By Douglas J. Hagmann & Judi McLeod
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
By now, everyone has heard of the "O.J. tape," the audio recording made by Thomas Riccio, a dealer and auctioneer of sports memorabilia and a man instrumental in the "sting" operation involving O.J. Simpson and others. The expletive-laden tape purportedly features an out-of-control Simpson leading the charge into a Las Vegas hotel room to "reclaim" his sports memorabilia, allegedly using felonious armed robbery as his method of choice. The mainstream media and their cadre of talking heads have called the case against Simpson a "slam dunk" based on the contents of the tape, which was uploaded and disseminated by a private web site after being purchased from Riccio for an "undisclosed amount" of money. Over the last few days, we have heard and seen countless media commentators weighing in about O.J.'s plight, with the audio tape taking front and center with each of television's talking-heads. Not one of these talking heads however, has stated that in the eyes of prosecutors and the realm of criminal case evidence, the tape DOES NOT EXIST.
That's correct… it does not exist in the realm of evidence currently possessed by prosecutors.
Based on inquiries Doug Hagmann made in Clark County, Nevada, he was able to confirm that neither police nor prosecutors have seen or even heard the actual audio recording, and have not been provided with the original recording by the individual who purportedly created the tape or caused it to be created. Based on an analysis of the public version of the audio, it appears that the audio captured a felony in progress, which should be a prosecutor's dream. Instead of fulfilling his moral and legal obligation to provide this evidence in a criminal case to the police and prosecutors, however, Thomas Ricco reportedly sold the tape, or a copy thereof, to the owner of the web site that purchased the recording for an untold amount of money and uploaded it to his web site for the sake of ratings -- fame and revenue that will undoubtedly result from the voyeuristic proclivities of society still hungry for a criminal case filled with power, money, influence and savage murder.
The "bottom line" is this: authorities have yet to obtain and authenticate the actual audio recording of the alleged felony in progress as Riccio held onto the tape for at least 3 days until he brokered a deal with a web site -- a site that then uploaded the titillating audio for the world to hear. At no time during that period did he apparently provide the original audio to police or prosecutors so the evidence could be appropriately authenticated, catalogued into evidence, and assessed for its investigative value. Therefore, the police and prosecutors in Clark County, Nevada have only the Internet version of audiotape to correlate with their witness statements, which means they have no recording of the felony-in-progress that possesses any evidentiary value whatsoever. Although that could change if authorities decide to compel Mr. Riccio to produce and authenticate the audiotape, the evidentiary value of that audio recording may have already been forever damaged as defense claims to its motives for production and authenticity will surely be made.
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