Bill Pavelic | William Bill Pavelic | Zvonko Bill Pavelic

SHOW: ABC GOOD MORNING AMERICA (7:00 am ET)

FORMER LEAD SIMPSON INVESTIGATOR VISITS GMA

GUESTS: BILL PAVELIC

BYLINE: ELIZABETH VARGAS

SECTION: News

HIGHLIGHT: RESPONSE TO LANGE AND VANNATTER

ELIZABETH VARGAS, Host: As we said earlier, former LAPD detectives Phil Vannatter and Tom Lange were guests on our show yesterday. Today — and they were emphatically defending the integrity of their investigation, we must say. Today, we are going to speak with Bill Pavelic. He was the chief investigator of the OJ Simpson criminal trial, civil trial, and the custody case involving his two young children, Sydney and Justin. Bill Pavelic joins us this morning. Welcome, thank you for being here.
 
BILL PAVELIC, Former Simpson Lead Investigator: Thank you.
 
ELIZABETH VARGAS: Former detectives Lange and Vannatter took on the air — were on the air — concede they made mistakes, but they emphatically deny framing OJ Simpson. Why are you so sure that, in fact, they did?
 
BILL PAVELIC: In fact, their book even substantiates that premise even more. They basically falsified the affidavit, the search warrant affidavit. The information that they provided to the judge in order to get the search warrant was basically fabricated. They lied to the judge by informing her that OJ Simpson left on an unscheduled flight, thus leaving them with the impression — leaving her with the impression that he was fleeing California. They did not tell her that they scaled the wall. They told her that they recovered the glove while securing the evidence. And as you know from the trial, that’s absolutely incorrect. I could go on, but I don’t think we have the time.
 
ELIZABETH VARGAS: But even if we grant, even if we were to accept everything you just said on face value, which clearly detectives Lange and Vannatter deny and do not, you were an LA police officer for 19 years yourself. What you are suggesting is a conspiracy of such an enormous scope. They would have had to have planted Mr. Simpson’s blood at Bundy. They would have planted Mr. Goldman’s blood in Mr. Simpson’s Bronco, planted Nicole’s blood and Simpson’s blood at the Rockingham estate. It goes on and on, and it seems fantastic to many people.
 
BILL PAVELIC: Yes, it does. But if you look at the facts, even Judge Ito supported our premise, and that is that Vannatter, for all intents and purposes, was dishonest. If Vannatter was dishonest, his partner obviously is just as culpable as Vannatter. What we found in this book, in fact, is, that Vannatter was shopping for a favorable prosecutor, in this case, Marcia Clark. Vannatter contacted Marcia Clark before he obtained the search warrant or the affidavit, completed the affidavit for the search warrant, before he went to Judge Lefkovitz (ph). So now we learn from his book that the prosecutor had a much bigger role in this conspiracy than we initially thought.
 
ELIZABETH VARGAS: Well, let’s get to the specifics of what they said yesterday …
 
BILL PAVELIC: Sure.
 
ELIZABETH VARGAS: … on our air, for example. For — the first thing they said was that Mr Simpson was not acting like an innocent man. As one of the proofs, pieces of proof of that, they played the following tape. It’s an audiotape from the Bronco chase. Let’s listen to it very quickly.
 
Det TOM LANGE: (on phone) And nobody’s going to get hurt.
 
OJ SIMPSON: (on phone) I’m the only one that deserves …
 
Det TOM LANGE: No, you don’t deserve that.
 
OJ SIMPSON: I’m going to get hurt.
 
Det TOM LANGE: You do not deserve to get hurt.
 
OJ SIMPSON: Ahhh …
 
Det TOM LANGE: You do not deserve to get hurt. Don’t do this.

OJ SIMPSON: All I did was love Nicole. That’s all I did was love her.
 
Det TOM LANGE: I understand.
 
OJ SIMPSON: I love everybody. I tried to show everybody my whole life that I love every body.
 
Det TOM LANGE: We know that, and everybody loves you.
 
