RULES OF EVIDENCE ADMISSIBILITY - Research Paper Example

Despite the gigantic evidence presented against the suspect, the defense attorney, Johnnie Cochran was able to convince the jurors that there was reasonable doubt that O.J Simpson had actually committed crimes against him (Schuetz and Lilley, 1999). The case is America’s most publicized. However, Cochran’s success did not rely mostly on evidence or lack of it but maximized on the trivial errors committed by both the prosecutors and the Los Angeles Police Department at the crime scene and the court room (Kaplan, 2009).

The tampered gloves, inconsistencies in the blood sample handling and poor crime scene management are some of the most outstanding weaknesses that Chrochan capitalized on. It was only in a later civil ruling that Simpson was charged with the wrongful death of Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman. The blunders committed during the homicide trials contributed immensely to the suspect’s acquittal. If the detectives and attorneys involved in the prosecution had been more careful, the case could probably have ended successfully, with a “Proof beyond Reasonable Doubt” that Simpson was actually responsible for the deaths (Kaplan, 2009).

This paper will highlight the mistakes committed during the trials by the Los Angeles Police Department during the homicide trial and attorneys and lawyers should improve their investigative processes. For instance, the DNA samples brought in by the prosecution were highly questioned. It was evident that the blood samples had been tampered with due to constant movement and flow of custody, where he pointed one of the custodians as a medical student. Cochran accused the police officers concerned of incompetence in handling of evidence.

From all evidence, it is quite evident that someone had tried to tamper with the blood samples despite the fact that they were in the custody of the policemen. In such a scenario, the blood samples could not provide accurate results. Again, the evidence collected from the crime scene was extremely dubitable. Ogle (…) states that there should be a clear order in a crime scene. In O.J Simpson’s case, it was evident that many people had entered the scene before the detective had arrived and that even after his arrival, he did not establish an order of who was allowed to enter (Hunt, 1994).

He left and entered the scene several times, all this while leaving different people in charge. This on its part had more serious repercussions later on in the evidence collection. The large number of people who entered the scene before the arrival of the detective may have tampered with the collected evidence and this evidence was not reliable for trial. A similar scenario is observed in the possibility of planted blood traces found on the glove during the hearings. Oscar had submitted a blood sample to the police during an interrogation.

Consequently, the capacity was not recorded, creating a room for doubt that some blood could have been sneaked out of the laboratory into Brown’s home (Kaplan, 2009). Moreover, detective Lange covered Nicole’s body with one of her blankets to protect it from photographers. By failing to use a new unused sheet, the possibility that a transfer could have occurred became inevitable. Though no foreign material was found on her, whether the blanket picked up her attacker’s prints will remain a mere speculation, for that cannot be sufficiently proven.

Another weakness found in evidence handling in