Officer Recounts A Domestic Violence Call At Simpson's Home
SANTA MONICA, Nov. 18 (Noon) -- Los Angeles Police Department criminalist Collin Yamauchi finished testifying this morning, denying that he could have contaminated evidence in the laboratory. LAPD Det. John Edwards, who responded to a 1989 domestic violence call at Simpson's home, finished the morning session the stand.
Edwards will continue his testimony in the afternoon session. He is scheduled to be followed by the 911 operator who answered Nicole Brown Simpson's call on Jan. 1, 1989 at about 4:00 a.m.
The plaintiffs continued their practice of sharply limiting the direct examination of LAPD employees involved in the double murder investigation. Yamauchi testified on direct for about 35 minutes, describing in detail the procedures he used to analyze the blood evidence. He also made clear that he did not spill any blood from Simpson's sample, which the defense contends could have contaminated blood evidence.
"Did you spill any blood," plaintiffs attorney Thomas Lambert asked.
"No," Yamauchi replied.
But on cross-examination, defense attorney Robert Blasier pointed out that some blood from Simpson's sample vial sprayed onto tissues in Yamauchi's hand and seeped onto the his glove. Yamauchi said he changed gloves right after he opened the vial, although he could not remember where he threw out the gloves and the tissues. Blasier also pointedly asked Yamauchi about why he saw no blood on the socks, allegedly taken from Simpson's bedroom, when he viewed them two separate times. The defense has said the blood may have been planted. But Yamauchi explained that he only took cursory looks at the dark socks before discovering blood using a chemical test.
"I could bring those socks out right now, show everybody in this courtroom those socks, and you wouldn't see any blood on them to this day," Yamauchi said.
Det. John Edwards took the stand after Yamauchi because the plaintiffs have had scheduling trouble with FBI shoe print expert William Bodziak, who will now testify Wednesday. Edwards showed the jury photos of a bruised Nicole Brown Simpson taken at the West Los Angeles police station the night of Jan. 1, 1989. Edwards explained how Nicole Brown Simpson, wearing only a bra and sweatpants, collapsed in his arms after he responded to her 911 call. "She was cold, wet, and shivering," Edwards said, noting he saw bruises on her forehead, swelling over her right eye, a scratch mark on her cheek, a one-inch cut on her nose, a little bit of blood coming down a space between her teeth, and a hand print on her neck.
"You guys come out here, you talk to him, you leave," Edwards recalled her saying. "You've been out here eight times, I want him arrested, I want my kids back."
Edwards also told the jury how Simpson came out of the police car and yelled at his former-wife.
"I got two other women," Simpson said, according to Edwards. "I don't want that woman in my bed anymore."
Simpson was not in court this morning. However one of his criminal attornies, Robert Shapiro, was there. His presence spurred a media frenzy, although Shapiro is now a member of the media himself. But the new CBS news legal analyst sat in a seat reserved for guests of the defense. Shapiro explained that all the press seats in the courtroom were taken and the court directed him to sit there. Later in the morning, he sat with the rest of the media.
Robert Schmidt
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