Okay. We left off with the slides that you created from the hair and trace you recovered from item no. 38, the ski cap.
Okay. Can you tell us which of the slides are the ones that contain the hair and fiber from the ski cap, no. 38?
The top row of six slides, all of those, and on the bottom row, the first four from left to right, and then the last two from left to right in the lower right-hand corner of the screen, those two were from the other cap, item no. 27.
I packaged the 11 slides in a single slide mailer. It happens to be a blue plastic slide mailer, and that's in the lower right-hand corner of this overhead.
All right. And for the record, your Honor, she's now looking at the photograph that comes from the board no. 436 for item no. 113.
All right. Now, when you mounted those hairs onto the slide, those were hairs that you recovered--you took out of the bindles you had created on a previous day, correct?
But the bindles--the items you had collected in the bindles you had collected on the 21st?
Okay. And you had notations on some of those bindles as to how many hairs were contained in them?
When you took them out and mounted them on the slides, I believe you indicated to us that was in permount, correct?
Did you change the number reflected on the bindle that you had initially put on there for the number of hairs it contained when you put them on the slides?
I made a notation on each bindle that I mounted "X" number on--in permount, and for each bindle, you know, that "X" was different.
Okay. Did you indicate that--did you change the number of hairs that should be found inside the bindle when you did that?
I don't believe I changed the number. I just made a note that so many hairs from that total number were mounted in permount.
Okay. So that if the bindle you initially had say had--there was one bindle we showed on the board that says "Seven blond hairs," for example?
If you took--that was put on there when you first collected that from the cap, correct?
That was put on in one of the water exams, when I performed one of the water exams.
And then on the date--on this date, on the 27th, when you actually mounted the hairs from that bindle onto slides in permount where they would stay--
--did you change that number, the seven blond hairs to show zero blond hairs or however many were remaining in the bindle?
No. I believe I noted on that particular one that all hairs were mounted in permount.
So that when that particular bindle that said "Seven blond hairs" from the ski cap were mounted on to permount and you carried everything to the FBI, that particular bindle would be empty?
All right. Was there also--for the exterior of the cap, was there one bindle marked four dark brown to black hairs?
Did you change the number of hairs that you put on the bindle when they were originally counted by you?
No. Again, I didn't change the number. I just made a notation on the bindle that in that case, I believe three hairs were mounted in permount, one with the root still remained in the bindle.
Okay. All right. So for the hairs that were no longer in the bindle that had been counted and noted on the bindle, they were now preserved permanently in slides?
After completing the mounting of the hair and fiber recovered from the exterior of the cap on slides and permount, did you examine hairs from the interior of the cap?
And before doing that, before changing paper and gloves, did you examine the paper to see if there was any remaining hair or trace on it?
And did you examine your gloves to see if there was any remaining hair and trace on it?
With respect to the interior of the cap, after you examined the hairs--well, actually before. What did you do with the bindle that went to the interior of the cap hairs? Did you mount any of those?
I--working at a work station where we have that stereomicroscope, the low-power microscope, I had a piece of white paper underneath the microscope. I removed the bindle from the interior of the cap, from the paper--I removed the paper bindle from the coin envelope, opened the bindle under the microscope and observed the hairs, separating those without roots from those with roots and I mounted the hairs that did not have roots permanently in permount.
Now, how many slides did you mount from the exterior trace and fiber and hair from the cap?
Umm, from the exterior, there were a total of seven that were mounted on slides by me.
Umm, let me just look here. Exterior--from the exterior, there were five slides.
After you completed the mounting--again, the mounting process, was is the same as you earlier described to us from the exterior?
After you completed the mounting of the six slides where the hairs were recovered from the interior of the cap, did you examine hairs from the--that you recovered from the cap that you found in the Bronco, item no. 27?
By the time--now, when you were--when you went to open the bindle containing the hair and fiber recovered from the cap from the Bronco, where was--where were the slides and the bindles that you had earlier been working with regarding the ski cap, item no. 38?