ELIZABETH VARGAS: Mr. Simpson says on this tape, “I’m the only one who deserves to get hurt. I loved Nicole too much.” To detectives Lange and Vannatter, they say that sounds like a grieving guilty man.
 
BILL PAVELIC: Well, he is a grieving not-guilty man. What he is referring to is obviously not the crime itself, but the fact that he eluded authorities, and went to the grave, and was suicidal. The interpretation that the — Lange and Vannatter are putting out is that somehow this has to do with the crime itself, and that is totally incorrect.
 
ELIZABETH VARGAS: Any question why Mr. Simpson didn’t say, “I’m innocent of these crimes”? Why he didn’t say — talk more about Nicole’s death?
 
BILL PAVELIC: In fact, he did say that. Not only did he maintain his innocence, but he also said, in various discussions that same day, that he was being framed by the police. I would like to submit to you, why didn’t Vannatter and Lange put the contents of all — the entire tape in a follow-up report or a supplemental report? You’re not going to find that. And the reason you’re not going to find it is because there’s a problem with this tape. First of all, what probable cause did they have to tape record this conversation? Second of all, they’re totally contradicting their initial premise, which was that he was fleeing again, trying to leave the public with the impression that he was somehow — with the goatee and the mustache, that he was going to run away.
 
ELIZABETH VARGAS: But it does bring up an interesting issue. Why, in fact, if he was just going to his wife’s grave, or why, in fact, he was only going to commit suicide or contemplating that horrible thought, would he have a disguise and $8,000 cash with him?
 
BILL PAVELIC: Well, first of all, he had a disguise. Why would he take his passport with no disguise? I mean, it’s ludicrous to assume that he was trying to disguise himself in order to flee, but yet he took the passport that doesn’t have the disguise. I mean, it just doesn’t make sense.
 
ELIZABETH VARGAS: All right. They also introduced detectives Lange and Vannatter, they say there was new evidence that was never introduced at the criminal or civil trial, and they talked about it yesterday on our show. I’ve got another clip I’d like you to listen to.
 
Det TOM LANGE: We had a witness at the airport that initially, interestingly enough, came to the defense and said, “Listen, I was at the airport a little after 11:00. I saw OJ Simpson there with his arm buried in a trash container, and then it went to a small flight bag on top. He zipped it closed, and he walked inside.” The day after — the day of the murders, this fellow reported this to the defense, and they never shared it with us. It was nine months later when this man followed up on this revelation with us.
 
ELIZABETH VARGAS: Did you investigate this man who says he saw OJ Simpson disposing contents of the — of a bag?
 
BILL PAVELIC: First of all, first of all, let me just say something about Detective Lange here. We don’t have an obligation to turn over discovery material to him. Discovery material would be turned over to the prosecution. If the prosecution did not let him see it, that’s their business. We did turn over that information. As far as his interpretation, what happened is, their interpretation is completely different from ours.
 
ELIZABETH VARGAS: And the other evidence about supposedly OJ Simpson got a gift of knives just days before the murders?
 
BILL PAVELIC: Again, you have to ask yourself, why didn’t they introduce this man? Why didn’t they call him to testify? His contention is that it was the prosecution that didn’t want to do it. This is a question that should be posed to the prosecution. As far as we’re concerned, the gentleman that he is referring to was contacting tabloids, was trying to sell his story, has changed the version of his story, and he is — he was not reliable.
 
ELIZABETH VARGAS: To many people in this civil trial in particular, the most damning evidence against OJ Simpson is this series of photographs showing him wearing Bruno Magli shoes, the kind of shoes that left a footprint at the murder scene. Do you still believe that first photograph printed in “The Enquirer” was indeed doctored, was a fake?
 
BILL PAVELIC: Unlike the plaintiffs’ witnesses, I will not comment on an issue that the jury in the civil case is adjudicating. I think it would be improper. I’m still subject to the rules and regulations and the gag order that was issued by Judge Fujisaki.
 
ELIZABETH VARGAS: All right. Then without commenting in specific on this evidence, do you think that overall, this civil trial has been a fair trial for Mr. Simpson?
 
