Simpson Lawyers Question Police
SANTA MONICA, Oct. 28 (Evening) -- Defense lawyers continued to pound away at the Los Angeles Police Department's investigation of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. On the stand Monday afternoon, Officer Miguel Terrazas was closely cross-examined about blood drops he says he saw on the back gate at Nicole's Bundy home. At one point, Terrazas misidentified a rust stain on an evidence photo as blood. The defense began to cross examine Sgt. David Rossi late in the afternoon; he, too, did not identify all the blood evidence he was asked to by the plaintiffs.
Tuesday morning, the defense will continue its cross-examination of Rossi. Also scheduled to take the stand are Lt. Frank Spangler and Det. Ronald Phillips, Mark Fuhrman's partner.
During questioning by plaintiffs' attorney Edward Medvene, who represents Fredric Goldman, both Terrazas and Rossi testified they saw only one glove at the crime scene -- two hours before Fuhrman arrived.
The defense again suffered a setback in its attempt to tell they jury that the police failed to preserve or find relevant evidence at the crime scene. Judge Fujisaki, who earlier in the day blocked the defense from asking questions about the ice cream found in Nicole's house and about possible elements of trace evidence police overlooked, further clarified his ruling. He told the defense it could only raise the issue if police spoiled or contaminated the evidence. Any evidence that was not collected, the judge said, is not relevant to the case.
"This is not a case against the Los Angeles Police Department for committing malpractice," Fujisaki said before the jury came in. "You're not going to be able to talk about the evidence they didn't find or failed to find."
Simpson was back in court this afternoon.
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