The bindles were--had already been placed back into the coin envelope and the coin envelope back into the analyzed evidence envelope, clean paper was placed down and then item 20--well, the hairs that were removed from the other cap, item 27, that coin envelope was taken out, opened up on that white paper, and the paper bindle was removed and then I mounted hairs--the hairs without roots from that paper bindle in the same manner looking at them under the stereoscope, mounting those without the roots on two slides.
Now, when you got to--strike that. All right. When you completed the mounting on June the 27th, what did you do with the remaining analyzed evidence envelope containing the coin envelopes which contained the bindles and all the slides that you created? Where did you put all that stuff?
Umm, we actually have a tray, a cardboard tray with little cutouts the shape of slides in this tray. It's about--about the size of a legal--a legal pad of paper, you know, about this size (Indicating).
It's about legal size. Yes. 8-1/2 by 14. That's about right. And it holds 20 slides. And again, it has little cutouts to hold slides, and I had them all in one of those.
It's--it has--it has the cutouts for the slides. There's two rows of 10 and then it has two little flaps that fold over and cover those surfaces.
On June 29th, did you book all of these items of hair and trace recovered from the gloves and the cap and the ski hat?
Let me just check. Yes, I did. That's when I acquired those property numbers, 110 through 113, and I booked them and basically checked them right back out again because I was still working on them a little bit.
What physically happened is that I basically assigned a number, those numbers 110 through 113 to the hairs and fibers removed from those four items, 9, 27, 37 and 38, and I write a report, a property report, which lists each of those items and what they're removed from and turn that into our evidence control unit. They list these as next in order as far as booked evidence. And I have the analyzed evidence envelope. At that point, they put a bar code on that analyzed evidence envelope. And basically, since I wanted it back, they scan it in with a bar code reader and they scan it right back out to me.
Now, on June 30th, did you examine the hairs and fibers that you had removed from the Bundy and Rockingham gloves?
The next day, on June the 30th, did you take out the envelopes that contained--the coin envelopes that contained the bindles holding the hairs and fibers from the Bundy and Rockingham gloves?
And how is it--what was the manner in which you examined the hair and fiber recovered from the gloves on that day?
On that day, I was back to doing water mounts again, and I mounted them in water and made observations on what I observed and wrote a report to that effect.
When you completed your examination of the contents of the bindle, did you place it back into that bindle?
Yes. I folded the bindle in that trifold method that I described earlier and then placed the bindle back into the coin envelope.
And did you do that--did you close everything up in that manner before moving on to the next bindle in each instance?
On July 12, 1994, did you collect the exemplar, that is a hair sample from the Defendant?
Yes. Umm, basically collecting an exemplar, what we call an exemplar or a representative hair sample from any person involves collecting hairs from all areas of that person's head. You don't simply go up to a person and yank a handful of hairs. It doesn't work that way. What an exemplar is is a representative sample. So if somebody was to yank a handful of hairs from my head right here (Indicating), they would be missing a whole lot of really long hairs that are in the back. So that's the whole idea of getting a representative sample. You want to get hairs from the front of the head, top of the head, the back of the head and both sides so you cover all the different hair types that might be on a person's head. Different people, their hair may show a lot of variation. So it's really important to get a representative sample. What I did with Mr. Simpson is just that. He was seated at a table, and I laid out a large white paper bindle in front of him, and using a comb, I combed through his hair, getting a lot of loose hairs from all areas of his head, those areas that I named, the front, the top, the back and both sides, and also gently just pulling, you know, grasping some hairs between my fingers and pulling, getting some hairs that way also. It's important in a representative sample that you do get the roots as well. So we don't cut hair samples. We do pull them and comb them. And once I collected an adequate sample, I folded that paper bindle, observing it, making sure there was nothing on the bindle on the exterior, anything that might get inside, folded it up, placed it into a--a--kind of like a coin envelope, but a little larger, just a manila envelope along with the comb that I used and then I sealed that envelope. Actually I didn't seal it at that time. I sealed it a little bit later, but placed that into an analyzed evidence envelope that I had and went back to the lab.
Okay. Now, prior to the date of July the 12th, you did not--you had not collected any hairs from the head of Mr. Simpson, correct?
And as of June the 12th, had you already collected the hair and the trace and the fiber from the ski cap, the cap found in the Bronco and both gloves?