BILL PAVELIC: I would prefer to answer that question after the adjudication. And I think you may find it rather surprising.
 
ELIZABETH VARGAS: There have been many have been — who have felt that Mr. Simpson has been subjected to double jeopardy. Those who support him feel that he’s already been through this once, that in the civil trial, he is — has been — all this has been brought out against him again, we’re getting this new evidence. Do you feel the same way? Do you feel sympathetic that way?
 
BILL PAVELIC: Let me just make a comment that I don’t see the rage in America with regards to Mark Fuhrman making a living, who is a convicted perjurer. I don’t see groups demonstrating against him. He is given an opportunity to make a living. So if we’re talking about double standards here, I think there are double standards with regards to the way they look at OJ versus Mark Fuhrman. And in this case, only one person was convicted, and that was Mark Fuhrman.
 
ELIZABETH VARGAS: You still have a good relationship with OJ Simpson. You still speak with him regularly.
 
BILL PAVELIC: Yes, I do.
 
ELIZABETH VARGAS: How is he holding up through this trial?
 
BILL PAVELIC: I’m sure it’s very difficult for him, but I think the fact that he has his children, he’s content with that, and he knows this is an uphill battle. This is only round two in a 15-round fight. I’m sure that there will be some additional rulings.
 
ELIZABETH VARGAS: Round two, that means it sounds like if he loses, he’ll appeal.
 
BILL PAVELIC: I expect the appeal to go. I don’t expect him to lose in this case.

ELIZABETH VARGAS: You expect him to win in the civil trial.
 
BILL PAVELIC: I think we’re going to have to wait for the jury, and we may be just as surprised here as we were in all the others.
 
ELIZABETH VARGAS: In the criminal trial, OJ Simpson repeatedly professed his innocence, repeatedly pledged to find the real killers of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. You were the man put in charge of that. What have you found about who might have killed these two people?
 
BILL PAVELIC: It’s interesting that you ask that question. I don’t recall anybody asking Mr. Jewell, “If you didn’t plant the bomb in the — in Atlanta, who did?” In this particular case, Mr. Simpson did authorize me to conduct an investigation. I will not comment on the investigation. I want to maintain the integrity of the investigation. And unlike the prosecution in the criminal case, I’m not about to rush to judgment.
 
ELIZABETH VARGAS: Bill Pavelic, thank you for coming in, interesting speaking with you this morning.
 
BILL PAVELIC: Thank you, have a good day.
 
ELIZABETH VARGAS: Thanks, same to you.

Author is  a legal asvisor and content writer

SECTION: NEWS; NATION BRIEFS; Pg. 13

Gasoline Prices Up, but Not by Much
Gasoline prices nationwide rose only slightly over the past two weeks, the Lundberg Survey of more than 10,000 gas stations reported. The average price at the pump for all grades, including taxes, rose only 0.11 of one cent to 138.07 cents per gallon, according to the survey. Nationwide at self-serve pumps, where more than 95 percent of all gas is sold, the average per-gallon price was 131.83 cents for regular unleaded, 141.34 cents for mid-grade and 149.71 cents for pre-mium.
Rain Not Enough to End Drought
Weekend rainstorms in the panhandle areas of Texas and Oklahoma were not enough to end one of the worst droughts of this century.  Scattered storms dumped six to 10 inches of rain on areas of northwest Texas and western Oklahoma Saturday and early Sunday. While the rains may help corn and cotton crops, they came too late to prevent a disaster for wheat farmers. Much of the rain simply ran off the baked soil.  Areas of northwest Texas have had rainfalls at about one-eighth of normal levels.
Hurricane Names Lined Up
After nearly using up the alloted names for hurricanes last year, forecasters in Miami will break in a new list with the hope that they won’t have to resort to a secondary list. Last year, 19 named tropical storms and hurricanes churned through the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean.  If they had run out of the list of 21 names — the letters Q, U, X, Y and Z are not used — forecasters would have had to use for the first time a backup plan of naming storms for the let-ters of the Greek alphabet. This year, forecasters hope they will not run that far into this list: Arthur, Bertha, Cesar, Dolly, Edouard, Fran, Gustav, Hort-ense, Isidore, Josephine, Kyle, Lili, Marco, Nana, Omar, Paloma, Rene, Sally, Teddy, Vicky and Wilfred.
Detective Says He’ll Work Free for Simpson
A well-known San Francisco private eye and five fellow detectives have of-fered to help find Nicole Brown Simpson’s killer for free. Hal Lipset and the others said they would waive their usual $ 100-an-hour fee to chase down any leads, the San Francisco Examiner said.  Lipset’s offer was a response to press reports quoting O.J. Simpson as saying there were leads in San Francisco but that he was running out of money to pay for his investigation.  Simpson’s pri-vate investigator, Bill Pavelic, welcomed Lipset’s offer.  Lipset, who turns 77 today, designed the olive bug — a martini olive as transmitter with toothpick as antenna. He also worked for the Senate’s Watergate investigation of President Richard M. Nixon in 1973.

