Witness Says OJ Simpson Told Him|To Show His Gun And ‘Look Menacing’

LAS VEGAS (CN) - O.J. Simpson's attorneys are expected to present their case today after cross-examining Michael McClinton, the prosecutors' final witness. McClinton testified on Friday that Simpson told him to "show my weapon and look menacing" during last year's alleged hotel-room heist.

Prosecutors on Friday played a secret recording that McClinton made at a party after the confrontation. McClinton said that he had a tape recorder hidden in his jacket, and a video recorder hidden in his belt buckle that he had bought at a spy shop. That device malfunctioned, he said.

"You didn't pull the piece out in the hall," Simpson is quoted as asking McClinton.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, hell no," McClinton said.

McClinton was a co-defendant in Simpson's kidnapping and armed robbery trial, but accepted a plea deal in exchange for his testimony. He said he planned to sell the secret recordings to the tabloids.

Simpson's attorneys maintain that Simpson knew nothing about guns, and that he never saw them.

Simpson and 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 in which Simpson allegedly sought to retrieve personal items he believed were stolen from him.

Also Friday, jurors heard secret recordings of police investigators joking about Simpson's impending arrest. The recordings were made by Thomas Riccio, the man who set up the meeting with Simpson and dealers Alfred Beardsley and Bruce Fromong.

Riccio left his digital recorder running in his hotel room while police investigated.

"You're just picking on him because you're mad about the verdict," Lt. Clint Nichols, head of Las Vegas Metro's robbery division, is quoted as saying.

"Yup," came the alleged response from crime scene analyst Michael Perkins.

Also Friday, lead detective Andy Caldwell expressed concerns that Simpson was trying to contact victims in the case after his arrest.

"If he drops his charges, that's half the battle," Simpson said in a secret recordings made by police while Simpson talked to his daughter from the Clark County jail after his arrest.

He also urged his daughter, Arnelle, to contact Beardsley as well.

That phone call, Caldwell said, led him to believe that Simpson "was trying to affect the outcome of the case."

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