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The OJ Simpson case has been hailed "The Trial of the Century. " One of the longest running court trials in history, this case was filled with conspiracy, controversy, and the power of celebrity. The biggest part of the trial was the evidence. The submission of the blood samples, the DNA testing, and the articles of clothing made the case what it was. Amidst all the accusations of planted evidence and conspiracy plans against Simpson, the jury and Judge Ito had to try to sift through and find Simpson guilty or not guilty.
On June 12, 1994 Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman were brutally murdered with what appeared to be a single-edged sharp weapon, most likely a knife. Nicole Brown was the ex-wife of a celebrity; this made things complicated in any crime. Brown, age 35, was born in West Germany in 1959. She was working as a waitress at the Beverly Hills nightclub "The Daisy" in 1977 when she met OJ, she was 18, he was 30.
When she was 19, the two began living together and they seemed like the perfect couple, the famous football player and the pretty, young, blonde. On February 2, 1985, they were married. They had two children together, Justin and Sydney, that's when things started to go bad. In 1992 they were divorced and Nicole settled for $ 433, 000 in cash and $ 10, 000 monthly child support (Darden). According to Nicole's sister Denise Brown she had broken up with OJ a week and a half prior to her death, but he did not agree with the decision. Ron Goldman, 25, was a waiter at Mezzaluna, part-time model, and aspiring actor.
He grew up in the Chicago suburbs until his family moved to LA in 1987. Friends quoted Goldman as saying that riding in Brown's Ferrari and having people check him out was "the coolest high" he had ever had. Goldman longed for the celebrity lifestyle, which he acquired after his death. Ron's father Fred Goldman had been very outspoken in the case and for the incarceration of the killer - OJ Simpson. On June 17, 1994 when police charged Oriental James Simpson, Brown's ex-husband, and after leading police on a 60 mile low speed chase down the highways of southern Los Angeles in his friend Al Cowling's white Bronco, was arrested and jailed with out bail, the story became even more complicated. This was when the police knew this would not be just any murder case.
This was OJ Simpson, the famous football player, this would be complicated. Their only hope of conviction was the evidence that would place him as the murderer. Their first set of evidence, and possibly the best part of attaching the three to each other that night, was the blood. There were approximately 22 submissions of blood evidence found at the Bundy Condo (murder scene), Rockingham (Simpson's residence), and in the Bronco (Simpson's vehicle).
All of which were a match to either Brown, Goldman, Simpson, or a mixture of the three. All figures of the blood samples were found in the testimonies of Dr. Robin Cotton, laboratory director at Cellmark Diagnostics Inc. and Gary Sims, senior criminalist with the California Department of Justice DNA laboratory (Toobin). At the Bundy crime scene police found the bodies, Brown's, amassed in a pool of blood bigger than her body, and Goldman's, his shirt pulled over his head as if to keep him from helping Brown. Of the nine blood samples found on the property six were a match to Simpson.
Many found near the victims and others found on the walk, leading out to where the killer's car would have been parked. The matches automatically place Simpson at the scene that day. Although it does not place him as the murderer. Also found at the Bundy Condominium was a sample of nail scrapings that when tested matched a set of cuttings from Brown's hands.
This leads to believe that Brown was able to try to pull herself away from the murderer, obviously much more powerful than her. Another, more accusation al, blood sample was one from a bloody shoe print found near the bodies. This was something that would plague officers until they could fine a match for the size and fit. The next scene the officers found blood was at Rockingham Estate, Simpson's residence.
Eight selections were found on this property matching both the victims and Simpson. On the infamous glove police found one spot of blood on the inside of the ring finger that matched Goldman. On a pair of socks found in Simpson's bedroom police found blood from both Simpson and Brown. One sample of blood found in the foyer of the home matched five genetic markers attributing it to Simpson. And finally a trail of blood leading from the garage to the house that matched Simpson. This alone would match the trail at the crime scene that led to where the killer's car was parked to the one that led from Simpson's garage - was this telling police that he had been at the other house and been a little messy?
The last place police searched and found blood samples was Simpson's vehicle - the white Bronco. Here they found eleven places where blood from either Brown, Goldman, or Simpson stood on their own or mixed with the others. All of these submission would have been enough to place Simpson and his car at the scene and had to have been involved somehow to get the blood all over. DNA testing is what the scientists used to prove that the blood matched that of the victims and Simpson. It is usually a foolproof way to determine those factors.
Prosecution witnesses have testified that the DNA tests undeniably place OJ Simpson as the murderer, but the defense witnesses support the claim that the samples had been contaminates or could have been planted as a part of a conspiracy theory against Simpson. One of these witnesses was Dr. John Garden, director of a DNA lab in Denver testified that the LAPD Crime Lab has a "substantial contamination problem, " (Darden). This testimony alone put doubts in the mind of every juror on the validity of the blood samples. Los Angeles Police Department Mark Furhman caused a lot of controversy regarding the evidence in the case. Furhman testified many times over the duration of the trial on the police initial an thorough investigation of the crime scenes.
On July 5, he said that they entered the Rockingham estate because there was concern for Simpson's safety, they were afraid of another homicide. Furhman told the jury that he had gone to investigate some thumps that groundskeeper Kato Kaelin had heard. He was alone with the Bronco and the walkway where Simpson's blood was found. While there it has been speculated that Furhman planted blood samples in strategic places to incriminate Simpson.
Also submitted was a transcript in which Furhman uses racial language regarding African-Americans. The defense thought this would prove that Furhman had hatred towards Simpson. However, of the multiple uses of expletive language used by Furhman in the transcript, only a few were shown to the jury. A few are nothing to some people. Though the defense, but twenty-five are another story. The defense though this had been an unfair judgment that would hinder their case.
It has been said that Furhman single-handedly let a murderer go free (Toobin). Brian Jerry "Kato" Kaelin, the groundskeeper/ baby sitter at Rockingham Estate. Kaelin first lived in Nicole's guesthouse then moved to the guesthouse at Rockingham. He was a key witness to give information on Simpson's whereabouts that night. However he could not say where Simpson was between 9: 37 and 11 p. m.
the night of the murders. He did say that he saw Simpson leave for Chicago carrying a mysterious black bag, but not return home with it. Prosecution argued that the black bag could have contained bloody clothes and the murder weapon and that Simpson could have dumped them at the airport or in Chicago. Prosecution lawyer Marcia Clark used Kaelin to expose Simpson as a jealous ex-husband. Kaelin had seen Brown and Simpson fight many times, once causing the 911 call that was introduced to the jury. Kaelin didn't say that Simpson seemed dangerous, but Clark did get him to say that Simpson may have been jealous that he was having sex with Nicole.
This was a clear case of the prosecution playing on a ma...
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