzed the four soldiers' bones, dozens of artifacts and historical records to produce a rare glimpse into the last 45 minutes of one soldier's life. "So much is told from the per-sivrtiv nf riu Pfnrals anH offi cers," said Stephen R. Potter, an archaeologist with the National Park 0nce-A-Ye- ar ta-j- 00 r SOFA 5 S28Mo. pull-dow- & TOUCH MOTION S4V ut Sale Prices... LOVE SEAT S26Mo. Buy the Living Room Set for just S55Mo.v But Hurry. Limited Time Only! Service. "This personalizes the bloodiest day of American military history in the eyes of one man . ' ' TOUCH MO I ION Designed to please the most discriminating homemaker. 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