RAIDERS’ DAVIS: IT’S NEVER MY FAULT!

Al Davis was the only witness Monday as the Raiders continue to present their case in State Superior Court in Los Angeles.

Under "questioning" the entire day by Raiders attorney Joe Alioto, Davis presented the jury with his heavily scripted, overly rehearsed version of why the proposed Hollywood Park stadium negotiations "collapsed" in 1995 and the team was "forced" to return to Oakland.

NFL attorney Allen Ruby objected several times when Davis began answering questions that had not yet been asked by Alioto.

Davis’ testimony began with his days as a young boy ("I formed a vision on the streets of Brooklyn of what I wanted my life to be") and the session ended with Davis lamenting the failed Hollywood Park deal. ("I really believe that I can compete with anybody, but the terms they were trying to force on me were real tough. They [NFL owners] took the deal away from us.").

The jury also heard how the NFL supposedly interfered in the Raiders’ negotiations with Oakland officials in the late 1970’s, leading to the team’s move to Los Angeles in 1982.

Veteran courtroom observers noted with irony that his testimony Monday occurred almost 15 years to the day that Davis had traveled cross-country to New York, taken a sworn oath, and testified against his NFL partners in the United States Football League’s $1.7 billion antitrust suit against the NFL. In that trial, Davis had made a deal with Donald Trump and the other USFL owners to testify against his fellow NFL partners as a quid pro quo for not being sued in the 1986 case. The jury obviously did not believe Davis back then as it found for the NFL on all claims related to his anti-NFL testimony.

Davis returns to the witness stand on Tuesday for additional questioning by Alioto before he is cross-examined by NFL attorneys.