And so--and those--that hair and fiber was already sealed up and locked away in your locker at the time you went to collect the Defendant's hairs on July the 12th?
I show you a photograph that is already on the chain board marked 436 for item no. 122. All right. Do you recognize that item?
Umm, yes. On the left is the analyzed evidence envelope that I placed this item into. In the middle is that laboratory envelope I was kind of having trouble describing, and on the far right in the lower left or lower right corner is that large paper bindle that I described, and that actually contains the hairs that I removed from his head.
Okay. And the laboratory envelope that you placed the bindle into, how did you close that?
Umm, at the time I collected it, I just folded over the flap and placed it into the analyzed evidence envelope that I was carrying and took it back to the laboratory and--
Well, I--I was working--should I explain a little? I felt it necessary to count the hairs because of the court order that I was working under had a ceiling number of the number of hairs I was supposed to collect. So I took everything back to the laboratory and under a stereomicroscope, laid out white paper, opened up the bindle and counted the hairs that were in this bindle. They totaled 93. And I closed the bindle back up, replaced it into the laboratory envelope. I then sealed that envelope, placed that into the analyzed evidence envelope and I sealed that envelope and I made the notations--before placing everything, I made notations on the envelopes as to the item number, which was 122. And then once it was sealed, I took it to our evidence control unit, wrote a report and booked it into property, and then it was stored in the evidence control unit from that point on.
Okay. Can we zoom in on the analyzed evidence envelope? All right. And there on the top portion of the envelope, you see the identifying information you've just described for us with the item no. 122?
Can we drop down? Move over. All right. In the lower right-hand corner of the laboratory envelope, do you see a date and time?
That's the date and time that I placed on the envelope at the time I collected the sample from Mr. Simpson, 7-12-94, and the time, 9:50 A.M.
Now, when you took the--took the item--took the sample back to your lab for the purpose of counting the hairs, did you make sure to go into a clean area?
Were there any other items of evidence from this case around at the time that you did that?
Were there any other items of hair or trace that had already been collected from the evidence items in this case at the time that you did that?
Now, after you had the--both the laboratory envelope and the analyzed evidence envelope sealed, okay, you said you booked it?
All right. On July 22nd, did you examine the piece of carpet marked as item no. 33?
It was--as I first observed it, it was wrapped in white paper and sealed with that brown tape.
Umm, I cut--cut the packaging material and removed it from inside over a clean piece of white paper wearing gloves.
Okay. You read my mind. And what did you do with it? What kind of examination did you perform?
Umm, I was asked to look at it with two other people, Collin Yamauchi and John Taggert, our lab photographer, and tried to assist them--well, mostly assist John in photographing a bloody area on that carpet that was--well, it was there. They wanted it documented using different light sources to see if they could enhance what appeared to be a print area in blood using various light sources.
Okay. Showing you again photograph no. 441 that was previously marked, if you could tell us if you see the area--we've already printed this out. Is this the area you've talking about that we've previously circled and initialed?
Yes. In the upper left-hand corner of just where the rubber mat area meets the carpet in that area was a what appeared to be like a bloody print of some sort.
Repackaged it, put it back into the packaging that we had removed it from, taped up the openings that we had made in the package and then returned it to the box in the serology freezer which we had taken it out of.
Okay. And when you wrapped it up again, was it completely enclosed in the paper and the tape?
I believe it was--it was rolled like--it seems like it was kind of a burrito, kind of rolled over twice, you know, the two ends were kind of rolled over. It was not flat, but I don't remember if it was like in half like a taco or kind of three times like a burrito. Bad analogy. I'm sorry.
Okay. When it was folded that way, was it folded so that the carpet side was on the inside or on the outside?
Did you examine any of the item--any of the bindles containing hair and trace that were in your locker on that day?
Were any of the other items of evidence taken out of their respective bags or packaging in the presence of that piece of carpet?
And did you even open any of the other--any of the bindles you had created containing hair and trace on that day?
Now, directing your attention to July 27th, on that date, did you examine clothing that had been recovered from the bodies of Ronald Goldman and Nicole Brown?
