Analysis of Errors in the O.J. Simpson Case

Words: 1946 Pages: 8

Table of Contents

OJ Simpson Case Summary
Background of the Case
OJ Simpson Case Evidence & Errors
Forensic Tests Conducted
Case Analysis & Resolution
Works Cited

OJ Simpson Case Introduction

This paper presents a detailed report on the criminal case of O. J. Simpson, a known ex-athlete who was charged with a murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. The paper will explore the investigation and trial that went on in 1994. Namely, the evidence and forensic tests conducted within the investigation of this murder will be discussed involving all the relevant details. Finally, the analysis of evidence and the resolution of O. J. Simpson’s case will be overviewed.

OJ Simpson Case Background

On June 13th 1994, the world has first heard about the crime at happened in Brentwood, Los Angeles. Nicole Brown Simpson, the ex-wife of a well-known retired football player O. J. Simpson and Ronald Goldman, her acquaintance were found dead at the condominium of Nicole Brown Simpson located on Bundy Drive (Linder par. 1-2). The cause of death of both victims was defined as stabbing. On the same day, the mass media revealed that Nicole Brown Simpson’s ex-husband Orenthal James Simpson was held as the main suspect in the case.

On June 17th, based on the evidence, O. J. Simpson was ordered to surrender by the police; however, instead of cooperating with the law enforcement representatives, the suspect vanished (“O.J. Simpson Biography” par. 10). Later on the same day, Simpson was located in a car driving Santa Ana Freeway and chased by the police.

Eventually, the suspect surrendered voluntarily. The search revealed that he carried a gun, nine thousand dollars in cash, and some objects that suggested Simpson was going to disguise himself; however, the suspect stated that he was not attempting to escape and pleaded not guilty in response to the charge with murder (“O.J. Simpson Biography” par. 11).

Prior to this event, Simpson had been known to have fights with his ex-wife while they were married; once, his friends even happened to overhear him threatening to kill Nicole, who admitted to her friends that her husband tended to be abusive (“O.J. Simpson Biography” par. 9). However, even though the evidence found at the crime scene could serve as the basis for the strong suspicion of O. J. Simpson’s guilt, the prosecution still needed to convince the jury during the trial in order to convict the suspect (Ayres par. 3). Overall, the evidence against Simpson was rather strong (it involved the bodies, blood stains, and gloves covered in blood), but circumstantial.

OJ Simpson Case Evidence + Errors

The collection of evidence in the case of O. J. Simpson involved errors and problems.

Bloody Fingerprint Mistreatment

First of all, the bloody fingerprint on the gateway of Brown condominium was documented by an investigator who visited the crime scene among the first people (“Forensics at the OJ Simpson Trial” par. 1). However, this extremely important evidence was not collected and secured properly.

Failing to notice the print, the investigators who handled the case further caused the loss of this evidence because it was destroyed before being collected. In addition, many other pieces of evidence were mishandled as testified by the witnesses of the prosecution; for instance, wet items were kept together with the dry ones causing changes in evidence, and some items that were supposed to be packaged apart were placed together resulting in cross-contamination (“Forensics at the OJ Simpson Trial” par. 3).

Other Errors in the OJ Simpson Case

Moreover, the procedures of handling the evidence also revealed many critical errors that caused confusions for the further investigation: some pieces of evidence were broken (Nicole Brown’s mother’s glasses lost a lens while being in possession of the investigators), mistreated (Simpson’s car was entered by unauthorized persons), mixed (Nicole’s body was covered using a blanket from her house instead of specialized material), and lost (1.5 milliliters of O. J. Simpson’s blood collected for the investigation went missing) (“Forensics at the OJ Simpson Trial” par. 2-7). In other words, the overall treatment of the crime scene by the police was rather sloppy and became littered and contaminated multiple times while the critical pieces of evidence were mishandled or lost.

Bruno Magli Shoes & a Pair of Gloves

The pieces of evidence that the police managed to collect and secure appropriately included a pair of gloves with blood stains on them (one glove was located at Simpson’s residence and the other – at Nicole Brown’s condominium), traces of blood inside of Simpson’s car, a pair of socks found at his home, and his driveway, shoe prints of Bruno Magli shoes in size 12 (supposedly worn by Simpson, but never actually recovered), hair found in Nicole’s home, and fresh cuts on O. J. Simpson’s left hand the night after the murder occurred (“The Evidence” n. p.).

OJ Simpson Case Witnesses

Moreover, several witnesses helped the investigators re-create the timeline of the murder. For example, Kato Kaelin testified to have seen O. J. Simpson before and after the estimated time of murder, Charles Cale also stated that Simpson’s car was missing from his residence on the evening when the Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman were murdered; finally, Allan Park, Simpson’s driver confirmed that his car was missing that night when he came to pick O. J. up to go to the airport (“The Trial of O. J. Simpson: The Incriminating Evidence” par. 1). In addition, Simpson’s unusual reaction to the call informing him of his ex-wife’s death and his attempt to escape from the police during the chase on Santa Ana Drive were counted as events contributing to the strong evidence against the suspect.

