📄 Direct examination of Dennis Fung (morning) — Monday, November 4, 1996
Address:
C:\DEPT103\CIVIL\1996\NOV\4\DIRECT-EXAMINATION-OF-DENNIS-F.DOC
TRIAL
▲ Day 8 of 57

Direct examination of Dennis Fung (morning)

Witness: Dennis Fung
Examiner: Robert Blasier
Called by: Defense • Date: Monday, November 4, 1996 • Utterances: 381
Tom Lambert conducts direct examination of LAPD criminalist Dennis Fung, establishing his credentials and walking the jury through his evidence collection at Rockingham and Bundy on June 13-14, 1994. Fung describes collecting six blood drops at Rockingham, the right-hand glove, blood drops and a second glove at Bundy, then returning to Rockingham to collect blood from the foyer, socks from the master bedroom, and receiving OJ Simpson's reference blood vial from Detective Vannatter at 5:20pm. The examination concludes with Fung describing his collection of blood evidence from the Bronco interior on June 14.
1 MR. LAMBERT:

Thank you, Your Honor. DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. LAMBERT:

2 Q:

Mr. Fung, what is your occupation?

3 A:

I'm a criminalist.

4 Q:

And by whom are you employed?

5 A:

I am employed by the Los Angeles Police Department, and I am assigned to the firearms analysis unit of the Scientific Investigation Division.

6 Q:

Can you explain to us what a criminalist is?

7 A:

A criminalist is somebody who applies the principles of the physical and natural sciences to identify, collect, and analyze evidence related to a crime, and then present his findings in a court of law.

8 Q:

And in order to become a criminalist at the LAPD, are you required to have some formal educational background?

9 A:

Yes. Bachelor's degree in natural science is required.

10 Q:

And do you have a bachelor's degree?

11 A:

Yes, I do. I have a bachelor of science degree in criminalistics from the California State University at Long Beach, and I also have a bachelor of arts degree in chemistry from the California State University at Long Beach.

12 Q:

When did you receive those degrees?

13 A:

The criminalistics degree was received in 1982, and the chemistry degree was in 1985.

14 Q:

And when did you join the Scientific Investigation Division?

15 A:

I started there in October of 1984.

16 Q:

And have you worked there continually since that time?

17 A:

Yes, I have.

18 Q:

And you currently are assigned to the firearms -- is it called division or group or something?

19 A:

I'm with the firearms analysis unit.

20 Q:

Firearms analysis unit.

And what level of criminalist are you with LAPD?

21 A:

I am a criminalist 3.

22 Q:

And can you describe, please, what it takes to become a criminalist 3 with SID?

23 A:

A criminalist 3 requires expertise in three areas of the laboratory, and at least four and a half years on the job.

24 Q:

And on June 13, 1994, were you a criminalist 3 at that time?

25 A:

Yes.

26 Q:

Now, turning your attention to June 13, 1994, did you receive a call in connection with a murder investigation that day?

27 A:

Yes, I did.

28 Q:

And about what time did you receive that call?

29 A:

I received a telephone call at approximately 5:30 in the morning.

30 Q:

And who was that from?

31 A:

That was from criminalist Mazzola.

32 Q:

And what did Ms. Mazzola tell you in that call?

33 A:

She informed me that there was a homicide in West LA division.

34 Q:

And what was the reason for calling you?

35 A:

I was assigned as her criminalist 3; she was a criminalist 1; she is required to have a criminalist 3 out with her at crime scenes.

36 Q:

And she had received the call concerning the crime scene and then called you; is that what you're saying?

37 A:

Yes.

38 Q:

And what did you do as a result of this phone call from Ms. Mazzola?

39 A:

I proceeded to meet Ms. Mazzola at the crime lab, and we got in the crime scene truck and went out to the Rockingham location.

40 Q:

Do you recall about what time you arrived at the Rockingham location?

41 A:

Referring to my notes, I received -- or I arrived there at approximately 7:10 in the morning.

42 Q:

Okay. And what did you do when you arrived there?

43 A:

When I arrived there, I was briefed at the scene by Detective Vannatter.

44 Q:

And how did he go about briefing you?

What did he say?

45 MR. BLASIER:

Objection. Hearsay.

46 THE COURT:

Sustained.

47 Q:

(BY MR. BLASIER) Did Detective Vannatter give you a walk-through of the crime scene?

