8A
Monday, April 17, 1995
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Trial turns to blood evidence
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - Three months and 40 witnesses into testimony, prosecutors have yet to present a single piece of physical evidence positively linking O.J. Simpson to murder.
Their opportunity is coming in what is being called the make-or-break phase of the case.
"They now have to go to hard scientific evidence," Loyla University Professor Laurie Levenson said. "This is the most important phase of the trial."
"At this point, if the jury was asked to deliberate, they would have to acquit because there hasn't been a single piece of physical evidence linking Simpson to the crime," UCLA law professor Peter Arenella said. "But that's not a criticism. The prosecutors haven't gotten to the heart of their case yet."
So far, prosecution testimony has been divided into two phases aimed at showing motive and opportunity.
Now, with the focus shifting to blood evidence, legal experts say the prosecution will have its chance to win or lose.
Deputy District Attorneys Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden
called witnesses to suggest, first, that Simpson was obsessively jealous of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and had a motive to kill her and, second, that careful examination of his movements on June 12 showed he had opportunity to do it.
Criminalist Dennis Fung, who collected blood evidence from Simpson's home and the crime scene, was scheduled to return to the stand today.
A touch of Irish in downtown Lawrence
They contend that her friend Ronald Goldman was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Levenson predicted prosecutors will simplify blood analysis evidence for jurors, while defense lawyers will confuse it as much as possible.
now they're missing the big piece — putting O.J. at the scene of the crime."
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"It's like putting together the pieces of a puzzle," Levenson said. "You need all the pieces and right
Arenella said prosecutors have a challenge of trying to keep jurors interested while leading them through a scientific morass.
"The prosecution needs an attentive jury," he said, "and boredom means inattention, which makes confusion more likely."
House guest Brian "Kato" Kaelin testified that he last saw Simpson at his estate about 9:35 p.m. Prosecutors say the killings occurred at 10:15 p.m. about two miles away.
They have sketched a scenario in which Simpson took off in his white Bronco, killed his ex-wife and her friend outside her condominium, fled leaving a trail of blood and returned home with time enough to clean up, hide the weapon and bloody clothes and meet a limousine driver at 10:55 p.m.
The defense used prosecution witnesses to plant seeds of its own theory: that Simpson fell victim to a police frame-up that originated with Detective Mark Führman. Führman, who said he found the bloody glove at Simpson's estate, has been accused by the defense of being racist.
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