THE O.J. SIMPSON MURDER TRIAL : Case Draws Mysterious Reporter With Stories but No Newspaper

George L. Reedy Jr. is the mystery man of the O.J. Simpson trial press corps.

He’s around the Criminal Courts Building every day--in the courtroom, prowling the halls, interviewing lawyers, talking to reporters. But he says his newspaper, the Post Gazette Chronicle, is still a dream, waiting for Reedy to round up financing before he can publish. So when Reedy reported and wrote a hot story this week, he distributed it around the courthouse by making copies of a printout from his computer.

The piece detailed alleged misconduct by a juror that Reedy considers pro-prosecution. Some sources said his allegations have already been investigated and found groundless. But one of the recipients of Reedy’s story was Judge Lance A. Ito. If the judge feels the need to take another look at the matter, there could be more uncertainty with the Simpson jury.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Christopher A. Darden is suspicious of the reporter without a paper. “I’m concerned that he might be a defense plant or he might have his own agenda,” Darden said. “I think it’s a completely weird thing.”

Chief defense attorney Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. denied that Reedy is an agent of the defense team. “It has nothing to do with us,” he said. “George has his own theories.”

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Reedy told me he is a 48-year-old Vietnam veteran who loves to write but has not found a publisher for his works. He says he supports himself by promoting shows for stamp collectors.

He’s a friendly man in casual clothes who often stands in the hallway outside the pressroom, watching the trial on television through an open door, a spot that permits him to hear the reporters’ chatter. Unlike other media covering the trial, Reedy hasn’t paid for a space, telephone and electrical hookup in the pressroom.

His paper, the Post Gazette Chronicle, will begin publication when he secures financing, he said. He said he also is contemplating starting a national cable television network, to be called the National Direct News Network.

He wears a temporary press pass, issued by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Deputy Sheriff Fidel Gonzales said that the pass had been given to Reedy on the basis that he worked for the Post Gazette Chronicle. When I told him the paper hasn’t yet published, he said the sheriff’s press office would summon Reedy to discuss the matter.

Jerrianne Hayslett, the court’s press officer, said Reedy is admitted to the trial when he is granted the use of an unoccupied press seat.

I got to know him when the trial began. We often talked about its impact on the black community. Reedy is African American and I was interested in his take. He felt that the white reporters didn’t understand the situation, and he hoped to bring a perspective more reflective of the feelings of the African American community. The press corps, he told me, is racially divided, with the African American reporters giving Simpson “reasonable doubt and the white reporters don’t.”

He seemed to have a good relationship with Cochran. He told me of interceding with Cochran on behalf of TV camera crews and discussing trial-related issues with him. Last month when a juror, the airline flight attendant, was replaced, Reedy told me he was accumulating information on her replacement, Juror 1427, a Latino woman who works for the Los Angeles County assessor. He said he’d keep me informed.

Last week, another reporter told me of an unusual incident in the courtroom at the beginning of a recess. Cochran motioned Reedy to come over. Reedy complied. Cochran didn’t talk to him, but another defense attorney, Carl Douglas, engaged the reporter in deep conversation. Of all the hundreds of reporters covering the trial, none have been privileged to have this kind of courtroom schmoozing.

On Monday, Reedy distributed copies of his story to the pressroom, to Judge Ito and to Deputy Dist. Atty. Darden. Three pages long, it had the headline “Who Is Next to Leave the Simpson Case.” The piece was full of grammatical errors, but the content was interesting.

“It was known to this writer that Johnnie Cochran and other members of the defense team would prefer that Juror 1427 would not be involve (sic) in People vs. O.J. Simpson,” Reedy wrote.

Reedy said that the juror had told guests at a Christmas party at the Proud Bird restaurant that she was inclined to think Simpson was guilty and that she wanted to write a Simpson book.

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With the distribution of his story, some of the reporters wondered whether Reedy was allied with the defense, a journalistic wanna-be, or a sincere man who is convinced he has a story to tell.

With my conspiratorial mind, shaped by youthful exposure to Watergate’s dirty tricks, I immediately thought the worst, and asked Cochran if Reedy was an agent.

“He’s not anyone we knew before the (Simpson) case,” Cochran said, adding that he doesn’t talk to Reedy any more than the other reporters.

It is true, Cochran said, that Reedy showed him his story Friday, two days before it was distributed to the press. But he said he urged Reedy not to distribute it, telling the writer “if you put out stories like that you will be part of the investigation (of jury misconduct).”

Reedy also insisted he isn’t connected to the defense team. “Not at all,” he said.

He said he distributed the story to the other reporters because he wanted to show them that he, too, was digging up Simpson news. And he said he’s not going to stop.

“I’ll tell you about the next one I’m working on,” he said as we parted company in front of the Criminal Courts Building on Wednesday afternoon. “That’s the big one.”