Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Please be seated. Let the record reflect we have been rejoined by all the members of our jury. Mr. Gregory Matheson is again on the witness stand undergoing direct examination by Mr. Goldberg. Good afternoon again, Mr. Matheson.

Good afternoon.

You are reminded, sir, you are still under oath. And Mr. Goldberg, you may continue with your direct examination.

Good afternoon. Ladies and gentlemen.

Mr. Matheson, I wanted to ask you some questions about the Scientific Investigations Division facility. Where is that located?

It is located in a city building called the C. Irwin Piper Technical Building or Piper Tech for short.

Your Honor, at this time I would like to mark as People's next in order 206 for identification which is a board that contains photographs and a map of the SID facility.

All right. People's 206.

All right. Mr. Bancroft, I'm going to need you to help me with this. Proceed.

Sir, directing your attention to People's 206 for identification, do you recognize this exhibit and the photographs on it?

Yes, I do.

Is there any sort of accreditation agency that covers crime laboratories in the United States?

Yes, there is.

And is that a public entity or a private entity or--

Well, it is association made up of crime laboratories that have been accredited. It is called the ASCLAD or American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors Laboratory.

But I mean is that a governmental agency or is it a private agency outside the government?

Well, it is not--my understanding is it is not an agency in and of itself. Most of the members of it are accredited laboratories which are government.

Is it mandatory under state or federal law that you have that accreditation from this organization?

No, it is not. It is a voluntary process.

Does it cost money to become accredited?

Yes, it does.

A how much?

It depends on the laboratory. The cost is associated with--it is actually associated with a couple of things. One of them is if there are any sort of facility changes or something obviously the agency has to come up with the money to meet the accreditation standards, but just to apply, there is a fee associated with the inspection process, and my understanding is for an agency of our size it could be anywhere from say ten to $30,000.

So you would have to pay ten to $30,000 to get this accreditation?

Yes.

And does it allow you to do anything that you can't do now?

No. It is just a review by this outside agency of whether or not we meet the standards that they have established.

Has this city come up with the ten to $30,000 for you to be able to buy this accreditation?

Well, it is not a matter of buying the accreditation. It is paying for an inspection to see whether or not you pass. No, to this day we have not received the funding to do that.

Now, turning your attention to this map that is 206 for identification, does this depict the Piper Tech portion of the SID Scientific Investigations Division?

The map?

Yes. The map itself covers the area that is part of SID and Piper Tech, yes.

And are there facilities that SID has that are outside of Piper Tech?

Yes, there is.

And are there photographs of the facility that are outside of Piper Tech over here if you look in the upper left-hand corner?

Yes. There is actually two graphs that depict part of our laboratory that is located inside of the police administrative building or Parker Center.

That's correct. At least that is--it looks like that, yes.

Okay. Now, what is done, if you know, in the facility that is located at Parker Center?

The suite of three or four rooms that we have over there are part of our PCR laboratory.

And PCR is?

It is a technique used to identify DNA markers that are present in body fluids and other biological samples.

You said that did you conventional testing on some of the evidence in this indication?

That's correct.

And.

What facility did that take place in?

That testing all occurred at Piper Tech in the serology unit.

So that would represent, when we are talking about Piper Tech, the area that is depicted on the SID Piper Tech map on this exhibit 206?

That's correct.

Now, how old is the Los Angeles Police Department Scientific Investigations Division?

I don't know, but the crime laboratory has been in existence since 1923, I believe.

Was it the first crime laboratory that was set up in the country, to your knowledge?

Yes.

Even before the FBI?

Yes.

And how old is this physical plant?

I believe we moved here in February of 1990, I think or `91. `90.

Okay. Now, do you have certain security procedures that are in place in terms of the physical plant located at the Piper Tech facility?

Yes, we do.

And who is in charge of that?

I'm the security manager of that facility.

All right. And specifically do you have a card key system to get in and out of the facility?

