O.J. Simpson jury says witness testimony not trusted

Jurors who found O.J. Simpson guilty in his armed robbery trial say secret audio tapes and surveillance video swayed them more than witness accounts.

Seven panelists who attended an extraordinary news conference Sunday concluded that without the recordings the prosecution might not have won convictions.

“It would have been a very weak case,” said Dora Pettit. Another juror, David Wieberg, chimed in, “Yes, a weak case,” and other jurors nodded in agreement.

The seven jurors agreed to speak out two nights after the verdict was announced because they said they were being hounded by reporters. They answered questions for an hour in the same courtroom where Simpson and Clarence “C.J.” Stewart were convicted of robbing two memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in a hotel room.

The jury listened repeatedly to recordings made by collectibles dealer Thomas Riccio – the host of the hotel confrontation, who was granted immunity – and felt they heard things that had not been fully transcribed by police, juror Michelle Lyons said.

But jurors could not trust the credibility of witnesses who were given plea deals, Lyons said. “We felt we could not rely on that witness testimony,” she said.