48 A:

Yes, he did.

49 Q:

What did he show you?

50 A:

He showed me items of evidence that he was interested in, such as a red stain on the Bronco door and a blood trail leading -- or a blood trail that started at the street and went into the front area of the property. And then there was also a glove on the south side of the house.

51 MR. BLASIER:

I object and move to strike any testimony about a blood trail. Without foundation.

52 THE COURT:

Overruled. The Court's going to permit it to show this witness's state of mind in doing what he did.

53 Q:

(BY MR. BLASIER) Now, Mr. Fung, calling your attention to this board, which is Exhibit 155, does this board reflect some of the items of evidence that you collected at Rockingham that day?

54 A:

If I may.

55 Q:

You can step down.

56 MR. BLASIER:

Sorry, Mr. Lambert; what exhibit number was that?

57 MR. LAMBERT:

155.

58 MR. BLASIER:

Thank you.

59 Q:

(BY MR. LAMBERT) Does this exhibit reflect some of the items of evidence that you collected that morning at Rockingham?

60 A:

Yes, it does.

61 Q:

And are these the things that were pointed out to you by Detective Vannatter?

62 MR. BLASIER:

Objection. Leading.

63 THE COURT:

Sustained.

64 Q:

(BY MR. LAMBERT) Did Detective Vannatter point out these things to you during the walk-through?

65 A:

Yes.

66 MR. BLASIER:

Same objection.

67 THE COURT:

Sustained.

68 Q:

(BY MR. LAMBERT) Let me ask you this: What was the next thing you did after Detective Vannatter gave you the walk-through?

69 A:

The first thing I did was to test a red stain on the door of the Bronco, on the left side.

70 Q:

Did you -- when you were at the Bronco, was the Bronco open or locked?

71 A:

It was locked.

72 Q:

Did you look inside the Bronco?

73 A:

Yes, I did.

74 Q:

Were you able to observe anything inside the Bronco?

75 A:

I saw what appeared to be red stains on the interior left door and on the center console.

76 Q:

And this stain that you saw on the door of the Bronco, was that collected?

77 A:

It was collected the next day, but not --

78 Q:

The one on the door.

79 A:

On the outside of the door it was collected, yes.

80 Q:

Okay.

And after collecting that stain on the side of the door, did you then proceed to collect some of the other stains that you talked about?

81 A:

Yes, I did.

82 Q:

You can -- you can sit down; you might want to look at your notes.

Do you recall how many of the -- of these blood drops that you discussed you collected?

83 A:

Yes.

I collected -- or six drops of blood were collected at the Rockingham location in the morning.

84 Q:

And what are the item numbers that were ultimately assigned to those blood drops?

85 A:

Those would be items Nos. 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.

86 Q:

And which one is the item that was on the door of the Bronco?

87 A:

Take was item No. 1.

88 Q:

And 4 through 8, where were those items located?

89 A:

Excuse me?

90 Q:

Where were items 4 through 8 located?

91 A:

4 was located in the street. 5 and 6 were on the south portion of the driveway. And then 7 and 8 were closer to the entrance of the house.

92 Q:

Okay. And the first one of those drops that was collected, was that number 4?

93 A:

Yes.

94 Q:

Could you please describe for the jury the process that you used to collect that blood drop number 4.

95 A:

After labeling, measuring, and photographing the blood stain, a substrate control is collected. This is done by using a clean pair of tweezers to apply a cloth swatch, moistened by distilled water, to an area close to but not on the stain.

The substrate control is then placed into a plastic bag, and then we proceed to actually collect the blood stain. Now, between several cloth swatches, a single thread can be used, depending on the size of the stain.

96 MR. BLASIER:

I object to the narrative.

97 THE COURT:

Overruled.

98 DENNIS FUNG:

And again, a pair of tweezers that are clean are used to apply the cloth, which is moistened by distilled water, to the stain itself.

And the stain is allowed to be absorbed onto the cloth. And once the cloth or the blood stain is transferred onto that cloth, it is placed into another plastic bag, and then both plastic bags are placed into a labeled coined envelope.

99 Q:

(BY MR. LAMBERT) And this is the process that you used to collect item number 4?

100 A:

Yes.

101 Q:

And did you use that same process to collect all the other items at Rockingham?

102 A:

Yes.

103 Q:

And you mentioned that sometimes you have to use more than one swatch. Did that happen at some of these items at Rockingham?