Yes. We have--it is an electronic tracking system that you have to use an electronic card and it reads your card, determines whether or not you have access to a particular door at that time of day and that day of the week. If--if you do, then it unlocks the door for you and allows you to enter the facility or any of the individual labs at that point. If you don't, the door remains locked.

And you can see the photograph up on the elmo that says "Card key entry"? No?

I think we are upside down. Mr. Matheson, why don't you grab the pointer.

I see it is a little lopsided as oriented under here on the elmo.

Why don't you, just using pointer on the hard copy, 206, what is depicted in this photograph?

What we have here is a photograph that shows the door frame, alongside here somebody's hand that is holding one of our access cards in it, and there is an antenna inside of the wall. If you hold your card up in the vicinity of that antenna, it reads your card, reads the code that is on the card, checks the computer to determine whether or not you have access to that door at the time of day, that day of the week.

And who has access to the crime laboratory?

The people that work in the facility. The access levels vary. It depends on whether we are talking about the outside entrance or the interior one or the variety of different labs. It is limited to the people that work in the facility or the other members of our crime laboratory that happen to work in some of the outside locations.

Okay. Well, let's start with just if you want to get into the portion of the facility--maybe we can see the outside of the crime lab photograph that says "Sid Piper Tech." we had it up there a little while ago. Okay. Is this the outside of the facility?

Yes. This is the outside wall of the laboratory, which is within the larger building called Piper Tech.

Okay. Now, do you need a card key entry to get through this door?

Not during normal working hours which are Monday through Friday from the morning until the evening. On weekends and at night and in the very early morning that door remains locked and the only way you can get in is by having one of the card keys and having access to the facility at that time.

So who has the authority, through these card keys, to get into the facility either in the evening or off hours?

Well, we do have some light-duty police officers that work as couriers. They work in the A.M. hours, so they have access in getting in. All of the criminalists can enter into the facility during--through this outside door anytime of the day or night and we also have the opportunity to make temporary changes likes sometimes our administrative staff or our support staff needs to get in to do some work on a weekend or something like this and we will do a temporary change on their access so that they can get in to work.

And does the call-out line from that photograph where this facade is located, the tiles--

Yeah. This particular wall along this area here, (Indicating), on the--near where the says "Entrance," that is that door right there, (Indicating).

After you get into the entrance, if you can see the area that says "Lobby."

Yes, right in this area right here, (Indicating).

Can we see that photograph.

Then there is another door on the right side of the photograph and a window on the left. What is the door?

Okay. The door that is depicted on the right side of the photograph here is the door that actually goes into the hallway area of the laboratory. Like I mentioned before, this outside door unlocks and stays unlocked during what we consider our normal business hours, so anybody can come and go during that door; however, to get actually into the laboratory you need to again show your card to an area so that the antenna can pick up the code and then it allows you in if you have access to it.

And can the couriers go in there?

Yes, they can.

And what about the criminalists?

Yes.

All right. Now, after you are through that door--if we could see the picture that says "Entry corridor." does that show the view that you have after you have entered through that door?

That's correct. Right after walking through this door, (Indicating), that is your view down the hallway. You are looking down now in this direction, (Indicating).

And the hall is kind of in a square that goes around the facility?

Right. The hallway, once you get passed here, (Indicating), anybody, you know, once they have passed through that door, has access to this hallway area and then back over, (Indicating).

Okay. So when you are saying "That door," on the diagram, are you pointing to the door that is next to the call-out--that is just to the left of the call-out line that is adjacent to photograph no. 21 that says "Entry corridor"?

That's correct. It is a door that is directly opposite the entrance into the lobby.

And when you said "Here," there is what appears to be a corridor and it has various red crosses in it.

That's correct. There is a corridor that runs basically around the--not the perimeter, but through the middle of the laboratory. You can walk all the way around without going back to this one point, (Indicating).

Okay. Now, other than the couriers, do any uniformed police officers have access to the corridor, the area past--in the corridor that you just described?

The only other uniformed officers that have a card key that gives them access into the laboratory is we do have one officer that works as a narcotics analyst within the laboratory and that would be it, other than the couriers.

Does he have a degree in criminalistics?

