THE O.J. SIMPSON MURDER TRIAL : The Swarm : Media Pack Awaits Potential Witness at Fraud Case Arraignment

Mary Anne Gerchas was an hour late for her 15 minutes of fame.

Due in court at 10:30 a.m. for arraignment on felony charges, the potential defense witness in the O.J. Simpson trial was tardy enough for a television reporter to ask facetiously, “Has there been any word of her in a white Bronco?”

“It would be a better story if she didn’t show up,” said Channel 7’s Mark Coogan.

Coogan was one of a gaggle of reporters and camera crews who had been waiting for hours to ambush Gerchas as she walked to the West Los Angeles courtroom of Los Angeles Municipal Judge George H. Wu to face grand theft and credit card fraud charges.

The charges, filed by Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Lael Rubin, allege that Gerchas defrauded the JW Marriott Hotel in Century City out of $24,000 during a three-month stay last summer and used a phony credit card.

But it was not these garden-variety criminal charges that mattered Thursday. It was the O.J. Simpson connection, the instant fame bestowed on Gerchas recently by Simpson defense attorney Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. that turned her court appearance into what one bystander called a circus.

Gerchas is apparently prepared to testify that she saw four men--none of them Simpson--near the murder scene the night Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were killed. Prosecutors have branded her a known liar and Simpson case groupie.

Either way, Gerchas’ day in court was the Simpson sideshow du jour. So when the blond head of a woman appeared at the perimeter of the West Los Angeles Courthouse, the media pack was aroused. Swinging cameras and boom mikes, they swarmed forward.

“Are we running after the right woman?” asked one reporter. “I don’t know,” someone answered.

Indeed, it was Gerchas, who was immediately engulfed by news crews, running backward to capture every uneventful moment on tape. It took longer for Gerchas to make her way to the half-filled courtroom than for the court proceeding to take place.

In court, the jewelry store owner uttered not a word, leaving it to her attorney to say “not guilty” and arrange a preliminary hearing for Feb. 24. Then Gerchas freshened her lipstick in preparation for the cameras waiting outside.

Under orders from her lawyer, Gerchas said nothing, refusing to answer such questions as “Are you an O.J. groupie?”

Gerchas did, however, nod her head slightly when asked if she had seen four men near the Bundy Drive murder scene the night of June 12. And she also appeared to indicate with a nod that she still expected to testify at the trial.

The new criminal charges aren’t Gerchas’ only legal problem. Court records and interviews show she has been sued at least 34 times in recent years on allegations that include defrauding or failing to pay suppliers, customers, landlords, attorneys and her elderly aunt. Defense attorney William Graysen said the timing of the new charges against Gerchas was just too big a coincidence.

Noting that the case has been under investigation by police for months, Graysen wondered why the charges suddenly materialized just after Gerchas surfaced as a defense witness.

“I’ll be taking a hard look at that,” Graysen said.

Prosecutor Rubin stood before the cameras, too. She scoffed at the suggestion that the charges were brought to discredit a possible Simpson defense witness.

Unable to pry a comment from Gerchas, one exasperated reporter finally turned to her lawyer. “Would you call a witness in one of your cases if she had pending criminal charges?” the reporter demanded to know.

“I would call any witness who could help my case,” Graysen said.