Primarily, the nature of the injuries, the injury in the left flank was one that would have been incapacitating in very, very short time because what it did -- What it caused is a near immediate fall of the blood pressure, which means that because the blood oozes out from the circulation in the body, from the blood circulation in the body, there is not enough blood to reach the brain.
A person loses ability to stand up, loses ability to think, becomes woozy and in very short order, becomes disabled.
The rest of the injuries, the superficial injuries in the fight, you have to understand that many of these injuries occurred together in one movement. There is a lot of movement in this kind of a situation.
And when the knife is wielded there and you use it to stab, there may be a superficial injury in one place, the victim moves, and sustains a second and a third injury by the same wielding of the knife.
So, yeah, there are a number of -- or a significant number of superficial injuries and four or five other deep wounds. But as the deep wound is inflicted, there is a scrape, a scraping of the tip of the knife causing superficial cuts in other places, and then the thrust, which penetrates.
So you have to understand that there is not a lapse of time between wounds. It all goes in one context.
(BY MR. MEDVENE) Would you, with the Court's permission, would like to approach the chart and please tell me what the chart depicts?
I'm going to move to strike as nonresponsive and ask the Court have him answer the question.
The chart depicts or the chart shows a cut through the middle of the body. The middle of the body in the area of the stab wound in the left flank.
In other words, here is the tab wound of the left flank. This chart shows the body cut through this area, and we are looking down on the cut. And what it shows, is that the abdominal cavity, the abdomen, the belly, is divided into two compartments.
The front compartment, which is shown in green, contains the liver, the stomach, the small and large intestines, but not the kidneys and not the adrenal glands and not the aorta. And not the vertebral column. The vertebral column is behind --
Where "L" is. "L" stands for lumbar because it's the lumbar level of the vertebral column. This is a vertebral body. And there's muscle on each side of the vertebral body.
And the stab wound goes through the muscle and into the aorta and through the aorta.
It goes into the aorta, makes a half-inch cut and comes out of the aorta, makes another half-inch cut.
And the tip of the blade, which already I said earlier in the morning, that one of the wounds I believe in Ronald Brown (sic) --
I'm sorry, Ron Goldman was made by the tip of the blade. So it is a knife with a tip. The tip of the blade, just the tip pierces or enters the sac, the membrane of the sac -- the wall of the sac that contains the organs in the front compartment causing a small amount of injury, causing a small amount of bleeding.
That accounts for three ounces of blood in this large cavity which contains the intestine and the liver and the large intestine.
Except if there's an injury. When the aorta was injured, you can see the aorta is in the white area, not in the abdominal cavity, in the other compartment which contains the vertebral body, the kidneys, and the aorta.
The aorta is situated to the left of the vertebral column.
The wound track from the left flank into the aorta was measured at five and a half inches. It goes through the muscle.
The track from the line of the knife, through the tissues, from the entrance into the flank until it pierced the aorta.
All this space here lined the sac containing the organs, was filled with blood because the aorta seized the aorta, when the damage causes the bleeding into this area.
This area behind the front compartment contained quarts of blood. Liters of blood.
This area meaning the area where the knife has gone through the aorta, comes out of the aorta on the other side and the tip of the knife pierces the membrane, which is call the peritoneum.
This whole area here, in medical language is called the peritoneal cavity because it is surrounded by a membrane called the peritoneum.
All the blood accumulated in the back compartment, in the compartment behind the peritoneum called the retroperitoneal compartment that is what this white area is, which also contains the vertebral column, the aorta, the muscles along the spine, along the vertebral column.
No. The chest cavity has a few -- has maybe a fifth of an ounce of fluid that is there to lubricate the surface, but contains no blood.
In terms of the chest cavity, does it generally have blood or you're talking about in this particular case?
The chest cavity has no blood. There is no free blood anywhere in the body except if there is an injury to a blood vessel.
Now, you mentioned and explain to us the hundred milliliters to 200 in the abdominal cavity?
How about the jugular vein? You had mentioned earlier that there was some cutting in the jugular vein area?
Your Honor, can we go back to question and answer forum like we've done for years in court?
(BY MR. MEDVENE) Yes, sir. Would -- is the bleeding from the jugular vein similar to, or different than bleeding from the carotid artery that you described, that was slashed of Nicole Brown?
The carotid artery being an artery that has a lot of pressure, the heart -- can I make a drawing?
I'm not much of an artist. This is going to be very crude.