March 3, 1995 Friday All Editions

BYLINE: By HELEN KENNEDY

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 001

The credibility of O.J. Simpson’s key alibi witness crumbled into dust yes-terday when she said she “couldn’t remember” if she told a friend she was being paid $ 5,000 to back up Simpson’s alibi.
Rosa Maria Lopez - a maid at the house next door to Simpson’s - also admitted she wasn’t sure when she saw Simpson’s Bronco and that parts of her story had been molded by the defense.
Lopez’s assertion that she saw Simpson’s white Bronco parked in front of his house just after 10 p.m. - when prosecutors say he was two miles away killing his ex-wife - is crucial to his alibi.
Lopez said she saw the car sometime after 10 p.m. June 12, but she acknowl-edged she’s not sure how long after 10 p.m. She admitted yesterday that defense investigator Zvonco “Bill” Pavelic prompted her to revise her memory of the times of events.
“You would give times and he would give you other times, correct?” prosecutor Christopher Darden said.
“Yes, it’s correct,” Lopez replied through a Salvadoran translator.
“And Mr. Pavelic is the one that first suggested (that Lopez saw the Bronco at) 10:15 or 10:20, correct?” Darden asked.
“If that’s what he’s saying, that’s fine,” Lopez said serenely.
During her cross-examination, Lopez testified that she couldn’t remember when various meetings happened or how long they took.
She said she couldn’t remember what time, day, month - even which season - one key meeting took place.
“You’re not very time conscious, are you?” Darden asked.
“I’m conscious of the time I’m wasting here,” Lopez shot back, showing a rare flash of feistiness.
Darden asked, “Do you have a hard time remembering time?”
“If I don’t have it written down, how can I remember?” she replied.
Lopez, who testified with great self-assurance about minute details of the events of June 12 when she answered defense lawyer Johnnie Cochran Jr.’s ques-tions, was substantially more vague under cross examination.
Her answer to more than 60 questions was: “I don’t remember.”
“Did someone tell you that if you testified you don’t remember, it will be easier?” Darden asked.
“No,” she replied.
During the cross-examination, Darden repeatedly asked the judge to stop Coch-ran from signalling the witness and feeding her answers.
Darden himself was openly condescending - grilling Lopez about what she told “Mr. Johnnie” and “Mr. Bill.”
At one point, when he asked Lopez if Simpson’s lawyers had told her what to say during a court break, she responded: “We talked about my always telling the truth, sir.”
Darden exploded with a loud, sarcastic “Hah!” and was admonished by the judge.
During the cross examination, observers couldn’t help feeling sorry for the confused, illiterate woman who seemed oblivious to her various inconsistencies.
In an apparent attempt to show Lopez’s motive to lie on the stand, Darden dwelled on Lopez’s close ties to Simpson’s lawyers.
Lopez said she was good friends with Simpson’s maid, had been to his house several times - she even made up Simpson’s bed one time - and she was “very an-gry” at Nicole Brown Simpson for slapping her maid once.
Lopez said she didn’t know there was a $ 500,000 reward for anyone who helped Simpson beat the rap.
The dramatic high point of the day came when Lopez was asked if she had told another Brentwood maid, Sylvia Guerra - who will be called to the stand by prosecuters - that she was being paid $ 5,000 for her testimony.
Lopez said she “couldn’t remember” saying that.
Lopez was also asked if she told Guerra that Guerra could also make money by pretending she had seen the Bronco. Lopez said she didn’t remember.
When Darden - his voice dripping with sarcastic incredulity - asked if a per-son would forget saying something like that, Lopez denied making the statements to Guerra.
Prosecutors have said Guerra will testify the $ 5,000 was offered by a tab-loid.
Lopez testified that Guerra drank coffee and ate tamales in Lopez’s kitchen June 12 and that she drove Guerra home between 8:30 p.m. and 9 p.m.
But Lopez never mentioned Guerra in her direct testimony Monday, which cov-ered events of the night of June 12 in painstaking detail.
Prosecutors said Guerra will testify she had never been inside that house.