No. I believe his degree is in chemical engineering.

So he is actually working as a criminalist in one of the laboratories?

That's correct.

So he is the only officer that has access to the corridor area, other than the couriers?

That's correct.

What about detectives?

No. Detectives would have to be escorted in or allowed into that corridor area.

With a criminalist?

With a criminalist or with other personnel that happen to have access to it.

Now, there are any windows in any part of this facility?

Not looking to the outside. The only windows that we have are from some laboratories into the hallway.

Now, let's take a look at the evidence processing room. Up in the upper right-hand corner of the photograph on the left side, what does that depict?

Okay. This picture marked "Sid EPR," EPR stands for evidence processing room is--points to an area in the upper right-hand corner of the map here that is marked "Evidence room." this is the area where--when evidence is collected out in the field, it is brought into this room to be dried and then eventually identified, marked and stored or prepared for storage.

And there appears to be a roll-up door in this photograph on the right-hand side. What is that?

That's--on the right-hand side of the photograph here is a door that pulls up, rolls up here, rolls up towards the top, and it is this thinner line to the right of the evidence processing room, 29-b.

And the call-out line on that photograph depicts where the photograph is showing?

That's correct.

Now, that roll-up door, do you have to roll it up by going inside the evidence processing room?

Yes. The only way to roll it up is on the inside of the wall next to the door between the storeroom and the evidence processing room, is a control button that says, I think up, down and stop or something like that. That is the only way that door can be opened.

And does the--the door to the evidence processing room itself, I guess it would be the door that is between the storeroom and the evidence processing room, is that also card key controlled?

Yes.

Now, who has access to this room?

The--the door that exists between the storeroom and the evidence processing room, all criminalists have access to that room 24 hours a day seven days a week so that they can bring evidence in there. Other personnel, such as our lab technicians that we have in the laboratory and some of our student workers, have access to that room during normal working hours, during the day, Monday through Friday. The support staff, clerical staff, do not have access to that area.

So that the support staff do have access to the corridor area, don't they?

Yes, they do.

But they can't get into the evidence processing room through their card keys?

That's correct.

What are the student workers?

Student worker, that is a position that we have, I believe we currently have three of them. They are people that have an interest in forensics, are working toward their degree for eventually becoming a criminalist. The positions we currently have for them is we have one in toxicology, one in our trace unit and one in serology. They assist the criminalists with like preparing some of the chemicals, whatever needs to be done, that can free up the criminalist to do case work.

Now, in terms of the evidence processing room, can someone who has a card, well, with respect to any of the card key entry areas, can someone who has a card bring in someone who doesn't?

Yes.

And in the case of police officers, are police officers allowed into the evidence processing room?

Yes.

And if they were allowed in there, would they have to be accompanied by someone?

That's correct.

So they do not have a card to get into that portion of the facility either?

No. They would not be able to get in there without being escorted by somebody.

Other than the one gentleman who is working as a chemist in the toxicology, did you say?

In our narcotics.

Narcotics. All right. Let's take a look at the evidence control unit now. This is showing what ECU lobby, the photograph?

The photograph that is marked "ECU lobby," ECU stands for evidence control unit. That is a property storage room that is actually run from within SID. The Los Angeles Police Department has property officers and we have a property division, but SID has our own property room of items that are--will probably be eventually analyzed, so they are very nearby and under our control. The picture that is depicted and marked "ECU lobby" is an area that is just off of the laboratory lobby, marked "Lobby" on the map here. The only way to get to it is from the outside entrance through the criminalistic lobby and into the ECU lobby.

So when a police officer is coming to the laboratory to pick up evidence for Court, where does he or she go?

They go into the ECU lobby. They can only--the front door is unlocked so they can come in there. They pass through the criminalistic lobby into the ECU lobby and there is a couple of windows where our property officers can interact with them, find out what evidence they need and then they go back and get them and bring it forward to them.

And that is what they would do if they wanted to check out evidence that needed to be brought to Court to be introduced?

Yes.

