Local connection to Simpson case

COITSVILLE — Police Chief Michael Morris’ twin brother, Allan, called before and after he testified at O.J. Simpson’s preliminary hearing in Las Vegas.

“He was nervous. I told him he did good — for having O.J. sitting right across from him,” Michael Morris said. “I watched him on CNN and Court TV.”

Allan Morris, 42, former assistant police chief in Coitsville, went to Las Vegas in 2003. He’s surveillance supervisor for Palace Station casinos.

Simpson and others, including one or two armed with guns, are accused of entering a Palace Station hotel room and taking hundreds of sports memorabilia items from dealers on Sept. 13. Simpson, 60, who claimed the items are his, is charged with kidnapping and armed robbery.

Allan Morris, when called to the witness stand last Friday, described a hotel video that showed Simpson and other men going through a lobby and past banks of slot machines to the room where the confrontation took place. He also described another video showing the group retracing its steps, with several members now carrying items out of the hotel.

As the videos played, Simpson leaned shoulder to shoulder between his lawyers to watch them on a monitor on the defense table.

“He was working the night the robbery took place and was in charge of the tapes,” Michael Morris said Tuesday. “He had to testify to the contents of each video.”

Allan Morris is expected to testify when the case goes to trial, his brother said.