104 A:

Yes.

105 Q:

And you also mentioned the taking of a substrate control. What is the purpose of doing that?

106 A:

The purpose of the substrate control is to determine if there are any substances on the area that we're collecting from that will interfere or somehow affect the outcome of analysis.

And secondary use for the substrate control is to determine if our technique is proper. If there's a problem with the substrate control, then the person using -- or doing the analysis, knows there's a problem someplace in the collection process.

107 Q:

Did you collect the substrate control for all of these blood drops that you checked at Rockingham?

108 A:

Yes.

109 Q:

You did ultimately collect all of the drops you've listed?

110 A:

Yes.

111 Q:

And after collecting those drops, did you then collect another item of evidence at Rockingham?

112 A:

Yes.

113 MR. LAMBERT:

Can I get Exhibit 204.

114 (Clerk hands Exhibit 204 to Counsel.)
115 Q:

(BY MR. LAMBERT) In this item of evidence that you then collected was the blood that you had heard about --

116 A:

Yes.

117 Q:

-- or seen before?

And let me show you this exhibit here, which is 204 in this case. It has different numbers on it.

See if you can tell from this if this appears to be the glove that you collected.

118 A:

Yes, it does.

119 Q:

Okay. Now, when you collected that glove, what did you package it in?

120 A:

I placed the glove in a paper bag.

121 Q:

And is that the process that you normally use for collecting that kind of an evidence item?

122 A:

Yes.

123 Q:

And after -- Let me ask you this.

When you collected this glove, where was it? Was it laying on the ground or was it on some other object?

124 A:

The glove was located at the south side of the house. It's not on that chart there, but if you were to walk past the driveway and south of the garage, on the bottom of that chart there, and continue towards your right (indicating to Exhibit 155), then that was where the glove was located.

125 Q:

Was it on the ground?

126 A:

Yes, it was.

127 Q:

Did -- could you describe to the jury, the -- well, its appearance when you saw it just before you collected it.

128 A:

The glove appeared to have red stains on it, and there was a slight glistening appearance to areas where the glove was -- or where the blood was.

KEY QUOTE
129 Q:

Is that -- does that glistening appear to you to be blood on the glove?

130 A:

Yes.

131 Q:

Let me ask you this: Based upon your experience, was that glove wet or dry at that time?

132 A:

It appeared dry to me.

133 Q:

Now, what time did you finish your collection of evidence at Rockingham that morning?

134 A:

We finished collecting evidence approximately 10 o'clock that morning at Rockingham.

135 Q:

Okay. When you finished the evidence collection, is there any step that you do before you go on to your next task?

136 A:

Before leaving Rockingham, we did an inventory of the evidence that we had collected to that point.

137 Q:

And you did do that in this case?

138 A:

Yes.

139 Q:

And what did you then do next?

140 A:

After that, we proceeded on to Bundy, the Bundy location.

141 Q:

And approximately what time did you arrive at the Bundy location?

142 A:

We arrived at Bundy at approximately 10:15 in the morning.

143 Q:

And what did you do when you arrived at Bundy?

144 A:

Upon arriving at Bundy, I had a briefing with Detective Lange.

145 Q:

And did Detective Lange give you a walk-through of that crime scene?

146 A:

Yes, he did.

147 Q:

Detective Lange was in charge of the Bundy crime scene, was he?

148 A:

Yes, he was.

149 Q:

Did Detective Lange point out to you any particular items of evidence that he wanted collected?

150 A:

Yes, he did.

He showed me keys, a pager, glove, and a cap in the caged area, and then there was a series of blood drops along the north side of the Bundy house.

151 Q:

And these blood drops that you described, what condition did they appear to you to be in?

152 A:

They --

153 MR. BLASIER:

Objection. No foundation.

154 THE COURT:

Overruled.

155 DENNIS FUNG:

The blood drops appeared to be fairly fresh, meaning that they were red and had a slight tacky appearance to them.

KEY QUOTE
156 MR. LAMBERT:

Let me change charts here a second, Your Honor.

157 (Counsel displays large board entitled blood drops at Bundy June 13, 1994.)
158 Q:

(BY MR. LAMBERT) And this chart which I put up, which is Exhibit No. 67 --

159 MR. BLASIER:

67?

160 MR. LAMBERT:

67, yes, sir.