Now, let's take a look at the inside the ECU. Let's see if we have a good photograph of that.

There is something that says "ECU freezer." what does that depict?

The picture down here that is marked "ECU freezer," (Indicating), is a shot taken approximately what would be in this--on the map it is marked "Evidence control unit room 36," partway between the lobby and what is marked as "Freezer." looking in the direction toward the freezer, it shows the door. Very large freezer area where we store our biological evidence.

Now, who can actually come into the evidence control unit?

The access through the door that goes from the ECU lobby into the evidence control unit itself is limited to our property officers that actually work in that facility can come and go through there. The administrative staff of the crime laboratory, in other words, the captain that we have and then the three directors have access to that, plus a couple of our supervisors also have access into it, such as the narcotics supervisor who has to check in and out narcotics a lot for analysis, it simplifies life for everybody for him to be able to get access to that area.

What about the criminalists?

The criminalists do not have access through that door until somebody from--this does have access allows them in.

Okay. Now, if a person, a criminalist, has brought back wet stains from a crime scene in the plastic bags and then has dried them, they do that in the evidence processing room that we saw earlier with the roll-up door?

That's correct.

And after those are dried and the paperwork is filled out and they are ready to be booked, what do they do with them?

Well, once all the paperwork is done and they are packaged and all the seals are in place on the packages, they are taken from the evidence processing room to the lobby of the evidence control unit at which point they are turned over to a property officer for storage. If it is a biological, it is stored in the freezer. If it is a liquid blood or urine sample, it could be stored in some refrigeration units we have. Everything else goes on just shelves that are room--room temperature storage.

So when the criminalist brings items into the evidence control unit window for the purposes of booking them, they are in a sealed condition at that time?

They are supposed to be, yes.

Are there any circumstances in which they can't be sealed?

Well, if the item is so large that it doesn't fit into an envelope or a box, a sample again being a shopping cart, I had to book a shopping cart myself about four or five months ago, obviously that is not going to be sealed into a big box, there is no reason to, so a tag is placed on it and it is stored back in the evidence control unit.

But items such as the coin envelopes with the biological evidence in this case, those kind of items or the packages containing the reference vials, those were sealed before being booked?

Yes.

Now--and if the freezer--if they go into the freezer, they are going into the freezer that is depicted here in photograph no. 26?

That's correct.

All right. Now, what about the reference vials? Where do those go?

The reference blood vials, because you do not want to freeze liquid blood that are in the vials, we just want to refrigerate them, there are units that for the--well, it is a motorized type of unit that holds bins that is refrigerated. The blood vial in its sealed envelope is placed into a bin, placed into this unit and then can be rotated up and out of sight or out of the way if you need to look for another one.

Why don't we take a look at the photographs that says "ECU rotomats." it is photograph no. 27.

This is part of the evidence control unit that we are looking at now?

Yes, it is. The picture that is marked "ECU rotomats" is of these units that I was describing that had the bins in them that can be rotated up and down, are located mostly all along the wall that is on the bottom of the map on the chart.

Why don't we take a look at the photograph that says "ECU rotomat refrigerator," 29.

This is one of the types of refrigerators into which the reference vials are placed?

Yes. It works in exactly the same way as the regular rotomats, but it is refrigerated so we can keep the item cool in there.

So then do these bins go all the way up to the ceiling and in a circle kind, of a conveyor belt type mechanism?

That is the best way to explain. There are shelves that can be rotated allowing us to get a large amount of storage in that area and being able to bring down a particular bin that you are interested in and remove your evidence item.

When reference items are stored in the rotomat refrigerated, are they stored in alphabetical order, numerical order or in some particular kind of order?

No.

So how does anyone ever find a reference vial?

There is an evidence tracking system that we use in ECU and in the laboratory that allows us to use bar codes and when a, for example, a reference blood sample inside of its sealed envelope when it is first booked in by a criminalist or whoever it is, is given a bar code. That package then is taken back to one of--and I think we have three that are refrigerated--placed into an open bin. The package is scanned, bar code is scanned, the location is scanned, they just put it wherever there is space for it, and that information is loaded into the computer so if you wanted at a later time to find that blood sample, you would have to access the computer, enter into the DR number and find out what the item number is and tell us where which bin is located and in which unit.