It was taken from the serology freezer. It had been stored there in a box, and we--Collin and I together examined these items in the serology lab, not in the trace lab.
Umm, probably a few reasons, but mainly because the box had been stored in serology. They had an empty work bench and that's where we worked. But in addition, if possible, it's nice to examine clothing items from a victim in a separate--completely separate location than say items found at a crime scene or--I think that's what I want to say.
All right. Now, how were the--how were the items of clothing for Ronald Goldman and Nicole Brown packaged when you recovered them from the serology freezer?
Umm, each item of clothing was individually packaged in a paper bag which had been folded over and taped closed, and each of those paper bags was inside of a larger box marked to contain those items.
Umm, I examined--excuse me--item no. 79, which are the blue jeans from Ronald Goldman. I examined those first.
All right. And before you began the examination, was it the usual preparations, clean paper, clean gloves, lab coat?
And what method did you use to examine the jeans of Ronald Goldman for hair and trace evidence?
Umm, I began by the same method that I had used for the other items picking off what I could observe, but I also in this case used a large spatula to actually scrape the items down at least for the blue jeans and for an item I examined later, the shirt, because they were very heavily soiled with debris, be it blood, dirt, plant debris and hairs and fibers. They were very heavily soiled with those items. So I used the scraping method in addition to that picking off method.
Umm, no. In this case, I used a stainless steel spatula. It's just like a spatula you might use in your kitchen, a large flat blade about 10, 12 inches long with a wooden handle on the end. It's a little larger than something you might use in your kitchen really, but the item is held in one hand. I mean that's our method. We don't have a real fancy setup, but we hold it in one hand and then scrape it, and the scrapings will fall down on the white paper that we've set up underneath. And then when we're done with that scraping process, we fold it like I did before, you know, get that little funnel effect, tap the sides so all the debris falls down into one localized area to make it a little simpler to put into that paper bindle.
I'm going to show you a photograph that has been placed onto the chain board marked People's 436 for item no. 79 and ask you if you recognize the item shown in that photograph as the jeans you just described for Ronald Goldman.
All right. And after you--and did you package it all into a bindle for--one bindle?
Okay. After you created the bindle, did you examine the paper underneath to make sure there was no residual hair and trace or soil?
Okay. And what did you do with the bindle after you made--after you made notations on it?
I believe it was a coin envelope, and then placed that into an analyzed evidence envelope.
Okay. Now, the notations you made on this bindle for the hair and trace debris from the jeans, do you know what--do you currently recall what those notations were?
Probably just hairs, fibers, debris removed from jeans, item no. 79, by me, S.A.B., on that date.
And did you make similar notations on the coin envelope into which you placed that bindle?
Yes. I put the DR number. Umm, I did not put the item number until later. I generally put the item number that I am booking it as, the new item number on the day that I actually do the booking. In this case, there were quite a number of people booking evidence at different times. So we had to kind of coordinate our efforts really well. So I--I would get a group of evidence together that I was processing, process the evidence and then I'd book say a group of evidence all in one day. And so I'd get a series of item numbers that were available on that particular day. And that didn't happen on the 27th. That happened sometime later.
And after you completed the examination, packaged up the bindle in the coin envelope and analyzed evidence envelope, did you change paper?
And after you completed the examination and collection of debris from the socks, did you examine the paper underneath?
Umm, I then examined the shirt, item no. 81, which was the shirt from Ronald Goldman.
I'm going to show you what is no. 81 on the chain board marked People's 436 and ask you if this is the item you're referring to now as the shirt for Ronald Goldman.
Thank you. Now, did you cause this item to be photographed before you began collecting hair and trace from it?
Basically laid it out like you saw it in that photograph on a piece of white paper and had the photographer, John Taggert, photograph that item. And I believe he did close-ups of the tags as well. My normal routine on clothing items, I'll have him do an overall photo of the item and then a close-up of the tag if there is a tag on that item.
I was working in concert with Collin Yamauchi. I removed trace evidence from each of these items and then Collin checked them for body fluids.
Again, the picking, picking off method and in addition to that scraping with that spatula which I described which I had cleaned in between samples.