161 Q:

(BY MR. LAMBERT) Does this chart represent the location of the blood drops that you saw that day at Bundy?

162 A:

If I may examine it.

163 Q:

Sure. Here's this pointer if you need it.

164 A:

Yes, it does.

165 Q:

Are these -- in these photographs, there are little cards with numbers next to them. What are those?

What do those numbers reflect?

166 A:

These numbers 112, 113, 114, 115, and 117, are photo identification numbers.

167 Q:

And when you got to Bundy that day, which number did you start with?

168 A:

I started with No. 100 or photo I.D. No. 100.

169 Q:

Why did you start with No. 100?

170 A:

I knew that the detectives were getting a search warrant for the Rockingham location, so I wanted to have consecutive numbers at that location; so I started with 100 at Bundy.

171 Q:

Okay. So then you could go back to Rockingham and add other numbers later?

172 A:

Right.

173 Q:

Now, this one here at the desk was this No. 117?

174 A:

Yes, it was.

175 Q:

And did you walk all the way back to the back of the house and see that particular blood drop?

176 A:

Yes, I did.

177 Q:

And how did it appear to you?

178 A:

It also appeared to be red, and have a tacky appearance to it.

179 Q:

Okay. All right.

You can take your seat again, if you will.

Now, did you collect these same -- were these same five -- excuse me.

Were these five blood drops collected using the same procedures that you used at Rockingham?

180 A:

Yes.

181 Q:

Did you -- was there substrate control obtained for these items, as well?

182 A:

Yes.

183 Q:

You also collected a couple of items that are -- let me start with number 41.

You know where item 41 was collected?

184 A:

Item 41 was collected from a -- from the dirt area which was by a tree stump.

185 Q:

And what was the purpose in collecting that item?

186 A:

That item had a red stain which was very near where the male victim was.

187 Q:

And how about item number 42? What was that item?

188 A:

Item 42 was also a red stain that was collected by the base of the stairs. And that was where the female victim was.

189 Q:

And these five blood drops up here in this chart, we showed their photo I.D. numbers. Can you tell us what the actual item numbers are for those drops that were ultimately assigned?

190 A:

Yes. Photo I.D. No. 112 became 47. Item 47.

Photo I.D. 113 became item 48.

Photo I.D. 114 became item 49.

Photo I.D. 115 became item number 50.

And photo I.D. 117 became item number 52.

191 Q:

Thank you.

In addition to collecting these items of blood evidence, did you also collect other items of evidence there at Bundy?

192 A:

Yes, I did.

193 Q:

Did you collect a glove?

194 A:

Yes, I did.

195 Q:

And a hat?

196 A:

Yes.

197 Q:

Now, when you were doing this collection of the evidence at Rockingham and Bundy you and Andrea Mazzola divide the responsibilities between you?

198 A:

We did not divide our responsibilities; we were working as a team.

However, I was in charge of the collection and I made the discretionary decisions as to what to collect and how to collect them.

199 Q:

Some of the actual, physical steps of doing the collection. Did you do some and Andrea Mazzola do some?

200 A:

Yes.

201 Q:

And in terms of -- Of taking measurements as to where things were located, did you do that yourself, or did you do that with Ms. Mazzola?

202 A:

I did that in conjunction with Ms. Mazzola.

203 Q:

Now, after collecting these items of evidence at Bundy, did you then do an inventory of the items?

204 MR. BLASIER:

Objection. Leading.

205 THE COURT:

Overruled.

206 DENNIS FUNG:

Yes, we did.

207 Q:

(BY MR. LAMBERT) And having done that, did you assure yourself that everything you had collected was in your possession?

208 A:

Yes, I did.

209 Q:

And having done that, what did you then do?

210 A:

After performing the inventory, we proceeded back to the Rockingham location.

211 Q:

And this was now to collect additional evidence from Rockingham?

212 A:

Yes.

213 MR. LAMBERT:

Let me show you one more board.

214 (Counsel displays board labeled Rockingham Biological Evidence.)
215 MR. LAMBERT:

This board, which is Exhibit number -- what exhibit number is this?

I'm sorry; I should have had that written down.

216 Q:

Does this board reflect evidence that you collected at Rockingham on your second trip --

217 A:

Yes.

218 Q:

-- to Rockingham?

219 A:

If I may examine it closer.

220 Q:

Please.

221 A:

Yes, it does.

222 Q:

Could you -- could you tell us what item 12 is, up at the top of the chart?

