- A knife was reportedly found on O.J. Simpson’s old property in California
- It is the latest twist in one of the most sensational murder trials in US in recent times
- The knife was actually found years ago and turned over to a cop who kept it for years
- Legal experts said Simpson can no longer be retried for murder
A knife was reportedly found on the old property of former American football player O.J. Simpson in the latest twist in one of the most controversial murder trials in the United States in recent years.
A TMZ report says the knife was actually found several years ago by a construction worker inside Simpson’s former Brentwood estate when the house was demolished ‘back in the 90s’.
Simpson was accused of killing his wife Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman outside her apartment in 1994. He was acquitted by a jury in the highly-publicized 1995 trial, although many people still believed he committed the murders.
In 1997, a civil court found him guilty of the victims’ wrongful deaths.
The knife
A police source told TMZ the construction worker turned the knife over to a police officer who was working on a movie set outside Simpson’s Rockingham Avenue mansion. The cop took it home and kept it for years, until detectives learned about its existence last month.
Apparently, the officer retired in January and contacted a friend at LAPD asking for the Simpson murder case’s departmental record (DR) number which he planned to be etched on the ‘souvenir’.
The knife – a folding buck type – has been turned over to investigators and is now being examined for DNA and hair samples.
Double jeopardy
Legal experst say that even if the knife proved to be the murder weapon, O.J. Simpson will not be retried for murder.
“The 5th Amendment ensures double jeopardy would preclude a second trial for O.J. Simpson. O.J. cannot be tried again,” USC law professor Jody Armour told the Los Angeles Times.
Others, however, doubted the authenticity of the ‘knife’ story. Attorney Carl Douglas, part of the legal team who defended Simpson in the sensational 1995 murder trial , described it as a ‘ridiculous’ tale.
“O.J. did not drop [the knife] on his property any more than he did the gloves. The whole thing is ridiculous,” Simpson’s other lawyer, F. Lee Bailey, said in agreement.
Some legal analysts said the government can, perhaps, go around the ‘double jeopardy’ by accusing Simpson of a federal civil rights violation.
But Alan Dershowitz, Simpson’s other former lawyer, acknowledged his former client could easily prevail in court due to ‘statute of limitations’.
O.J. Simpson is currently serving a 33-year-sentence for armed robbery and kidnapping in Las Vegas since 2008.
Post a Comment