The Role of Police in the OJ Simpson case.
When it comes to the murder case of Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman, Robert Riske a police officer with the Los Angeles Police Department was the first attending officer at the scene. When attending to the crime scene, Riske assessed the situation and called for backup. After this he began to secure the crime scene, but he only secured the area where any blood had been seen, and where the bodies where. He cordoned off the area to the end of the pathway of Nicole’s house but didn’t cordon off anymore of the scene. This results in any evidence which may have been on the pathway outside the house may have been missed or contaminated. Riske also allowed many other officers who responded to the backup call to enter the crime scene without protective clothing and before the bodies had been removed or any evidence had been collected, therefore potentially contaminating the entire crime scene. Robert Riske also made the phone call for backup from the phone inside Nicole Brown’s kitchen, this most definitely contaminated any evidence as the phone had not yet been dusted for fingerprints.
Roles and Responsibilities of Detectives in the OJ Simpson case.
One of the first detectives on the scene in the OJ Simpson case was Detective Mark Fuhrman, a detective with the Los Angeles Homicide division. Fuhrman carried out a visual inspection of the crime scene. He also later went on to enter OJ Simpson’s house without a warrant. He did this as he believed that Simpson may be hurt inside. Mark Fuhrman found and identified a bloody glove at the scene of the murders and another matching glove at the home of Simpson. He also alerted the other detectives who attended Simpson’s house to the presence of blood drops at Simpson’s home and on his Ford Bronco. Fuhrman was later accused by the defence team of planting evidence at Simpson’s house in an attempt to frame him, the defence team said that Fuhrman was a racist, meaning that he intentionally wanted to put the blame onto OJ Simpson.
Role of Specialist Departments in the OJ Simpson Case.
The Specialist Department involved in the OJ Simpson case was the Homicide Special Section of the LAPD’s Robbery/Homicide Division. Two detectives, Tom Lange and Phil Vannatter from the specialist department were assigned as the lead detectives on the case. Both Lange and Vannatter discussed the investigation plan with other detectives at the murder scene and decided that OJ needed to be informed of his ex-wife’s death; they then decided that they would travel to the home of OJ to inform him. These detectives were responsible for getting in touch with Nicole’s parents to inform them of their daughter’s death and also responsible for contacting the coroner to attend the murder scene and examine the bodies. After seeing the gathering members of the media and public, Lange decided that he would place a blanket from inside the house over the body of Nicole to prevent pictures from being taken of her dead body. This contaminated any evidence on her body and led to all of this evidence being thrown out in court. After Fuhrman had identified blood at Simpson’s home, Vannatter and Lange were responsible for assessing whether the home of Simpson should be classed as a further crime scene. Both Vannatter and Lange were also given the task of supervising the collection of evidence by the SOCOs, and they had to document all the evidence at both of the crime scenes. Later on within the case these officers interviewed OJ Simpson and identified him as the prime suspect.
Role of SOCO’s in OJ Case.
In the OJ Simpson case the SOCO’s were Dennis Fung and Andrea Mazzola. The criminalists in this case were given the task of the collection and documentation of all the evidence at both the murder scene and at Simpson’s house. Also, they had to catalogue and sequence all of the evidence for transfer to the laboratory. Fung and Mazzola also assisted the coroner in the examination of both Nicole and Ronald’s bodies at the crime scene, in order to identify and collect any evidence on their bodies. Both criminalists were criticized for the contamination of evidence as they failed to correctly bag evidence separately, in some cases putting different sample of blood evidence in the same collection bag.
Role of Forensic Scientists in the OJ Simpson Case.
The evidence collected in the case of the murder of Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman was analysed by forensic scientists in the Los Angeles Crime Lab. The forensic scientists in this case were able to identify the blood found on the glove at Simpson’s property to have Simpson’s blood, Nicole’s blood and Ron’s blood. They were also able to identify blood found in Simpson’s ford bronco as that of Nicole and Ron. The blood was identified because a DNA test was performed on the blood, and was then matched up to the victims.
Role of Pathologist in the OJ Simpson Case.
Dr Irwin Golden was the pathologist in the OJ Simpson case. He was responsible for examining the bodies of Nicole and Ronald at the crime scene; he was also responsible for carrying out the autopsies on the bodies to establish the extent of the injuries sustained. This information was put into a report to be presented when the case was taken to court. Golden after completing the autopsies and examining the wounds on the bodies, was able to determine that the attacker of Nicole and Ronald was right handed. This, while seeming so simple, was a great piece of information for the investigation as it made it possible to pin the blame onto Simpson, due to knowing that he was also right handed.
Role of Prosecution in the OJ Simpson Case.
In the case of the murders of Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman, Marcia Clark was the main prosecutor. Clark attempted to convince the jury beyond reasonable doubt that Simpson had murdered Nicole and Ronald. Part of Marcia Clark’s role in the OJ Simpson Case was presenting evidence. This evidence included blood evidence and physical evidence such as the bloody gloves recovered at the murder scene and Simpson’s home. She also presented arguments in court that on many occasions prior to her murder, Simpson had severely beaten Nicole, and that she was afraid that he would one day murder her.
Role of the Defence in the OJ Simpson Case.
In the OJ Simpson case, were Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman were murdered, Johnnie Cochran was one of OJ Simpson’s main defence lawyers, he was also part of the well-known “dream team” which the media labelled OJ Simpson’s defence lawyers. Johnnie Cochran was the lawyer who presented the argument in court, that physical and blood evidence including the glove found at OJ Simpson’s home had been planted by members of the investigation team who visited his home when they came to inform him of his ex-wife’s death. Johnnie Cochran claimed that the glove and blood had been placed to frame Simpson by racist investigators who disapproved that a White female and a Black male could have been married. Cochran also produced the famous phrase “if it doesn't fit, you must acquit” this was in response to OJ Simpson being asked to try on the glove found at the murder scene which was suspected to belong to him, the glove did not fit OJ Simpson.
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