Simpson Witness Tears Down Prosecution Case Ford Bronco Tests Devalued, Denver Biologist Testifies

Another of O.J. Simpson’s expert witnesses denigrated more prosecution evidence Thursday, noting that poor custodianship of Simpson’s Ford Bronco diminished the value of tests performed on blood samples taken from it two months after the killings.

“We can’t be assured if something or someone or a number of individuals might not have been in there,” said Dr. John Gerdes, the molecular biologist from Denver who completed his direct examination Thursday.

Even Judge Lance Ito acknowledged Thursday that by the time Gerdes finished testifying for the defense, Gerdes had changed the complexion of the case, requiring Ito to grant prosecutors wide berth on cross-examination.

“I think you’ve downplayed the breadth and scope and effectiveness of your own presentation yesterday,” Ito told Barry Scheck, the defense lawyer who questioned Gerdes.

“I think you’ve opened a whole line of questioning regarding the entire evidence collection process, how it was processed at the LAPD lab, and calling into question all of the subsequent results.”

The first portion of that cross-examination, by Deputy District Attorney George Clarke, was lowkey and laborious, leaving some jurors and lawyers nodding off.

In it, Clarke sought to make Gerdes look like an overzealous opponent of DNA testing who exaggerated the dangers of contamination.

He noted that all 23 times Gerdes had testified about a particular kind of DNA testing the polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, technique it was to oppose its use.

Clarke tried to legitimize the technique, noting that numerous laboratories made “life and death decisions” daily on the basis of such tests.

Clarke also challenged Gerdes’ claim on Wednesday that the police laboratory was the worst he had ever examined, getting him to acknowledge that he had never subjected another laboratory to such intense scrutiny.

In testimony Wednesday, Gerdes said that contamination cast doubt on some prosecution exhibits, like blood said to belong to Ronald Goldman, that was removed from the console of Simpson’s Ford Bronco, and a drop of blood, said to be Simpson’s, on the pathway near the crime scene.

But Thursday, Gerdes pointedly noted there was too much blood on three other exhibits - the glove found behind Simpson’s house; the sock picked up at the foot of his bed and the gate behind Ms. Simpson’s condominium - for contamination to have compromised the results.