So if you tried to look for it manually, how difficult would that be?

Now, with respect to the items that just have--require shelf storage that don't require being placed in either a refrigerator or the freezer, where do those go?

Well, looking again at the diagram, we have shelf storage units that start down in the evidence control unit with where the word "Room" is and run down the middle of this corridor passed where it says "Evidence control," there is bins that are along the walls next to the freezer, along the walls next to what is marked "Flammable storage," and then there is also--those are for the larger box items. There is also shelf storage in--in the rotomats.

And does all of the evidence that LAPD has in its possession, is all of it placed into this room, the evidence control unit?

No.

What evidence is?

We want to only have evidence in the ECU that may some day be analyzed by the crime laboratory. The department receives very large quantities of evidence everyday and most of it we will never see within SID, within the laboratory, so we limit it to those things that will eventually be analyzed.

And are there security procedures that are set up--well, let me ask you this first: In the evidence control unit is there any evidence that is inherently valuable that is kept?

Well, we have narcotics in there.

And do you have anything else?

Of inherent value?

We have long guns, handguns. I believe there is some money. I don't know where that is stored, but there are things that have value in and of themselves.

So are the security procedures that are in place designed to deal with the inherently valuable evidence such as the narcotics and the firearms?

Yes.

And to your knowledge has this facility ever had any problems with that kind of evidence being misplaced or stolen?

No, not to my knowledge.

Now, let's go to the serology lab and take a look at that, a photograph that says "Inside serology."

Mr. Matheson, what does this photograph depict?

This is a photograph that is taken inside the serology unit depicted on the map here says "Serology 25." the 25 is the room number. That particular photograph would have been taken probably about where the "Z" is in the zone 6 to 7 looking towards the right.

And towards the end of it is what appears to be a metal door that is somewhat obscured towards the end of the room. It appears to be left of the clock?

Yes.

What is that?

That is a door that goes into a combination refrigerator and freezer within the serology unit. It is located--they are both located down on the right side here of the unit itself, (Indicating). You would enter through that metal door into the refrigerator and then walk through another door into a freezer.

What is the purpose of the freezer in that room?

Well, serology deals exclusively with body fluids and they are biologicals, as mentioned earlier, that needs to be stored in such a condition so that they won't degrade, and the best way to do is to keep it frozen. So while the case is in progress, it may be quite a while from beginning to end that that evidence is within the laboratory, and we want to have freezer storage immediately accessible to the criminalists that work in that unit.

How does the evidence get from the evidence control unit into serology so that a criminalist can start working on it?

Well, at some point a request is made by a detective to do an analysis. They take the--the criminalist receives the request, takes it over to the evidence control unit and in the lobby hands this request to one of our property officers, and the property officer looks in the computer to find out where the locations are for the evidence, retrieves it from the freezer, the refrigerator rotomats or wherever else it happens to be located. It is then released to the criminalist who has, like I mentioned, these bar codes. The evidence packages are bar coded or scanned. The Criminalist's bar code is scanned. Then they carry it back to the unit where they work, use serology as an example, back in the serology unit. Then the criminalist is supposed to scan again, now that it is in the serology unit, scan the packages, scan their i.d. So that the evidence tracking computer knows where it is at at that moment.

And while you were working on the evidence in this case, where was it stored?

It was all stored--all the biological items that I worked on was stored in the serology freezer.

In the serology--the freezer in the serology lab?

That's correct.

Now, with respect to getting into the serology lab, what is required there in terms of access?

Well, the door into the serology lab, which is located in the top part of the room here that is marked "Serology 25," (Indicating) is a card access door just like I described before. Anybody wanting to go through that door has to display their card--their access card to the area where the antenna is in the wall, and if they have access to that room that time of day, that day of the week, you will hear the door unlock and you can walk through it.

And who has access to serology?

