All right. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Please be seated. The record should reflect we've been rejoined by all the members of our jury panel. And Dr. Robert Huizenga is again on the witness stand. Mr. Kelberg.
Doctor, during the recess, did you count the number of abrasions that you identified on the left hand or wrist area of Mr. Simpson?
Now, doctor, you said that Mr. Simpson told you he got these injuries in Chicago; is that correct?
Doctor, I want you to assume that there's been testimony received in this case that blood that was genetically tested and found to match Mr. Simpson's was found in the foyer and driveway areas of Mr. Simpson's home--
That there has been testimony received that tests have been performed on what appear to be blood samples from the foyer and driveway area of Mr. Simpson's Rockingham estate, that in the opinion of expert witnesses, that the genetic characteristics of those drops are identical to the characteristics of Mr. Simpson and therefore they form the opinion--
--that the experts have formed an opinion that the blood is consistent genetically with Mr. Simpson's. Okay?
And further, that Mr. Simpson left Los Angeles to go to Chicago sometime after 11 o'clock in the evening of June 12th and did not return to Los Angeles until sometime after officers from the Los Angeles Police Department observed such blood in the foyer and driveway area of Mr. Simpson's estate and had it collected for purposes of the subsequent testing that I've asked you to assume was done and opinions formed as a result; and that also, testimony has been received from Mr. Kaelin, Kato Kaelin, that he had observed this before Mr. Simpson returned from Chicago to his Rockingham estate.
That Mr. Kaelin had observed this blood in this area of the estate before Mr. Simpson returned from Chicago.
Doctor, in your opinion, would the kind of cuts that you observed in Mr. Simpson's hand, left hand, be the kind of cuts that can leave blood drops?
KEY QUOTEAnd in fact, is the hand one of the most vascular, that is full of little blood vessels, areas of the human body?
And, doctor, assuming that Mr. Simpson by saying that he injured his hand by breaking glass was referring to an injury in Chicago on June 13th, do you have any information on how such blood, if it is in fact Mr. Simpson's, could have been left on the Rockingham foyer and driveway on June 12th?
Doctor, is your findings with respect to those cuts such that those cuts could be the source for blood droppings left by Mr. Simpson in his foyer and driveway on June 12th, 1994 before he left for Chicago?
Objection, your Honor. Assumes so many facts, it's so speculative as to the size of drops, the amount of drops--
Doctor, how much blood, if you have an opinion, would you expect such cuts in this highly vascular area of the hand to produce?
When you slash a finger, basically what happens is, you've got this outer layer, the epithelium, which is maybe a millimeter, which is, you know, somewhere between a 32nd and a 16th of an inch. There's no blood vessels there. Then you go to the tissue right underneath. And of course, in the fingers, you know, unlike the rest of our body, you don't have that much tissue between the outside and the bone. So basically the dermis is going to be compressed somewhat. But you've got different layers. You've got the superficial layer of the dermis where there's going to be smaller vessels, although they're anastomosing. You've got the deeper vessels. And occasionally, even you have connections between the artery system and the venous system because that's why the hands, when you're very cold, can get cold because the body says I don't want to lose any heat through evaporation and you'll shunt blood. So you can occasionally cut a vein that even bleeds a little bit like an artery was what I was trying to say. So it's totally dependent on the depth of the cuts and it's sometimes a haphazard sort of thing. You know, the veins wind through. I think it's quite variable, but certainly cuts of this nature could bleed significantly. Again, in my personal experience in working emergency rooms, I never see people cut themselves and then just let it bleed. You know, I'll see somebody where they cut themselves and they come in with a dish rag around their finger. But again, with cuts that don't appear absolutely dissimilar, you know, you can stain a dish cloth or something of that nature. Absolutely. So I would say many drops.
KEY QUOTEAnd in the healing process, is it accurate that there can be something called a temporary clot that initially takes place in an effort to stop the bleeding?
Of course. You know, once you cut the veins or even if you happen upon an artery, the initial mechanism of clotting is that the platelets form a plug, and that plug then gets aided because the plug releases certain mediators and then the fibrin comes in which intercrosses and strengthens that plug. That is something that essentially happens relatively quickly. On the other hand, if it's on a joint or some other area, it may bleed longer with movement.
And that was my next question. That you can have a temporary clot and then with movement of the hand, for example, such as Mr. Simpson's left hand, you can reopen what is that cut with the temporary clot, correct?
And you can have a rebleed and then it will temporarily clot again, and hopefully at some point, the permanent mechanism of healing will have enough opportunity to take hold, then you'll have no further bleeding; is that correct.
Your Honor, we just had a lengthy hypothetical and no question. Move to strike all those questions and ask the jury to disregard the implication.
Now, your Honor, I do have a video. I'd ask that this be marked--I think we're at 520?
It's entitled, "Playboy Entertainment Group Inc., OJ Quad split, tape 1," and I have cued it hopefully to the area where I wish to start the tape, and I'll ask Mr. Fairtlough if he could, please.
For the doctor, yes. I do ask, doctor, if you'll please watch this. And as an offer of proof, doctor, I want you to assume this is Mr. Simpson engaging in activities that are being filmed for the purposes of an exercise video, that the filming is taking place around the 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th of May 1994, sometime a little over two and a half weeks, three weeks by the time we get to your examination of June 15th, but a little over two and a half weeks before the date of the murders, June 12th, 1994. So these are going to be repeated segments, that is, they reshot it multiple times. There will be a timer on it. I'll ask you to just follow as the videotape is played.
And, your Honor, when it's first shown, if we could get the--stop it for one second. That it had a time of 15:17 I believe it's 01.
All right. We've stopped it at 15:54. All right. Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to take our recess for the day. We have a 4 o'clock dentist appointment for one of our jurors today. So we're going to have to break at 4:00 today. Please remember all my admonitions to you; don't discuss the case amongst yourselves, form any opinions about the case, don't deliberate until the matter has been submitted to do, don't allow anybody to communicate with you with regard to the case. We'll stand in recess until 9 o'clock tomorrow morning. Dr. Huizenga, tomorrow morning, 9 o'clock. All right. We're in recess.
When you slash a finger, basically what happens is, you've got this outer layer, the epithelium... So I would say many drops.
Seven.
Doctor, in your opinion, would the kind of cuts that you observed in Mr. Simpson's hand, left hand, be the kind of cuts that can leave blood drops?
That is possible.