Opinion ID: 1722984
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: unsworn statements

Text: Oren Haddock of State Farm obtained an unsworn transcribed statement from Mrs. Delores Freeman, Robert Simpson's sister, on October 6, 1978. She stated that the Simpsons came by her home about 10:30 or 11:00 p.m. and asked her to keep their children while they went dancing. She agreed and the Simpsons left, returned about 4:30 in the morning for the children and immediately departed. After the Simpsons left to go dancing Mrs. Freeman awaited her husband's return from work, and they retired about 1:00 a.m. [1] On October 2, 1978, there was a telephone conversation, later transcribed, between Ms. Laurie Cantonwine and State Farm Attorney Harry Allen. The substance of the conversation follows: a friend of Simpson's called Gurley told Ms. Cantonwine that Simpson said he burned the house by pouring cooking oil on the stove and kitchen floor. She also stated that Gurley told her that Simpson had to restart the fire several times before it began burning well and that he had nearly suffocated in the house because he stayed inside too long. This statement was repeated in a deposition on January 29, 1980. Oren Haddock of State Farm took a statement of Glenn Reed, a real estate salesman, on October 12, 1978. Reed related that Simpson told him the reason he wanted to sell the house was that he had secured a job in Alabama and desired to make a quick sale so he could move and enroll his children in their new school. Reed found a buyer for the house in July 1978, but a sale would have netted Simpson only $1,000.00 to $1,500.00. Because of this and that it came too late for convenient school enrollment, Simpson declined to accept the offer. Mary Murphy, a neighbor of the Simpsons and a real estate broker, gave her statement to Oren Haddock on October 26, 1978. She related the reason Simpson wanted to sell his house was that he desired to return to Alabama. He asked Mrs. Murphy to list his house for sale. Robert Auth was one of the first firemen on the scene of the fire. When questioned by Haddock, he responded the fire was suspicious because the whole house was engulfed in flames, while a house ordinarily burned at one end or at a certain area and usually was not speedily and entirely covered in flames. He stated further that Simpson told him he was at home about an hour before the fire, that he had left to take his baby-sitter home and upon returning found the house was on fire. The statement of Clay Ellison, a neighbor, appears in a State Farm Claims Committee report dated November 7, 1978. It indicates he told a State Farm agent that he awakened at 5:00 o'clock the morning of the fire. When he went outside to watch the house burn, Simpson told him he barely had time to get his family out of the house after the smoke awakened him. Ellison thought this unusual because Simpson was fully dressed at the time.