223 A:

Item 12 is a -- is two drops of what appear -- what turned out to be blood.

224 Q:

And what portion of the house was that collected from?

225 A:

That is in the foyer area of the front door.

226 Q:

Okay.

227 A:

The front entrance.

228 Q:

And that was collected on your second trip to Rockingham?

229 A:

Yes, it was.

230 Q:

What is item 13?

231 A:

Item 13 is a pair of socks that were located in the master bedroom.

232 Q:

And was that collected on your second trip to Rockingham?

233 A:

Yes, it was.

234 Q:

And when you collected the socks, how did you package them?

235 A:

Those were placed in a paper bag.

236 Q:

And then item 14, what is item 14?

237 A:

Item 14 is a red stain that was located in from the master bathroom.

238 Q:

And did you collect that item?

239 A:

Yes.

240 Q:

And were items 12 and 14 collected from the same way as you've described the other blood evidence?

241 A:

Yes.

242 Q:

Now, while you were -- when you were at Rockingham that day, did you also receive evidence item 17?

243 A:

Yes, I did.

244 Q:

And what is evidence item 17?

245 A:

Evidence item number 17 is a vial of reference blood from O.J. Simpson.

KEY QUOTE
246 Q:

And what -- Who delivered item 17 to you?

247 A:

That was delivered to me by Detective Vannatter.

248 Q:

And do you recall approximately at what time he delivered it to you?

249 A:

Yes. That was delivered to me at 5:20 in the afternoon.

250 Q:

While you were at Rockingham?

251 A:

While I was at Rockingham, yes.

252 Q:

And what did you do with evidence item 17 after you received it from Detective Vannatter?

253 A:

I put my initials and dated it, and then we brought it to the crime scene truck.

254 Q:

And after you finished this second time at Rockingham, what did you then do?

255 A:

We then proceeded to the crime laboratory to process the evidence and start drawing the blood evidence.

256 Q:

And the crime laboratory is located where, sir?

257 A:

The crime lab is located downtown, on 555 Ramirez Street.

258 Q:

And that's where you took all the evidence that you had collected?

259 A:

Yes.

260 Q:

And was there a particular portion of the crime laboratory that you took the evidence to?

261 A:

All the evidence was brought into the evidence processing room.

262 Q:

That's a room that's used for the purpose of processing evidence, obviously.

263 A:

Well, that's where we bring evidence after we've been out at a crime scene.

264 Q:

Is that room locked?

265 A:

Yes, it is.

266 Q:

And how did you gain access to it?

267 A:

I have a magnetic card that acts as a key.

268 Q:

Those are cards that people at Scientific Investigation Division have?

269 A:

Yes.

270 Q:

Now, you mentioned that there was some drying of the evidence at this time; is that right?

271 A:

Yes.

272 Q:

How do you go about drying the evidence?

How do you go about drying the evidence?

273 A:

Well, for the drying process of blood swatches, each item of evidence is handled individually, meaning one at a time.

First the substrate control is transferred from the bag into a labeled test tube, and then placed into the -- placed back into the coin envelope, and then the blood swatch is transferred from its plastic bag into a labeled test tube, and placed back into the coin envelope.

This is done until all the items of evidence that need to be handled in this manner are finished, and then they're put in a box and placed into a drying cabinet.

274 Q:

Now, you mentioned earlier that sometimes when you collect blood evidence, you use more than one swatch to do it.

275 A:

Yes.

276 Q:

When you have multiple swatches, how do you handle the drying of multiple swatches?

277 A:

I place the swatches in the test tube, much in the same manner as I do a single watch.

278 Q:

If you had multiple swatches, they would all go into one test tube?

279 A:

Yes.

280 Q:

Then they're left for the test tube together to dry?

281 A:

Yes.

282 Q:

And those are the procedures that you followed on that afternoon and evening for the blood evidence you collected at Rockingham and Bundy?

283 MR. BLASIER:

Objection leading.

284 THE COURT:

Sustained.

285 Q:

(BY MR. LAMBERT) Were those the procedures that you followed for all of the items of blood evidence that you had collected at Rockingham and Bundy?

286 A:

Yes.

287 Q:

Now, sir, on the morning of June 14, did you return to work that morning?

288 A:

On June 14? Yes.

289 Q:

Where did you go to work that morning?

290 A:

I returned to the crime laboratory.