With ethanol, which we have in little squirt bottles basically in the lab. I squirted it down over a sink because there was a little bit of maybe like blood and dirt debris on it and cleaned that off, made sure there were no hairs or fibers or any other debris remaining before I used it on the shirt.
So you made sure that that spatula was both sterilized and cleaned of any hair and fiber before you used it?
And then what--by what method did you begin the examination of the shirt for hair and fiber? What was the first method you used?
And then when the debris fell onto the paper underneath the shirt, what did you do?
Again, creasing the paper, tapping on the sides to get that funnel effect, got all of the debris in one localized area, placed that in a paper bindle. The paper bindle then went into a coin envelope after making some notations on it and then the coin envelope went into an analyzed evidence envelope.
Now, with respect to the item number for this particular item, do you have--do you have a current recollection of what that is?
Showing you the item no. 163 from the chain board, People's 436, can you tell us if you recognize what's in this photograph?
Yes. Let's see. Up--well, up above, there appears to be a box, but off to the left is a--the coin envelope which I've marked "163, S.A.B.," with the DR number. There it is. And to the right of that and down is the paper bindle, which again is marked with the DR number, the item number, my initials, S.A.B., and then notation "Hairs, fibers, debris removed from shirt, item no. 81 by S.A.B. on 7-27-94 at 1350 hours." That's military time.
Military time. And I also see in the upper right-hand corner of this bindle that's now being focused on Q23 and looks like "DWD"?
And that is in fact the bindle that--that lower bindle is in fact the bindle into which you placed all of the debris from the shirt of Ronald Goldman?
All right. After you collected everything into the bindle, folded it up and put it into the coin envelope, did you close the coin envelope?
Yes. I folded over the flap and closed it, placed that into the analyzed evidence envelope, set it aside. Sorry.
I was standing by. I wasn't, you know, hanging on every little movement that he made, but he examined it for body fluids. I don't know if he--he may have cut out a sample. I'm not sure.
We both initialed the tag on the shirt. Both put our initials on it, repackaged it in the bag that it had come out of, refolded the bag, taped it closed and initialed that as well.
And what did you do with the coin envelope containing the bindle that contained the hair and debris from the shirt of Ron Goldman?
Now, where was the Defendant's hair sample that you had taken earlier on July 12th at this time?
And where was that in relation to where you were with Mr. Yamauchi when you were collecting the hair and fiber from Ron Goldman's shirt?
It's actually outside the lab. It's part of the lab complex itself, but it's--the serology unit is a separate room within a large building, and the evidence control unit is another room within that large building, and it's quite a--you know, if you walked at a fast pace, maybe a 30-second walk away or a minute walk away, but it's a little ways.
Should we throw that one in? All right. And what method did you use for the removal of hair and trace from Miss Brown's dress?
I'm showing you here a dress that comes from the photograph on the chain board that's People's 436. This is for item no. 86. Can you tell us if you recognize what you see here?
Your Honor, I'm informed that the photograph that's now up on the elmo is not exactly in the same angle as the one on the chain board.
So I'm going to ask the witness a few more questions. (Discussion held off the record between the Deputy District Attorneys.)
Can you step down then and make sure that the item that's contained on the chain board is in fact the same dress that we're talking about, the one for Nicole Brown?
Umm, the dress was not heavily soiled like Ron Goldman's clothes were, so I didn't find it necessary to use a spatula on that.
And did you create a bindle for the hair and trace and debris from this dress as well?
I believe it was just, you know, "Hairs, fibers, debris removed from dress, item no. 86, by S.A.B. on 7-27-94" at a certain date or time I mean.
Okay. Now, the item we're showing you now on the elmo had the no. 164 in it. It's the photograph taken from the chain board, People's 436 for item no. 164. And you see a coin envelope with writing on it. Is that your writing?
And is that the writing on the coin envelope that contained the bindle that contained the debris from Nicole's dress?
And do you see the coin envelope that you created for this item, the coin--I'm sorry--the bindle that you packaged the debris in?
Yes. The bindle is to the right and that middle--there it is, marked "Q24 DWD" in this photograph.