All the criminalists do during normal working hours. Any one of them can get into that area. The student worker that works for serology and trace can get into that area during normal working hours. And we have a photographer and some latent print experts that work in our laboratory, they also have access to it during normal working hours. Off watch and on weekend the serology criminalists are the ones who have access to it; the other criminalists do not, along with management.

So if someone wants to work on evidence on the weekend, who can get into serology to work on evidence?

The criminalists that work that unit.

And what about access by police officers to serology? How does that work?

For a police officer to get into that unit they would have to be escorted by somebody that has access to it.

Now, let's take a look at the instrument lab just quickly.

What is this part of the laboratory?

This photograph depicts an area of the instrument laboratory, which is room no. 21 located actually on this diagram below serology. The photograph is being taken about where this blue diagram here, (Indicating), is looking toward the right.

Now, did you do any of your work in this case in the instrument lab?

No, I did not.

And let's take a quick look at the SID Parker Center amplification room. We discussed that briefly.

Did you do any of your work in the SID Parker Center amplification room?

No, I did not.

And let's take a quick look at the Parker Center preparation room. And did you do any of your work in this room?

No, I did not.

Thank you. All right.

Now, Mr. Matheson, in 1994 approximately how many cases did the serology laboratory process?

Objection, irrelevant.

Overruled.

I would have to refer to some notes I made of those statistics.

Is this that same sheet you were referring to earlier or different?

I will have to look.

All right. Mr. Blasier, do you want to see that.

Can I be provided with a copy of this, please?

Sure. Do you need it now, Mr. Blasier, or at the conclusion of the Court day?

At the end of the Court day.

Just remind me to do that.

That particular sheet doesn't have the data as far as that goes.

All right. Mr. Matheson, why don't you mark that with a post-it.

Sure.

Thank you.

Well, at the moment I can't locate the page that I had that information on.

Maybe you can just give us an approximation.

Objection, no foundation.

Overruled.

I would say conservatively we did between four and 500 cases.

And how does that break down just roughly in terms of the type of cases? Are they rape cases or homicide cases?

They are split pretty closely 50-50. We do a lot of both.

And what percentage of the homicide cases in Los Angeles--well, how many homicide cases in Los Angeles did the crime laboratory criminalists respond to for purposes of crime scene identification?

For what time?

In `94.

Do you have that statistic?

I believe we did in the low two hundreds was the total number of cases that we responded to.

And what percentage of the total number of homicides do you respond to?

Oh, it would be approximately in the area of ten to twenty percent.

And who was doing the crime scene investigation on the other eighty to ninety percent?

The detective.

Now, did you remove some stains or collect some stains from a console that was in the serology laboratory for this case?

Yes, I did.

And perhaps we could see People's 172 for identification.

Ask you to step down for a second, Mr. Matheson.

All right. People's 172 which is a board that was previously described as the Bronco evidence. Mr. Goldberg.

Thank you.

Sir, directing your attention to the photograph that has the call-out lines 303, 304 and 305 on it, do you recognize what is depicted there?

Yes, I do.

And what is that?

That is a--what has been described as a console that was removed from the Bronco.

And did you remove some stains from that?

Yes, I did.

Which stain numbers?

303, 304 and 305.

Does the call-out line depict the approximate location that those stains would be oriented on the console?

Yes, it does.

And when you saw the console, where was it?

Objection, vague as to time.

Overruled.

It was in the serology laboratory at the crime lab.

What date was this?

On--

When you removed the stains?

On September 1st, 1994.

Was anyone else present?

Your Honor, I'm sorry. We object to this line of questioning based on chain of custody, arguments we've already made.

All right. Noted. Overruled.

Was anyone else present?

Yes.

Who was that?

I believe that a--I know that a Mr. Ragle was present and Mark Taylor and there were a number of other people, including members of the Defense team that were present. I don't have the list in front of me right now.

And when you removed those items from the console, 303, 304 and 305, how did you do it? Using what technique?