Scripps Howard News Service

October 27, 2003, Monday

Source: Modesto Bee

Section: Domestic News

Dateline: Modesto, Calif.

For the defense:
Dr. Henry Lee

Forensic authority who has testified in more than 1,000 legal proceedings, including for the defense in the O.J. Simpson double-murder case. Also consulted in JonBenet Ramsey murder and President Kennedy’s assassination.

Dr. Cyril Wecht
Nationally recognized forensic expert and coroner of Allegheny County, Pa., which includes Pittsburgh. Examined remains of Modesto’s Chandra Levy.
Bill Pavelic
Private investigator and former veteran Los Angeles police detective. Previ-ously worked on Simpson’s defense team.
Gary Ermoian
Local private investigator retained when Modesto police began focusing on Scott Peterson. Authorities secretly monitored part of one of his calls to Pe-terson.
For the prosecution:
Steve Jacobson
Investigator with the Stanislaus County district attorney’s office and former police officer. Supervised wiretaps on Peterson’s phones.
Jon Buehler
Modesto police detective. Amber Frey, Peterson’s girlfriend, reported to Buehler after telephone conversations with Peterson, which continued at least a month after Frey went public with their romance.
Craig Grogan
Modesto police detective and lead investigator in the Peterson case. Previ-ously named in a federal lawsuit filed by the family of 11-year-old Alberto Se-pulveda, who was killed by another officer during a 2000 raid.
Al Brocchini
Modesto police detective. Helped escort Peterson from San Diego to Modesto after his arrest in April. Defense lawyers say Brocchini mishandled a hair found in Peterson’s boat.
James Brazelton
Stanislaus County district attorney since 1996 and a local prosecutor since 1985. Previously worked as a policeman and in private practice.
John Goold
Chief deputy district attorney since 1999 and former Bay Area policeman. Of-ten serves as a spokesman for the Peterson prosecutors.

Los Angeles Times

July 1, 1987, Wednesday, Home Edition

By Line: By Terry Pristin, Times Staff Writer

Section: Part 1; Page 1; Column 3; Metro Desk

Joseph Markowski, the AIDS-infected prostitute accused of attempted murder for allegedly selling his blood as well as sexual favors, was “a time bomb just ready to explode,” a police detective said Tuesday.

