Criminal Evidence

Evidence is the key element in determining the guilt or innocence of those accused of crimes against society in a criminal court of law. Evidence can come in the form of weapons, documents, pictures, tape recordings and DNA. According to the American Heritage College dictionary, evidence is the documentary or oral statements and the material objects admissible as testimony in a court of law (476). It is shown in court as an item of proof, to impeach or rehabilitate a witness, and to determine a sentence. This paper will examine two murder cases, O.J. Simpson and Daniel Taylor.

Perhaps the most famous case in the 20th century was the O. J. Simpson double murder trial. On June 12, 1994, two people were brutally killed. Those two people were Nicole Brown Simpson, O.J. Simpson's ex-wife, and Ronald Goldman. O.J. was arrested the next day and charged with their murder. O.J. pleaded innocent to murder and went to trial in criminal court. There was a load of evidences at the residence of Nicole’s to charge him with two counts of first degree murder and it seemed almost impossible for O.J. to be found innocent.

There were loads of evidences found at the scene and O.J.’s home. The bodies of both Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman, blood of the victims, shoe prints and other evidences. But, one of the main evidence was the questionable bloody glove found behind the guesthouse, which was proven by DNA testing to have O.J.'s, Nicole's and Ron's blood and hair on it. Fibers were also found on the glove that came from O.J.'s shirt and his Bronco (CNN). In addition, a bloody footprint which matched O.J.'s shoes, blood on O.J.'s Bronco door, on the console, on the interior side of the door, a bloody footprint in the Bronco, bloody socks in O.J.'s house, O.J.'s injured finger, blood found at Nicole's condo that matched O.J.'s, and so on (CNN). But, the defense claimed that the evidence had been planted.

Eyewitnesses are also an important piece of evidence. Allen Wattenberg, a knife storeowner, testified during the preliminary hearing that O.J. bought a 14-inch Stiletto knife from his store. O.J.'s limo driver arrived to drive O.J. to the airport and saw a black man, with the same build as O.J. sprinting across the lawn towards O.J.'s house. When O.J. answered the door, he said he'd been napping (CNN). Simpson's houseguest stated that he saw Simpson pulled up in the white bro...

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...ture on the bond slip appeared to be Taylor’s signature. Unlike O.J. there was no DNA linking him to the crime scene or the bodies.

Again, all the evidences pointed favorably toward Daniel Taylor and despite the evidences presented, the jury found Taylor guilty of murder. In closing arguments, Needhand and Bishcoff sought to discredit the officers who had testified for Taylor, accusing them of covering up sloppy record keeping for fear they would be blamed for letting Taylor leave jail early to commit murders (Chicago tribune). In addition, the prosecutor used Daniel’s confession on tape to convict him. “Paperwork is not foolproof,” Bishcoff, the prosecutor, said. But I’ll tell you what is foolproof. And what is foolproof are the defendant’s own words” (Chicago tribune).

REFERENCE

“DNA Fingerprinting” (1997) Encarta Encylopaedia 1997

“Blood truths, Why the Police Want to Tag Your Body”

Helen O’Neill, The Australian 6.12.1997

“Flaws in New DNA Database”

Simon Kearny, The Sydney Telegraph 22.04.2001

“Jail For Rapist Caught by DNA”

Noula Tsavdaridis, The Advertiser 21.10.2000

The American Heritage College Dictionary, 3rd edition, 1997, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston MA, 476.