Defense Points Out Sloppy Police Work
SANTA MONICA, Calif. (Jan. 9, Evening) -- Dr. Henry Lee, testifying by videotaped deposition Thursday afternoon in the O.J. Simpson civil trial, gave credence to the defense's planting and contamination theories, pointing out several examples of police evidence handling errors. The renowned crime scene expert also contradicted several plaintiffs' witnesses, contending he could see blood on Simpson's socks with his naked eyes.
Simpson is scheduled to retake the stand Friday, probably around 11:00 a.m. Before the former football star testifies, about 30 more minutes of Lee's deposition remain to be played. The defense also plans to read testimony from Los Angeles coroner's office employee Gary Siglar. Simpson is expected to testify on direct examination for about four hours, and the plaintiffs have indicated his cross-examination will be short.
Lee's deposition testimony -- played on a large television monitor in a darkened courtroom -- cataloged a series of police evidence and collection mistakes. Lee noted that cotton swabs used to collect some of the blood from Bundy were most likely put into a package while they were wet. Both of Simpson's socks were put into the same bag, which Lee called "a terrible violation" of procedure. Lee also related how blood soaked through a bag containing one of Ronald Goldman's boots.
Earlier in the day, Lee testified that he discovered a new blood trail leading away from the Bundy crime scene."If this bag touches another piece of physical evidence, you're going to have a transfer," Lee said. "If [there is] a transfer, you're going to have a contamination."
Lee also gave a boost to the defense's evidence planting theory, as it relates to the blood on Simpson's socks. Although the police say they collected the socks the day after the murders, nobody noticed any blood -- which was later identified as matching Simpson and his ex-wife -- until more than a month later. Several plaintiffs' witnesses testified in the civil trial that the socks were so dark that any bloodstains could not be seen on them under normal lighting. But Lee said he noticed the blood on the socks as soon as he held them up to the light.
"From the back lighting, I could see clearly which areas had stains and which area had no stains," Lee testified.
Furthermore, Lee said that closer examination of the bloodstains on the socks showed a pattern that was not consistent with blood spattering. The plaintiffs have suggested that the blood splashed on Simpson's socks while he was committing the murders.
Judge Hiroshi Fujisaki has scheduled a hearing for Monday on two defense motions relating to Det. Mark Fuhrman. Now retired, Fuhrman lives outside of California and cannot be compelled to testify. But the defense has tried several times to introduce his criminal trial testimony. In the most recent motion, defense lawyers asked Judge Fujisaki to allow them to introduce 20 statements Fuhrman made about his actions at the Bundy and Rockingham crime scenes. If that fails, the defense filed a separate motion asking the judge to admit taped statements Fuhrman made to aspiring screenwriter Laura Hart McKinny. The statements that the defense is seeking to introduce do not deal with Fuhrman's racism, they mainly concern his stories of police misconduct.
Judge Fujisaki scheduled the hearing over the objections of lead plaintiffs' attorney Daniel Petrocelli.
"This is the third time, they've filed a motion on Mark Fuhrman," Petrocelli complained.
Replied lead defense lawyer Robert Baker: "Third time's a charm."
-Robert Schmidt
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