Here is the heart. The heart has two sides, the right side and the left side. The left side of the heart generates the aorta. The wall of the left side of the heart is thick. This is the wall of the left side of the heart.
When the heart pumps, it squeezes, which when it squeezes again, it has to loosen up, then it squeezes again.
When the heart pumps, it pushes blood on, under great pressure into the aorta. From the aorta, all the blood vessels to the body run off.
The blood has to come back to the heart in order to be ejected by the aorta. It comes back by way of the veins.
The veins, whereas the arteries run from the heart, the veins run to the heart.
The wall on the right side of the heart is very thin because there is no need for a lot of pumping because the blood comes back from the head and neck area into the heart by gravity.
And in the lower extremities and the abdomen and chest, it comes back because when the heart pumps and squeezes, the blood gets pushed out. But when it relaxes, it creates a vacuum and that sucks the blood back.
Veins suck, arteries eject under great pressure.
Therefore, the pressure in the jugular vein is very, very low. In fact, it can be as low as zero because there is no need for pressure from the head and neck. It runs down by gravity.
So there is -- When the jugular vein is cut, the bottom part of the jugular vein sucks. The top dribbles out, dribbles down.
Very little of outward bleeding for two reasons.
First of all, there's no pressure. There's some outward trickle maybe, but furthermore, I understand that there is tissue over the jugular vein, muscle, fat, skin.
And I realize that the muscles are cut, but there not being any pressure when the trickle occurs, the trickle would not bleed outward but bleed inward, if at all.
Is there any description in the autopsy report of a large amount of blood in the soft tissue of the neck or the chest?
No. There's no description. There's description that there is blood along the wound track, but no blood anywhere else.
Any photographs to indicate the swelling, or evidence of swelling, showing large amounts of blood in the soft tissue?
No. There are abundant pictures of the neck and chest area and there is no swelling seen anywhere, nor is there a discoloration seen.
Is the cause of death in this case a large amount of blood that came from a jugular vein then?
No. There's only one cause of death here and the cause of death here is the cut -- cuts in the aorta.
KEY QUOTEHow long before Mr. Goldman would become incapacitated and die if he received the two stab wounds that you describe to the aorta?
Mr. Goldman would have been incapacitated and collapsed as he bleed. He's unconscious. He's still bleeding, his heart is still trying to contract weaker and weaker and weaker.
It may take him several minutes to die, but he is dying from the moment the aorta is cut.
KEY QUOTEIs there, in your opinion, because of the nature of the bleeding you described, a likelihood of much blood, if any, going on to the assailant?
No.
Because Mr. Goldman did not bleed externally to a great extent.
The bleeding in the thigh bled into the pants, and stained the pants. There is some bleeding from the other wounds, and possibly there is some blood coming out on the knife as it is withdrawn between stab wounds. But that doesn't necessarily come on the assailant.
And if it does, there would be splatters and not tremendous large amounts of bleeding. This bleeding from the aorta is within tissue of the back, the compartment of the abdominal area.
Let me move to a different area.
We would mark the drawing, Your Honor, as next in order, which I believe is 2160.
Yes. I'm of the opinion that all of the injuries of both victims could have been inflicted by one individual, by a single individual.
First of all, I base that on the fact that the injuries on Nicole took 15 seconds or less. And when I say 15 seconds, I'm being very generous with time. I think probably less.
Once she was cut in the throat, they -- she was inactive. She was collapsed. Instantaneously, immediately. The nature and the locations of the wounds is, for practical purposes, the same or very similar in both people.
Having said that my opinion is that one assailant caused these two -- The injuries in both people.
A single edge knife is a knife that has a sharp edge on one side and not the other. The other side is blunt.
A double edged knife is one that has a sharp edge on one side and a sharp edge on the other. That would be a knife that is sometimes referred to as stiletto would sometimes be referred to as a stiletto-type knife.
Dr. Spitz, you discussed the altercation, the fight between the assailant and the two victims. Would the assailant, in your opinion, have any injuries on his person or marks on his person as a result of the struggle?
In the course of the struggle, there is holding of the victims, each one from the back where the victim, obviously being unarmed and capacity -- and rendered incapacitated by the hold, trying to get away. During this holding, the victim one or the other, or both, tried to remove the arm and hand from the hold.
During -- and this is a desperate attempt on the part of the victim.
During this desperate attempt, injuries from fingernails are likely to be inflicted to the -- holding the extremity, to the hold of the assailant.