Forensic Tests of the OJ Simpson Case

A series of tests were conducted in order for the investigators to make connections between the victims, the evidence, and the suspect. However, just like during the procedures used for the collection of evidence, the analyses involved many errors due to which the important items and pieces of information were mishandled, lost, or changed in a way that compromised their authenticity (Girard 17).

DNA and Fingerprints Tests

Apart from the fingerprint mentioned in the report of the first investigator that was not collected and eventually got lost, there were more pieces of DNA evidence that were noticed, collected and packaged by the investigator. For example, hairs were found on the shirt of Ronald Goldman and in Nicole’s home that were DNA-tested and proved consistent with the hair of O. J. Simpson (“The Trial of O. J. Simpson: The Incriminating Evidence” par. 2).

Besides, more tests were used to analyze the traces of carpet fiber on the glove found at Simpson’s mansion site, and they proved to be consistent with the carpet fiber in Simpson’s car; also, the fiber of the same car carpet was located on a cap found at Nicole’s condominium (“The Trial of O. J. Simpson: The Incriminating Evidence” par. 2).

Moreover, the investigators identified shoe prints at the crime scene that were recognized to have been left by Bruno Magli shoes in size 12, a matching bloody footprint was found inside Simpson’s car, also the suspect had size 12 feet (“The Trial of O. J. Simpson: The Incriminating Evidence” par. 2).

In addition, blood drops consistent with those of O. J. Simpson were found at the crime scene. However, while tested, the blood samples were mishandled in an unprofessional manner and instead of being stored ended up being carried around by the lab workers, spilled, and exposed to heat and other possible harmful impacts (“When Evidence Backfires: The OJ Simpson Murder Trial” par. 3-5).

Also, the traces of EDTA (anticoagulant chemical) were reported to be present in Simpson’s blood found at the crime scene which allowed the defense side to make a claim that the blood was either planted on the evidence intentionally or by mistake making this evidence unreliable (“Forensics at the OJ Simpson Trial” par. 9-10).

O.J. Simpson Murder Weapon Tests

Winton reports that this year, a knife was found at the land site that used to belong of O. J. Simpson during the trial (par. 1). The construction workers employed at the site unearthed a knife and contacted the police. The investigators collected the object and ran tests, however, since the very beginning it was rather clear that no connections of that knife to the victims or O. J. Simpson could be found due to the lengthy time the object spent buried underground exposed to multiple destructive impacts. Besides, even if, miraculously, some prints or traces were found on a knife connecting it to Nicole Brown, Ron Goldman, or O. J. Simpson, latter would not be convicted due to double jeopardy.

At the same time, one of the investigators involved in the very first evidence collecting procedures in the case stated that the forensic report after the examination of the victims’ bodies was rather straightforward as to the length, width, and thickness of the murder weapon; and that way, it was possible to establish whether or not the new evidence matched the description of the knife used to kill Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman (Winton par. 18).

OJ Simpson Case Analysis and Resolution

The results of blood tests conducted in different labs served as the basis for the prosecution to place Simpson at the crime scene revealing the traces of his DNA present on and around the victims, as well as the victims’ DNA present in footprints matching Simpson’s and inside of his car (“O. J. Simpson Civil Trial” par. 1-2).

In response the defense claimed that since the evidence was mishandled, it could no longer be trusted; in fact, the attorneys suggested that the blood of Simpson could have been planted in the crime scene since it contained the anticoagulant chemical usually used in labs (that way, it looked as if the blood came to the scene of the crime from the lab) (“O. J. Simpson Civil Trial” par. 3). They confirmed the statement with the fact that the examination of the paper holding blood vials had the traces of blood on it, and this signified that the vials were opened previously.

The shoe prints of Bruno Magli shoes in size 12 were rejected as evidence by the defense based on the absence of the actual shoes of this model owned by Simpson, the possibility that someone else could have worn such shoes in the same size, and the presence of other footprints at the crime scene (“O. J. Simpson Civil Trial” par. 5).

In reference to hairs and carpet fiber traces found at the crime scene, the defense claimed that they could not be trusted as evidence because someone used a blanket from inside of the house to cover Nicole Brown’s body; since the blanket used to belong to O. J. Simpson’s mother, it could easily spread the unrelated hairs and fibers on and around the bodies (“O. J. Simpson Civil Trial” par. 9).

Discussing the gloves, the prosecution suggested that Simpson used them while committing the murder and then dropped one at the crime scene while the second one was lost after he came back home to get rid of the evidence clothing.

The defense claimed that the gloves were planted by the police, and namely one racist detective attempting to frame Simpson; this statement was confirmed by the fact that the gloves turned out too small when Simpson was asked to put them on (“O. J. Simpson Civil Trial” par. 12). The prosecution responded maintaining that having absorbed blood, the gloves shrunk, and also, Simpson was wearing rubber gloves underneath the evidence gloves which resulted in difficulty putting the latter on.

As a result, the jury found O. J. Simpson not guilty due to the insufficiency of evidence, as presented by the defense. The jury was convinced that because of the sloppy collection of evidence and the bold claims made by the defense attorneys of the suspect, the proofs presented by the prosecution were not strong enough to confirm Simpson’s guilt.