Defense: Evidence Doesn’t Fit

In an echo of O.J. Simpson’s murder trial, a black man charged in the slaying of a Jewish scholar tried on a pair of blood-stained pants for the jury Monday, only to have them slip to the floor.

With the unbelted pants around his ankles, Lemrick Nelson Jr. was left standing before the jurors in a pair of green gym shorts.

The defense used the demonstration to bolster claims that the baggy jeans were planted by police and were not worn by Nelson the night Yankel Rosenbaum was stabbed in Brooklyn more than five years ago.

“The record will reflect that the blue jeans dropped all the way down,” said Nelson’s lawyer, Christine Yaris. “Nelson rests.”

In the Simpson trial, his difficulty in trying on gloves linked to the crime bolstered arguments police had planted one of them. Defense attorney Johnnie Cochran Jr. told the jury: “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.”

Nelson, 21, was acquitted of murder in 1992 in state court. He and co-defendant Charles Price, 43, are now charged in federal court with violating Rosenbaum’s civil rights in the attack.

Nelson is now an inch taller and 16 pounds heavier. Police said they found blood matching that of Rosenbaum on the pants and a knife in a pocket.