(BY MR. MEDVENE) Photo of Mr. Simpson's finger. Can you look at that photograph that we've stated, for the record, was taken June 13, some time in the afternoon and tell us what you observed?
I observed the middle finger with an injury over the -- roughly, middle of the finger which oozes which is swollen, as evident from the highlights around and from the general appearance of swelling. And there is some discoloration and there is some blood around from this injury.
And there is a second injury in this area here.
Yes. And there is a second injury which is not terribly well visible on this picture, but it's very well visible on the picture that you handed me. Here, in this area, there's a second injury.
But it's on the finger. It's right here. There's one injury here, there's one injury here and there is something here, which I'm not quite certain of, but is an injury -- this is an injury and both are in my judgment fingernail marks.
This is the picture that was originally shown to me, and it shows the same that 187 shows, except it's out of focus and shows it less well.
All right. There was reference made yesterday to exhibit 714 and 715 and, Steve, would you -- would you put on the board, number 9 from, I believe, 715.
Shown yesterday, I believe, during Dr. Huizenga's testimony.
I'm going to place a copy of that in front of you, placing four pictures in front of you. First one is, I believe, number 9. You can look on the back and I ask you, if you would, look on the TV monitor, tell us what marks, if any, you observe.
Let's start with that and then what I'm going to ask you to do, is circle those marks on the exhibit, the colored laser print that's in front of you.
On the monitor and then circle what I've talked about on the picture on the -- on the -- on this ticket (indicating)?
Your Honor, this is the same picture he just talked about. This is cumulative, sir.
And they show less swelling and more detail of the wounds. Because the swelling has subsided and the wounds are not oozing any more.
The detail of the wounds is noticeable to a much better -- in a much better way. What you are seeing is the wounds on the inside on the -- on the outside of the finger. And the wounds over the middle joint of the finger, which is what I described earlier. Both wounds now are much more explicit with regards to being fingernail marks.
You see the curvature on both, which is compatible with the curvature of the fingernail and they -- the location of these wounds on the hand is the result of this hand being exposed to the victim's hand when the removal -- attempt to remove this hand was in progress.
(BY MR. MEDVENE) Going to display quickly on the screen what you marked, and ask for the record, if those are the places where you say there were fingernail marks.
Yes, sir. Let's go, if we can, to another photo introduced yesterday, number 13, I believe, of 715. Is this a different mark than we previously observed or you previously talked about on 2162?
Those are, again, you'll have the curvature here. You'll have the raggedness of the edge of the -- raggedness of the edge here. You have a piece of tissue hanging out of this one.
No. Those are not cuts. These are injuries that were caused by -- not by sharp force, but by semi-blunt force.
We'll mark it 2163. Would you be good enough to circle on what you have, I believe it's 13, in front of you and could you also initial it, please?
Thank you. Could you put on the screen, may we mark this 2163, Your Honor? j.
Would you put 2163 on the board, please.
I'm sorry, let me put back on the TV screen, the monitor, 2162.
And I ask you if what you have marked there in your picture, those marks could have been caused by a glass cut?
These are not sharp injuries. These are not caused by a glass and these are not caused by a knife.
If we can -- thank you.
If we can go now to number 8 of 715.
Another picture of Mr. Simpson's finger that was shown yesterday.
Yes. There are two gouges. Gouges mean, where the upper layer of the skin has been scooped out and it's gone. On both, here in the front, which is the inner aspect of the base of the left index finger on my hand. This would be right there.
This one is on the rib of the thumb, which is where I'm showing now (indicating to his own hand).
These two are scooped out gouges by fingernail marks. They are typical for that.
Would you be good enough, mark on the laser print before you, what we've marked as 2164, the inner nail marks that you described.
Put that up and identify, for purposes of the record, what those marks are, the ones that you described. Are those the marks?
Are there any photographs you -- Strike that.
You have talked earlier about a text that you edited and wrote?
And have you -- strike that.
We'll put on the board -- put on the board what's been marked 1973.
Wait a minute. I'm going to object to this. Take that off the screen. I want to approach.
Veins suck, arteries eject under great pressure.
There's only one cause of death here and the cause of death here is the cut -- cuts in the aorta.
Both wounds now are much more explicit with regards to being fingernail marks. You see the curvature on both, which is compatible with the curvature of the fingernail.
It may take him several minutes to die, but he is dying from the moment the aorta is cut.