Showing you 447, Miss Brockbank, do you see there the coin envelope bearing item no. 164?
And is this the front side of the bindle that was created to contain the debris from Nicole's dress by you?
All right. After you packaged that bindle into the coin envelope, the bindle was closed I take it?
Yes. Again folding over the top and then placing that in an analyzed evidence envelope.
Now, did you place it in its own analyzed evidence envelope or into the same one that contained the coin envelopes for Ron Goldman's clothing?
Now, were you concerned that some hair or debris from Ron Goldman's bindles might somehow get into the bindles for Nicole's dress?
Well, the hair and debris is inside of a paper bindle which is then inside of a coin envelope, and I--it's never been my observation to see hairs or fibers come out of one bindle and envelope and into another envelope and then into another bindle. I've never seen that occurred. It's never been a problem.
Umm, I position them standing up lengthwise and I insert them with the top at the top and the bottom at the bottom and into the analyzed evidence envelope which is also vertical and standing up.
When you have it on the bench next to you, if you're going to open the bindle say to examine them under the microscope, do you have it standing up as well?
I may have it standing up or, you know, when I'm getting into it, it's going to be to the side. But when I set it aside, it's generally standing up.
And then we, you know, put our initials on them, replaced the panties into the bag that they came from, folded the bag over, sealed it with a piece of tape and initialed that as well.
And were the items that you've just described examined in the order that you've just testified to?
Oh, when you opened up the victim--the box for the victim's clothing, did you see bags that were folded up and bundled together with twine?
Umm, the bags that the clothing items were originally packaged in by the Coroner, they had Coroner's tape on them and had markings, you know, "Dress, shirt." I don't remember all the exact markings that were on them, but they were marked accordingly.
Showing you People's 448, Miss Brockbank, can you tell us if you recognize what's depicted in that photograph?
Inside one of the bags that was marked to contain shirt, "Shirt" was written on it, there were some loose fibers and some debris and a little piece of paper.
Okay. Now, when you were going through this collection process, can you tell us if you followed the same procedures as you had previously with respect to clean paper and gloves between each item?
Yes. For the bags, the same procedure was followed. Each bag, new paper was laid down, new gloves were applied and they were examined just you know, visibly by looking in them for any loose hair, fibers, anything.
Now, when you examined the interior of the bags, did you just look in them or did you look in them and them tap them to see if there was anything inside?
And how did you package--what did you do to remove the debris from the bag containing the shirt?
I reached in and pulled the debris out and also tapped on the bag over a clean piece of paper.
Showing you the photograph that's on the chain board, People's 436 for item no. 165, do you recognize what's in that photograph?
And is that the coin envelope you created to contain the debris contained in the bindle for the bag, the original bag for Ron Goldman's shirt?
And at the bottom of that coin envelope, is that the description that you put down there?
Is that the bindle that you created to contain the debris from the bag that originally contained Ron's shirt from the Coroner's office?
All right. Now, you also indicated that you created a bindle for the debris recovered from Nicole's dress?
Showing you the photograph for item 221 from People's 436, can you tell us if you recognize what's shown in this photograph?
Yes. "Hairs, fibers, debris removed from socks, interior and exterior, item no. 13 by S.A.B., 8-9-94, 13"--or I'm sorry--"1430 hours."
MS. CLARK: May I have a moment? (Discussion held off the record between the Deputy District Attorneys.)
Okay. Let me direct your attention, Miss Brockbank, to the chain board. We have item no. 221 on the board, hair and trace and it shows no. 86 under that.
After you created the bindle for item no. 165, that's the debris recovered from the shirt of Ronald Goldman's bag, the original bag, did you--what did you do with the coin envelope into which you placed the bindle?
I placed that coin envelope in the analyzed evidence envelopes that I had there in the lab.
And was that in the same analyzed evidence envelope as the debris recovered from the dress and the jeans of Ron Goldman?
And what did you do with that envelope after you completed your examinations on that day?
Okay. All right. Now, directing your attention to July 28th, 1994, on that date, did you examine a towel, item no. 91, a piece of plastic, item no. 93, and a shovel, item no. 92, that were recovered from the Defendant's Bronco?
