11 ч 2 мин, 11 апр 1995 г. - Dennis Fung concedes there was procedural errors

Описание:

L.A.P.D. criminalist Dennis Fung concedes, under cross-examination by defense attorney Barry Scheck, that there was procedural errors.


Lab exec concedes mistakes in O.J. case
By TERRI VERMEULEN LOS ANGELES, May 3

"A crime lab official conceded mistakes Wednesday in the investigation of the O.J. Simpson double-murder case, but largely defended the work of two criminalists who collected crucial evidence. Under a tedious cross-examination, Gregory Matheson, assistant director of the Los Angeles Police Department's crime lab, acknowledged errors in collecting, photographing and booking evidence. Simpson lawyer Robert Blasier concentrated his attack on the credibility of Matheson's subordinates, criminalists Dennis Fung and Andrea Mazzola, and the evidence collection methods. Simpson's defense team contends that the criminalists bungled the investigation and that police could have tampered with blood samples to frame Simpson for the killings.

In his second day of cross-examining Matheson, the lawyer did not broach the subject of conventional blood test results that prosecutors say link Simpson to the murders. Matheson had laid down the groundwork for the prosecution's scientific case against Simpson Tuesday, testifying that 99.5 percent of the general population would be excluded under the three blood tests that pointed to Simpson as the person whose blood drop was found at the murder scene. Prosecutors told the Superior Court jury during their opening statements that more sophisticated DNA tests on three blood spots leading away from the murder scene link Simpson to the killings. Those results are expected to be presented later. Simpson, 47, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder for the June 12, 1994, stabbing and slashing deaths of Nicole Simpson, 35, and her friend Ronald Goldman, 25, outside her Brentwood condominium.

If convicted, the National Football League Hall-of-Famer could spend the rest of his life in prison. The defense, which has repeatedly attacked the training and credibility of Fung and Mazzola, suggested the two criminalists failed to properly fill out forms and improperly handled evidence. Responding to a monotonous line of questioning, Matheson defended his employees on numerous fronts, including their decision not to count how many swatches were used to collect each of the blood samples found at the murder scene and at Simpson's Brentwood estate 2 miles away. The defense contends that the blood swatches could have been tampered with if criminalists did not know how many were used to collect the stains. Matheson said he 'never used to count the swatches,' but has since begun counting them at other crime scenes because Simpson's lawyers have made an issue of it.

Matheson said he wished that police had called criminalists to the murder scene earlier, and that a carpet from Simpson's Ford Bronco should have been folded when it was collected. In front of the jury, Judge Lance Ito threatened to impose sanctions against prosecutors and defense attorneys for comments they made during court Wednesday. Ito said prosecutor Hank Goldberg went beyond just giving the legal argument for an objection, and the defense offered a 'loud commentary.' The judge recently issued a new set of rules for attorneys' conduct under which attorneys must state only the legal grounds for their objections and refrain from making speeches."


Sourced from:
UPI News

Https://www.upi.com/Archives/1995/05/03/Lab-exec-concedes-mistakes-in-OJ-case/2778799473600/

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