The following was posted on the LawSig Forum on Compuserve and relates to a
discussion there about "EVIDENCE THAT POINTED TO SOMEONE OTHER THAN OJ
SIMPSON."
FROM: Michael T. Griffith
TO: Sandra Peterson, 74644,526
DATE: 9/24/97 1:22 PM
Michael says, "Let me just briefly review some of the evidence that pointed
to someone other than OJ Simpson:
* The blood in the scrapings taken from beneath Nicole's fingernails was
EAP type B, which does not match OJ's blood, nor does it match Ron or
Nicole's blood. The defense in the civil trial discussed the internal
serology report authored by LAPD scientist Greg Matheson. After noting the
blood type as EAP type B, Matheson wrote, "PROBLEM, NO MATCH TO ANYONE."
In other words, the blood found beneath Nicole's fingernails did NOT match
OJ's blood.
The plaintiffs offered a number of explanations to deal with this problem.
They suggested blood from the ground got underneath Nicole's nails and that
thus the blood did not belong to her assailant, but that unlikely theory,
even if true, still would not explain the fact that the EAP type does NOT
match OJ's, nor Nicole's, nor Ron Goldman's. In short, even if that blood
was on the ground and then somehow got underneath Nicole's nails, the fact
remains that the blood EAP type does not match either the blood of the
accused nor the blood of the two victims.
Then the plaintiffs suggested the blood was actually degraded BA blood.
The defense destroyed this spurious idea, since the scientific literature
makes it clear that such degradation can only occur when the blood degrades
from four bands to one band, which did NOT happen in this instance. The
EAP type B blood was
two-banded.
* Not one hair fiber of Nicole's hair was found in the Bronco.
* Not one hair fiber of Ron Goldman's hair was found in the Bronco.
* Not a single clothing fiber from Ron Goldman's clothing was found in the
Bronco. This is an important point given the clear evidence that Goldman
engaged his assailant in a fierce struggle.
* No fiber consistent with the glove was found in the Bronco.
* A DNA sample taken from the Bronco's steering wheel did not match OJ's
DNA.
* No hair consistent with OJ's hair was found on either the Bundy glove or
the Rockingham glove.
* No fiber consistent with either glove, nor with Goldman's clothing, nor
with Nicole's clothing was found on OJ's socks.
There are more points of evidence that point to someone other than OJ, but
let's move on to some cases of evidence handling by the LAPD that, while
not specifically exculpatory, are highly unusual and suspicious:
* All of the blood on the bodies of Nicole and Ron Goldman was washed off
and never tested. What an incredible action.
* The envelope found at the scene was never fingerprinted.
* The soil samples collected for the environmental study to determine the
degree to which OJ's hair and fibers were left at Bundy prior to the
murders, a standard forensic practice, was never tested. That is highly
unusual.
* The piece of paper seen in photos of the crime scene. The piece of paper
was lying between the bodies. It was picked up by Detective Lange and
subsequently DISAPPEARED. It surely had blood and fiber evidence on it,
and quite possibly imprint evidence, but Lange said he picked it up and
could tell, simply from a visual examination, that it was of no evidentiary
value. What??? How could he make that kind of determination without at
least a microscope? What a ridiculous assertion. So where did that piece
of paper go? Detectives aren't supposed to just discard pieces of paper
collected from between two dead bodies based only on their assertion that
there was no evidence on them, especially when they couldn't possibly
determine the paper's
evidentiary value."
Michael ends his discussion with, "I could continue, but the above
illustrates why so many people believe the LAPD planted evidence against
OJ."
Bill, Michael sent me the following message when I asked for permission to
send you a copy of the above to be posted at your web site:
"Sure, go ahead. You might want to include the additional comments I made
about the EAP type of the fingernail blood; I have included them below:
I should add that the plaintiffs' other explanation was also invalid. They
cited the fact that when the fingernail scrapings were tested the results
showed DNA consistent with Nicole Brown Simpson's. Surely the plaintiffs
knew, just as the prosecution surely knew when it floated this argument,
that this "explanation" was a non-starter from the outset since red blood
cells do not have DNA and since you would of course expect to get Nicole's
DNA in her fingernail scrapings. They must have floated this argument in
the hope that it would confuse the jury, for they surely knew that
scientifically it was nonsense.
Barry Scheck embarrassed the prosecution when they presented this
explanation, which was one reason the prosecution switched gears and
instead put most of their stock in the argument that the BAP type B blood
was actually degraded BA. This argument was equally ineffective, but at
least it had a semblance of plausibility.
Defense attorney Robert Blaiser commented on the DNA-in-scrapings argument
as follows:
One of their explanations was, hey, we tested -- Cellmark, I think
Dr. Cotton said, we tested it, we did DNA tests on that, and it
came
back consistent with Nicole Brown Simpson. Well, of course it did.
Of course it did.
When you take scrapings from your fingernails, you're
going to
get your DNA. Not necessarily from your blood. From skin, from
cells. Remember, every cell in the body except red blood cells
has DNA.
So that doesn't answer it. That doesn't answer it at
all. I'd be
surprised if they didn't find her DNA under there. So that's not
the answer. That doesn't say, oh, well, therefore this blood
type B -- EAP B has to be hers. Doesn't help you at all. Because
remember, the EAP marker that we're looking at, we're looking
at the red blood cells that don't even have DNA. So it's apples
and oranges. It's apples and oranges.
What's the importance of all this? Again, it is that the blood
(specifically, the EAP type) found beneath Nicole's fingernails did NOT
match OJ's blood, nor Nicole's blood, nor Ron Goldman's blood. That blood
most likely got underneath Nicole's nails as she scratched her assailant,
as Dr. Baden explained at the criminal trial, since, for one thing, not all
her fingers were in or touching blood as they lay on the ground (as crime
scene photos prove). So the assailant whom Nicole scratched could not have
been OJ Simpson."
