Nurse Explains Missing Blood
SANTA MONICA, Dec. 10 (Evening) -- Nurse Thano Peratis insisted Tuesday afternoon that he drew about 6.5 cubic centimeters of blood when he took O.J. Simpson's blood sample the day after the murders. Also on the witness stand in the Simpson civil trial, Det. Tom Lange faced sharp questions about another possible set of shoes prints and a second attacker at the Bundy crime scene.
The defense also examined Gregory Matheson, LAPD chemist, who talked about blood found under Nicole Brown Simpson's fingernails that did not match her blood type or those of Simpson and Ronald Goldman. Matheson said that the blood was likely Nicole Brown Simpson's but had degraded. Lange will continue his direct examination Wednesday. He is scheduled to be followed by LAPD criminalist Susan Brockbank; Rolf Baur, the nephew of Juditha Brown; tow-truck driver John Meraz; and William Blasini, who said in the criminal trial that he saw no blood on Simpson's Bronco when he looked at it in the impound lot.
Peratis testified previously in front of a grand jury and preliminary hearing for Simpson's criminal case that he drew approximately eight cubic centimeters of blood from Simpson -- anywhere between 7.9 and 8.1 cubic centimeters. The nurse's testimony gave rise to the defense's theory of planted blood, because only about 6.5 cubic centimeters of Simpson sample could be accounted for by police. But in the criminal trial, Peratis, who has a heart condition, testified by videotape that he was wrong and he really took about 6.5 cubic centimeters. Tuesday afternoon in the civil trial, testifying in person, Peratis stuck to that number.
"Isn't it accurate that you drew between 7.9 and 8.1 milliliters of blood?" Blasier asked.
"That is what I thought at that time," Peratis said.
"Is that you're testimony today, that you drew 7.9 to 8.1 milliliters of blood?"
"No," Peratis answered.
The long-time nurse steadfastly said that he made a mistake in his previous testimony, and even recalled that he had to stop filling Simpson's reference vial, probably because the needle hit the vein. During his examination, Blasier noted that Peratis developed some memory loss as a side effect of his illness.
Peratis also testified about dressing one cut on Simpson's left middle finger on the day Simpson gave the blood sample. Simpson has maintained that he only had one cut the day after the murders, although two days later his doctor photographed three cuts and seven abrasions on his hand. The defense tried to use Peratis to show that even the police noticed only one cut on Simpson's hand. But the nurse told Blasier that he only looked at one cut, and did not examine Simpson closely for others.
Lange faced many of the same questions that his former partner Philip Vannatter answered Monday. Lead defense attorney Robert Baker probed Lange about Mark Fuhrman's whereabouts at Rockingham and also charged the police with making a rush to judgment against Simpson. The two lead detectives, Baker noted, left the evidence-rich Bundy crime scene without even calling a coroner and went to Rockingham to find Simpson.
"You knew the LAPD was under great pressure in high-profile cases for not getting any arrests and not getting any convictions," Baker noted. "So you went over there and you wanted to get Mr. Simpson arrested and you wanted to get him convicted, isn't that true sir?"
Shot back Lange: "Sir, that's nonsense."
Baker tried to squeeze some alternative theories to the murder into his examination, as well. Showing Lange a photo of Nicole Brown Simpson's body lying in blood, Baker pointed out a "shoe print" about four feet away -- seeming to lead toward the front of the Bundy condominium. The other shoe prints at the crime scene lead to the back of the house.
"That would be significant if there was a shoe print four feet to the west of Nicole Brown Simpson, wouldn't it?" Baker asked.
"Certainly," Lange said.
Baker used the mark to ask Lange it it could have belonged to a police officer, or a second killer, or perhaps the same killer who was walking around the crime scene. But Lange refused to concede that the mark was actually what Baker said.
"I don't know what it was caused by," Lange said. "I don't even know if it is a print."
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