The towel, no. 91, and the plastic, no. 93, yes, but the shovel, no. I examined that on a later date.
Okay. All right. With respect to the towel and the piece of plastic, items no. 91 and 93, where were those being kept?
Umm, they were each individually wrapped in paper bags which were folded over and taped closed.
With respect to the towel, can you tell us what preparations you made for the examination of that item?
Umm, again, the lab bench was covered with clean white paper and clean gloves were applied, and then the item was removed from the paper bag over the white paper. Excuse me. I examined the towel, again using the picking method and gently scraping with my hand, my gloved hand, and collected that debris and placed it in a paper bindle, marked the bindle, placed that bindle in a coin envelope, placed that coin envelope in the analyzed evidence envelope.
Showing you the photograph that's contained on the People's chain board, People's 436, as item no. 166, do you recognize the handwriting?
Is that the coin envelope and the bindle that you created to contain the debris you collected from the towel found on the Defendant's Bronco that you marked as item no. 166?
All right. After you finished your examination of the towel for hair and trace, was Collin Yamauchi present?
And the item, the towel that we're talking about on the next photograph, ask it be marked as People's 449.
Showing you People's 449, is that the item no. 91, towel, that we've just described?
After you were--after you'd completed your examination for hair and trace of that item, did you examine a piece of plastic recovered from the Defendant's Bronco?
I changed the white paper that was covering the counter, applied new gloves and then I removed the plastic bag from the paper bag that it was contained inside of and examined it, collected some hairs and fibers from the outside of the bag and some kind of flaky blue debris that was on the inside of the bag.
I'm showing you the photograph that is on the People's chain board 436 marked as item no. 167. Do you recognize the handwriting on the coin envelope and bindle shown here?
Is this the coin envelope and bindle that you created to contain the debris recovered from the plastic found in the Defendant's Bronco?
And after the collection, did you fold up the bindle and place it back into the coin envelope?
And all of the same precautions with respect to the examination of the towel and the plastic that you had taken earlier, looking in-between the examination of items on the paper for any residual debris?
When you completed the work there, did you place the bindle into the coin envelope?
And where did you place the analyzed evidence envelope that contained the coin envelopes with the towel and the plastic respectively?
Uh-huh. And is that the piece of plastic that you examined and collected debris that was later marked as 167--excuse me--yes, 167?
Now, you indicated that you had also on a separate date examined a shovel recovered from the Defendant's Bronco?
In the trace analysis unit, umm, on the floor, laid out white paper on the floor to cover it up and then opened up the package containing the shovel and examined it, and I removed some--some fibers and hairs from it.
Umm, just picking--as far as gloves, I was wearing gloves and I picked the hairs and fibers off of the shovel. I didn't scrape it.
Showing you the photograph that pertains to item no. 169 on the People's chain board, 436, can you tell us if you recognize what's depicted in that photograph?
Yes. The bindle that I placed hairs and fibers is in the lower right-hand corner and then the coin envelope is just to the right of the ruler.
Yes. And someone else's initials up near the top of the screen right now. I don't know whose initials those are.
And the coin envelope that you see in this photograph, are these the notations you made on the coin envelope for the bindle for the debris from the shovel?
That was placed in the analyzed evidence envelope and again stored in my evidence locker.
And was that the same analyzed evidence envelope that had the coin envelopes from the towel and plastic that's items 91 and 93?
Yes, it was. And actually, it wasn't stored in my evidence locker at that time. I wrote the property report for items 153 through 169 and booked all of that into our evidence control unit.
What about these coin envelopes that once you sent them to the evidence control unit for booking, you previously had those coin envelopes standing up in the analyzed evidence envelopes in your locker, correct?
You couldn't be assured of that when it went to the evidence control unit, could you, that they would keep them standing up?
Each of the coin envelopes were taped closed by me. When I assigned the item numbers, I went back into each coin envelope for items 153 through 169, wrote the new item number on the bindles and on the coin envelopes, sealed the coin envelopes, closed with tape and initialed the tape and dated it, and then everything went back into the analyzed evidence envelope, and that was also sealed.