Five times in the past five months, authorities tried to have Markowski con-fined in a mental hospital because of apparent psychiatric problems.
But each time, Markowski, who has a history of drug and alcohol problems as well as a criminal record, was quickly released from the hospital, said Detec-tive Bill Pavelic of the Los Angeles Police Department’s mental evaluation unit.
“He was a time bomb just ready to explode,” said Pavelic. “We’re very disap-pointed he was not held. . . . There’s something drastically wrong here.”
Last Thursday, one day after his most recent release from County-USC Medical Center, he was intercepted and arrested just as he was about to sell blood to a private blood bank for the second time in a week, authorities said.
Neither county officials nor the psychiatrists who treated the 29-year-old Markowski would discuss the case.”First, there’s the matter of confidentiality,” said county Health Services Department spokesman Steven C. Stewart. “Second of all, there’s an ongoing in-vestigation by the district attorney’s office.”
In another development Tuesday, representatives of AIDS prevention organiza-tions and the gay community, while condemning Markowski’s alleged actions, criticized Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner for filing attempted murder charges against him.
Peter McDermott, acting executive director of AIDS Project Los Angeles, called the attention given the case “sensationalism that creates fear.”
“We’re gravely concerned that the general population will be misled to think it’s panic time again. . . . What we have is a recalcitrant individual who emo-tionally is having difficulty coping with his disease. There have got to be bet-ter resources in the community for treatment than prosecution for attempted mur-der.”
Markowski’s attorney, said, “This is the first time I’ve ever seen a (defen-dant charged with) attempting to murder John Doe. My question is, who was hurt?”
Blood sold to proprietary centers in California is never transfused directly into patients, and people familiar with the blood-screening process have said there are a number of safeguards to prevent contaminated plasma from reaching patients.
Pavelic said Los Angeles police first learned that Markowski had acquired im-mune deficiency syndrome when they detained him last Feb. 3 after he was spotted on Sunset Boulevard walking against the traffic.
On May 31, Pavelic said, police again picked up Markowski after finding him “crying, breaking down emotionally and stating that he would kill himself.”
On both occasions, Markowski was sent to either the County-USC Medical Center psychiatric ward or another county facility, but was not even held for 72 hours, as permitted by law, Pavelic said.
A patient can be put on a 14-day hold if a judge determines there is probable cause that he or she is dangerous to himself or others, and hospital confinement can be extended after further court proceedings, if certain standards are met. Changes in the mental health laws in recent years have imposed strict rules for involuntary commitment to mental hospitals.
On two other occasions, the detective said, West Hollywood sheriff’s deputies picked up Markowski and sent him to a county hospital. Sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Merlyn Poppleton refused to confirm these referrals.
Markowski’s most recent visit to County-USC occurred June 23. Police sent him there after he created a disturbance in a bank and pleaded with a security guard to kill him because he has AIDS.
Finding a receipt in Markowski’s pockets from Plasma Production Associates, a blood donation center in Los Angeles, police wrote a letter to County-USC offi-cials urging that he be detained.”We said that he had AIDS, that he was highly irrational, that he donated blood to various agencies and that he possibly had hepatitis,” Pavelic said.
Even so, Markowski was released the next day. Dr. Daniel Funderburk, the County-USC psychiatrist who authorized the release, declined to discuss the case, citing state confidentiality laws.

Markowski, who was charged Monday with four counts of attempted murder and six other felony counts, was being held in lieu of $1-million bail.
Police and others have described him as a transient who came to California less than three years ago from Flint, Mich. Ellwyn Bloemers, assistant Kent County, Mich., prosecuting attorney, said Markowski was charged with burglary in 1983 and placed on three years’ probation.
At Markowski’s request, he was allowed to move to San Francisco, where he en-rolled in Acceptance Place, a 15-bed residential treatment program for homosex-ual drug and alcohol abusers. The program’s senior counselor, Jim Ferguson, de-clined to release any information.
Sometime within the last two years, Markowski moved to Los Angeles, where he was arrested several times for such petty crimes as shoplifting, vandalism and drunkenness, records show.Pavelic said Markowski occasionally worked at odd jobs and lived in a series of shelters for alcoholics.In interviews Tuesday, spokesmen for the gay community and AIDS prevention groups said the case illustrates the need for better services for afflicted pa-tients.
“We need more services for people who are prostitutes and find themselves in a situation with no money and nowhere else to turn. . . ,” said Thomas West, di-rector of Aid for AIDS. He suggested that Markowski should have been charged in-stead with violations of public health laws.
Times staff writers Cathleen Decker and Marita Hernandez contributed to this story