[Dion]

20 Years Later: Law Professor Looks Back At O.J. Murder Trial

IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law Professor Douglas Godfrey, a former New York prosecutor, said case-breaking mistakes were made long before the case made it to the courtroom. In fact, he said they began from almost the moment Los Angeles Police rolled up on the scene.

“The location where Ron and Nicole were murdered was contaminated from the beginning,” he said. “Police were walking through it. A police officer actually brought a blanket out from the house to cover the bodies.”

Simpson had been in his ex-wife’s home to visit his children.

“If you wanted to explain how Simpson’s hair was at the murder scene, you could say it was on the blanket,” he said.

He said an LAPD detective who drew Simpson’s blood samples kept them in his pocket and returned to the crime scene still carrying the samples, which gave the defense the ability to argue that Simpson was framed.

Godfrey said that it was one of the rare cases where the defendant could spend as much, if not more, than the prosecution.

He said good lawyering can win cases, and bad lawyering can lose them. He said the shrewdness of Simpson’s legal team was mirrored at many points by the ineptness of the prosecution.

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2014/06/...-murder-trial/