So before any of the items were taken out of your locker for booking, you seal the bindles and the coin envelopes and the analyzed evidence envelopes?
I don't seal the bindles. I seal the coin envelopes and the analyzed evidence envelope.
All right. And then on August 3rd, did you--as of August 3rd then, did you still have some items of hair and trace in the bindles that you had collected them in from the various items of evidence in your locker?
What about the items 110 through 113? Those would be the hair and trace that you recovered from the gloves and the cap from the Bronco and the blue knit cap.
Umm, those were still in my locker and those were sealed up with tape and the analyzed evidence envelope sealed on August 3rd.
So on August 3rd, when you sealed up items 110 through 113, did you seal them in the same manner you've described for the other items?
Umm, I was--well, I was preparing to go to the FBI laboratory and I--I don't remember if I replaced those in my evidence locker. I believe I did, just replaced them in my evidence locker at that time.
Okay. And directing your attention then to August 4th, on that date, did you examine the socks recovered from the Defendant's bedroom, item no. 13?
Or actually no. Yes and no. Item 13 was being examined by Collin Yamauchi in the serology lab, and he observed some fibrous debris on these socks and thought I should come over to remove them. So he called me over in trace and asked me to come to the serology lab. It's a little walk around a corner. Again, these are--the labs are separate rooms in this large building. So I walked over to his lab, the serology lab, and they were already laid out on a table on a clean piece of paper that he had laid out, and I then put on gloves and removed the fibrous debris from the socks.
Umm, the picking-off method. I picked off all that I saw on the socks, placed them in a paper bindle and then the paper bindle was placed in a coin envelope, and that coin envelope was placed in an analyzed evidence envelope all by itself and booked on that same--or actually the report was written on that day, and I physically took it to the evidence control unit and booked it in on the following day, August 5th. Overnight, it was kept in my storage locker in the trace unit.
Okay. We're showing you the photograph that is on the board marked as People's 436. This is for item 221. Okay. This item, can you tell us first of all with respect to the bindle above the coin envelope.
And is that the item number you assigned to the debris recovered from the Defendant's socks?
And then below that, the coin envelope, is that the coin envelope into which you placed that bindle?
And after you completed your examination of the socks, did you check your gloves and the paper for any residual debris?
And what did you do with that white envelope--well, strike that. You closed the bindle, correct?
Not until I had assigned an item number to everything in the bindle. I mean everything in the envelope.
But in order to actually book it and assign a number, I have to go through a number of steps. I generally--in this case, I call the detectives, the investigating officers on the case every time I wanted to book some new evidence, and they would tell me what evidence item they left off with, and then I would verify that with our evidence control unit that that was indeed the last item booked and then I could use the next item in line. So I don't generally know the item I'm going to book it as when I'm collecting off of an item. So I found that out later, marked that information on the bindle, put the bindle in the envelope, sealed it with a piece of tape then, initialed that, placed that in the analyzed evidence envelope and then I sealed that as well. That was later that day.
Umm, then I physically took it to the evidence control unit and booked it in as a piece of evidence and also checked it out on that same date.
Umm, so that it was, you know, officially in the system as a booked piece of evidence, item numbers assigned to it. I was basically done with the item, but I needed to transport it to the FBI lab. So before I did that, I wanted to make sure there were item numbers assigned to all the items I was transporting.
Showing you People's 126 up above and 127 below with the no. 13 in it, do those appear to be the socks that you examined for hair and trace on August the 4th?
All right. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll take a brief 10-minute break. Please remember all my admonitions; and, ms. Brockbank, come back in 10 minutes. All right.
You don't simply go up to a person and yank a handful of hairs. It doesn't work that way. What an exemplar is is a representative sample.
It's never been my observation to see hairs or fibers come out of one bindle and envelope and into another envelope and then into another bindle. I've never seen that occurred. It's never been a problem.
I'm not simply going to--I'm not like a taco or kind of three times like a burrito. Bad analogy. I'm sorry.
They totaled 93. And I closed the bindle back up, replaced it into the laboratory envelope. I then sealed that envelope, placed that into the analyzed evidence envelope and I sealed that envelope.