Judge Limits Fiber Testimony
SANTA MONICA, Nov. 13 (Noon) -- FBI hair and fiber expert Douglas Deedrick remained on the stand Wednesday morning in the O.J. Simpson civil trial, saying that carpet fibers found on the knit cap at the Bundy crime scene and on a glove found at Simpson's Rockingham estate were similar to fibers from Simpson's Bronco. But in a blow to the plaintiffs, Judge Hiroshi Fujisaki refused to allow Deedrick to tell the jury just how rare the Bronco fibers are.
Deedrick's redirect examination will continue this afternoon, followed by DNA expert Dr. Robin Cotton.
Deedrick told the jury only 14,000 Broncos in the nation contained the particular carpet fibers found in Simpson's Bronco. However, Fujisaki decided that the potential prejudice to the defense was too great to allow Deedrick to get any more specific. The plaintiffs had planned to say that only about 200 Broncos with such fibers were registered in Los Angeles.
During his directed testimony, Deedrick linked cashmere fibers found on Ronald Goldman's shirt and the knit cap, to the lining of the two gloves allegedly used in the double murder. Deedrick also discussed blue-black fibers found in three places -- Goldman's shirt, the Rockingham glove, and Simpson's socks. "I saw no differences between them, they could have come from the same source," Deedrick told the jury.
Defense attorney Daniel Leonard ripped Deedrick during his cross-examination, focusing on the FBI agent's objectivity, the subjectiveness of hair and fiber analysis, and on the fact that the fibers could have been transferred during the course of normal interaction between Simpson and his children. Leonard hammered away at the reliability of hair and fiber analysis, calling it "more of an art than a science." Leonard also pointed out that Deedrick kept a picture of himself posing with Fredric and Kim Goldman in his office.
Deedrick was also criticized by Leonard for not telling the jury on his direct examination all the information he knew about the crime scene. For instance, there were a number of hairs found on the knit cap at Bundy belonging to dogs and cats that Deedrick never mentioned. Also inside the cap: "Negroid hairs" that were dissimilar to hair belonging to Simpson.
"Mr. Medvene didn't ask you about those?" Leonard said skeptically.
Robert Schmidt
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