TMZ reports a construction worker found the blood-stained knife years ago and gave it to an off-duty cop who kept it in his home before finally turning it over to police in January. TMZ did not specify when the knife was found, but reported that it may have been around the time the home was destroyed in 1998.
"It is being treated as we would treat all evidence," LAPD Capt. Andy Neiman said Friday. He added that police were "quite shocked" to learn about the knife after so many years.
O.J. Simpson and Nicole Brown Simpson pose at the premiere of the Naked Gun 33 1/3, in which O.J. starred, on March 16/ 1994 in Los Angeles, California.
Simpson's property was in the Brentwood section of LA. In 1995, a jury found him not guilty of murder after the so-called "Trial of the Century" dominated the media for months. Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, her friend, were found stabbed to death in June of 1994.
In 1997, a jury found Simpson civilly liable for the slayings. He's now imprisoned in Nevada on a robbery-kidnap conviction.
Law enforcement sources told TMZ the blade is a folding Buck knife. It's now being tested for hair and DNA after it was handed over the LAPD’s Robbery and Homicide Division.
"We discovered it and our investigators immediately followed up on it," Neiman added. Simpson likely cannot be prosecuted again for the stabbings because of constitutional protections against being charged for the same crime twice, or double-jeopardy.
Cops who saw the weapon reportedly said it appeared to have blood residue on it, but it’s extremely rusted and stained, requiring further testing.
A member of Simpson's legal "dream team" in his murder trial called the find "ridiculous." Attorney Carl Douglas told the Los Angeles Times, "It's amazing how the world cannot move on from this case!"
The cop who kept the knife, an officer assigned to the traffic division, was off-duty at the time and never alerted higher-ups to the discovery, TMZ reported.
In late January the cop reportedly contacted a friend in the homicide division and told him he was getting the knife framed for his wall.
According to TMZ, the cop even asked his friend to get the department’s record number for the Simpson-Goldman murder case so he could engrave it in the frame. He was forced to surrender the knife to LAPD when the friend told superiors.
Sources told TMZ authorities are keeping their investigation top secret and under wraps, even loading the case into a computer system outside the official case file.
The Roving Reporter G.
WoW! How exciting. If they had found the knife at the time of the trial, it would have sealed OJ's fate. But he got away with murder and I don't see how they can use the knife against him now. Maybe they can publish their findings and at least prove to the public for once and for all that he is guilty. I think the cop who concealed the evidence should be severely reprimanded or even charged.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you put the article on FTBB. I wish you would do it more often. I also love it when the cubs post something.
Love and hugs
Butterfly
My dear Butterfly ,
ReplyDeleteI also think the trial would have taken a different turn . OJ has been living in torment and hell for a very long time . If the knife is part of the crime , I think the man will be severely punish for the part he played in the crime at that time . I will tell the grands , they have a lot of homework after school activities, they also help Nee each Friday with the meetings . They love finding things to post . I told them you also like old things .
I did an update on the OJ article .
Hugs and love HB