291 Q:

And was there any further procedure that you did that morning in regard to the evidence that you'd collected at Rockingham and Bundy?

292 A:

Yes. At that point, I transferred the swatches from test tubes onto paper bindles.

293 Q:

And after you transferred the swatch from the test tube into the paper bindle, what do you do with the paper bindle?

294 A:

The paper bindles are labeled and placed back into the coin envelopes from which they came.

295 Q:

And do you do all of them at once, or do you do one at a time?

How do you process these bindles?

296 A:

Again, each item of evidence is handled one at a time. So you never have more than one, one item of evidence and its substrate control allotted more than one at a time.

297 Q:

So you put the evidence item into a bindle; it goes in the coin envelope. How about the control swatch? What happens to it?

298 A:

The control swatch also goes into its own bindle and then goes into its own -- or comes into the same item number from which it came.

299 Q:

And did you follow that procedure with all of the blood evidence that you'd collected at Bundy and Rockingham?

300 A:

Yes.

301 Q:

Now, at -- At the time you were doing this -- strike that.

When you completed this process of putting the swatches into bindles, did you then do anything else in connection with this investigation?

302 A:

I also went into the serology laboratory.

303 Q:

And what did you do there?

304 A:

I went in there to talk with Mr. Matheson, and Lieutenant Lange was there also, coincidentally.

305 Q:

And did you also talk with Colin Yamauchi at all?

306 A:

Yes.

307 MR. BLASIER:

Objection. Leading.

308 THE COURT:

Overruled.

309 DENNIS FUNG:

Yes, I did.

310 Q:

(BY MR. LAMBERT) At some point did you -- did you and Matheson and Yamauchi have a discussion of when what items of evidence you had checked would be sampled?

311 A:

Yes.

312 Q:

And did Mr. Yamauchi go about doing that sampling?

313 A:

Yes, he did.

314 Q:

Did he do all that after you completed your packaging process that you just described?

315 A:

Yes.

316 Q:

Now, later that morning, did you do any further collecting of the evidence?

317 A:

Yes, I did.

318 Q:

And what did you do in that regard?

319 A:

We also had to process the interior portion of the Bronco.

320 Q:

Where was the Bronco located?

321 A:

The Bronco was located across from Parker Center, which is 150 North Center.

322 Q:

And what particular location was the Bronco at?

323 A:

It was in a building we refer to as the print shed.

324 Q:

And when you arrived at the print shed, was it locked or unlocked?

325 A:

It was locked.

326 Q:

And how did you access it?

327 A:

I have a key.

328 Q:

And the Bronco was inside the print shed?

329 A:

Yes, it was.

330 Q:

Was it locked or unlocked?

331 A:

The Bronco was locked.

332 MR. LAMBERT:

This is Exhibit 211, Your Honor.

333 (Counsel displays Exhibit 211.)
334 Q:

(BY MR. LAMBERT) You said the Bronco was locked. How did you obtain access to the Bronco?

335 A:

I requested that a detective from burglary auto division come and slim-jim the door open.

336 Q:

And someone did that for you?

337 A:

Yes.

338 Q:

And you then had access to the Bronco?

339 A:

Yes.

340 Q:

And why don't you step down for a second with your pointer.

Is this exhibit -- does this Exhibit 211, the photographs up at the top and on the left, reflect the condition of the Bronco as you saw it on that day?

341 A:

Yes.

342 Q:

And those little cards that you see in the pictures are -- what do those reflect?

343 A:

Those reflect items of evidence which I collected.

344 Q:

Okay. Let's start with this one right here in the middle, 22 and 23. Would you describe what those are, please.

345 A:

22 is a blood stain on the interior of the driver door, and 23 is a blood stain in the well of the handle of the driver door.

346 Q:

23 is actually inside that little notch we see in the picture?

347 A:

Yes.

348 Q:

Was there also an item 21 that's not in the photograph?

349 A:

Yes. 21, you can see it right at the top of the -- of this picture. You just don't see the I.D. card, and it's right here.

350 Q:

Okay. And how about item 24? What is that item?

Can you see it from here?

351 A:

24 is a red stain that was on the dashboard area, next to the light switch.

352 (Indicating to card.)
353 Q:

(BY MR. LAMBERT) Item No. 33 up at the top, can you describe for us what that was, please.

354 A:

Item No. 33 was a red stain that had the appearance of a partial shoe print.

