Prosecution Rests | in OJ Simpson Trial

LAS VEGAS (CN) - Prosecutors in O.J. Simpson's armed robbery and kidnapping trial rested their case Monday. Simpson's defense attorneys began presenting their case but will have to wait until Wednesday to continue. Clark County District Court Jackie Glass gave jurors the day off today.

Simpson and co-defendant Clarence "C.J." Stewart face a dozen charges, including kidnapping, armed robbery and assault, for the Sept. 13, 2007 incident at the Palace Station Hotel. They face life in prison if convicted.

Simpson's attorney Gabriel Grasso spent most of Monday morning needling prosecutors' final witness, Michael McClinton, an admitted gunman who spent his second day on the stand.

Grasso pointed out that McClinton didn't tell police during questioning last October that Simpson told him to bring weapons.

McClinton has testified that Simpson told him to bring "heat" and look "menacing" when they went to retrieve Simpson's sports memorabilia from two dealers, Alfred Beardsley and Bruce Fromong.

Simpson insists he never saw any guns, and knew nothing of them.

Grasso spent several hours playing a tape McClinton secretly made during a dinner with Simpson and others after the incident. He went through transcripts, almost line by line, and compared differences in transcripts made by prosecutors and defense attorneys.

Grasso also took a swipe at prosecutors' inclusion of the name "Shrek" in their transcript.

"Who is Shrek?" he asked McClinton.

McClinton responded with a straight face: "The only Shrek I know is a green man in the movies."

Things got testy when Grasso pointed out to the court that one of the proposed differences between prosecutors' and defense attorneys' versions of the transcripts were not made in the customary bold-print.

"People make mistakes sometimes," Grasso said.

"Yeah, don't they," McClinton said.

Grasso laughed, then said, "Well, we're going to get into that later."

"Let's go," McClinton said.

McClinton then stated "yes" when Grasso asked him if there had been "numerous deletions and additions" that were not on prosecutors' transcripts.

When cross-examination ended, the state rested its case.

Simpson attorney Yale Galanter's first witness was Sgt. Rod Hunt, the lead investigator.

Hunt testified that Simpson called him on the telephone after the event, gave him his cell phone number and invited him to the Palms Hotel to question him.

Hunt said Simpson "welcomed us in," and "didn't seem angry. He was rather talkative."

Galanter also recalled Beardsley to return to the stand. He testified that Simpson had not asked him to alter his testimony.

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