355 MR. BLASIER:

Objection. Foundation.

356 THE COURT:

Overruled.

357 Q:

(BY MR. LAMBERT) What did you do with that stain that appeared to have a shoe print on it?

358 A:

I cut out the entire carpet area of the floor, driver floorboard, and collected it.

359 Q:

Now, on the console portion of the Bronco, way over here to the right, you see items 31 and 30?

360 A:

Yes.

361 Q:

Did you collect items 31 and 30, as well?

362 A:

Yes, I did.

363 Q:

What were those?

364 A:

Those were red stains that were very light.

365 Q:

Did you collect all of the stains that were on the console?

366 A:

No; I collected a representative sample of them.

367 Q:

And how did you decide what was a representative sample?

368 A:

I collected one -- well, I collected a swatch that was darkened by it.

369 Q:

And how did you go about doing that?

370 A:

In the same method that I had described before.

371 Q:

Okay. So you collected one swatch from each of those areas by getting it dark with blood?

372 A:

Yes.

373 Q:

Were these evidence items that you collected from the Bronco automobile then taken back and dried in the manner you previously described?

374 A:

Yes.

375 Q:

Were they later then packaged in the manner you described?

376 A:

Yes.

377 Q:

And the big carpet that was cut out, item No. 33, what did you do with that piece of evidence?

378 A:

That I placed in a paper bag and booked it to be frozen.

379 Q:

So it was handled a little bit differently than the swatches were handled?

380 A:

Yes.

381 Q:

Now, let me see the property reports.

I'd like to show you some property reports which are Exhibit 141.

Temperature

procedural

Key Quotes (4)

Dennis Fung
The blood drops appeared to be fairly fresh, meaning that they were red and had a slight tacky appearance to them.
Fung's characterization of the Bundy blood drops as 'fairly fresh' supports the prosecution/plaintiff timeline that the blood was deposited the night of the murders.
Dennis Fung
The glove appeared to have red stains on it, and there was a slight glistening appearance to areas where the glove was -- or where the blood was.
Fung's description of the Rockingham glove as appearing moist/glistening was heavily contested in the criminal trial and remains significant to chain of custody arguments.
Dennis Fung
Evidence item number 17 is a vial of reference blood from O.J. Simpson... That was delivered to me by Detective Vannatter... at 5:20 in the afternoon.
The time Vannatter delivered Simpson's blood reference sample to Fung is a critical chain-of-custody detail — defense argued blood was missing from the vial and used to plant evidence.
Dennis Fung
I was in charge of the collection and I made the discretionary decisions as to what to collect and how to collect them.
Fung clearly claims supervisory responsibility over Mazzola, relevant to later challenges about collection procedures and contamination.

Evidence (15)

Exhibit 155
Board showing evidence items collected at Rockingham
displayed and discussed
Exhibit 204
Right-hand glove recovered from south side of Rockingham
identified by Fung
Exhibit 67
Chart showing location of blood drops at Bundy, June 13, 1994
displayed and discussed
Exhibit 211
Photographs of Bronco interior showing blood stain locations
displayed and discussed
Exhibit 141
Property reports
introduced (examination ongoing at transcript end)
Informal
Items 1, 4-8: Blood drops collected at Rockingham (door of Bronco, street, driveway, near house entrance)
described and located
+ 9 more

Notable Exchanges (3)

Tom LambertRobert BlasierHiroshi Fujisaki
Blasier repeatedly objects to Lambert's leading questions about whether Vannatter pointed out specific evidence items during the walk-through; two sustained rulings force Lambert to rephrase, though Fung's answers remain substantively the same.
strategic
Tom LambertDennis Fung
Fung explains that he received Simpson's blood vial (item 17) from Vannatter at 5:20pm at Rockingham — establishing the precise time of transfer that would become a focal point of tampering allegations.
revealing
Tom LambertDennis Fung
Fung clarifies that he and Mazzola did not divide responsibilities but worked as a team, with himself making all discretionary decisions about what and how to collect — clearly preempting cross-examination challenges about Mazzola's unsupervised handling.
strategic

Objections

10 objections (4 sustained, 6 overruled)
Proceeding 8138 • 381 utterances • Defense witness
Civil Trial
Department 103
⚖️ Start
📂 NOV 4, 1996 📄 Direct examination of Dennis F
NOV 4, 1996 KRT DvH TD