The same technique that was demonstrated by ms. Mazzola in the videotape and on the board, dampening a small cotton swatch with distilled water, applying it to the stain, allowing it to absorb onto the swatch and then placing it in a plastic bag for, you know, later drying and following that with a control.

Now, on this particular item, the console, did you see anything--any marks or indication that it had been swatched previously?

Which areas were those?

That would be the ones that are marked 303 and 304.

And do those correspond to any photographs that we have on this diagram, the Bronco?

Yes, it does.

Which ones?

That would--they--the area that I collected evidence as 303 is roughly the same area as marked in the upper right-hand photograph as item 30, and the area where I collected 304 is in the same area as what was marked as 31.

What evidence did you see that indicated previously that they had previously been swatched?

Well, you could see where a portion of the blood appeared to have been removed.

In terms of what?

I mean, was there no blood there or was it spread around? What did it look like?

Objection, leading.

Overruled. What did it look like?

Just looked like a portion had been removed. There was a lighter area that is consistent with how I have seen stains after I have removed blood from them.

Well, when you remove a stain from an object like this, is it totally gone as if it had been cleaned or is there something still left afterwards?

Normally there is a little bit still left.

Okay. So there was a portion that you said was lighter, as if parts of that stain had been removed?

Yes.

All right. And did you remove portions of the stains in the areas that were in the vicinity of 31 and 30?

Yes, I did.

What did you do with those items after you removed them?

Eventually they were opened up, allowed to air dry, packaged in bindles and coin envelopes and booked into our evidence control unit.

Were they booked in a sealed condition?

Yes.

I wanted to show you People's 200 for identification.

Sir, when criminalists go out to a crime scene, you said that they make a vehicle search--excuse me--a crime scene identification checklist?

That's correct.

And when they go out to a vehicle search, there is a form that is used for that?

Yes.

And does the form indicate the date and time that they see certain items?

Yes, it is supposed to.

And have you seen a--let me show you People's 200 for identification.

Okay.

Is that a vehicle identification search pertaining to the Bronco?

Yes, it is.

And does it indicate that the--what date the console was removed from the Bronco?

Yes, it does.

What was that?

August 26, 1994.

Now, after it was removed from the Bronco and brought to SID, do you know where it was stored?

Yes, I do.

Where was it stored?

In the serology unit. We have had a large layout table that is in the middle of the room and most of the items were sitting on that table.

Okay. Thank you. You can resume the witness stand.

Actually, you don't have to move--well, we will probably be using that again in about five minutes.

Sir, directing your attention to the date of October the 30th of 1994, did you take some cuttings from an item of evidence, no. 81?

Okay. I'm referring to a serology case summary sheet blood analysis that indicates that, yes, on October 30, `94, I did remove some cuttings.

Your Honor, may I--

All right. Mr. Blasier, do you have that?

I'm not sure what he is referring to.

Why don't you show that to him.

Maybe you can just give us the "L" number if it is on there.

"L" number 408.

Mr. Blasier, do you have that?

Yes.

Your Honor, I wanted to mark as next in order "L" number 409 as People's 209--I'm sorry, 208.

This is a single page, Mr. Goldberg?

Yes, it is, your Honor.

And sir, did the shirt bear the DR number, the packaging the shirt was contained in, bear the DR number in this case?

Yes, it did.

Can you tell us what the DR number is?

94-0817431.

I'm going to put 409 up on the elmo in a second. You may want to look at it on your notes.

Showing you the page that is entitled "Serology item description notes," People's 408--208 in this case, do you recognize that?

Yes, I do.

What is it?

It is a page that is called "Serology item description notes." it is where I made notes and a sketch indicating the areas where I sampled item no. 81, a shirt.

And on these--how are these serology item description notes used in the ordinary course of the crime lab's business?

Normally they are used in conjunction with what's called a summary sheet. The summary sheet does that, it just summarizes the information that is found for a particular item. Attached to that would be a serology item description notes which allows a more complete description of the item that you are working with.

And in this particular case what does your sketch indicate?

Well, it shows a very rough rendition of a shirt with the letters a through h indicating areas where I made small cuttings of sample removal and a circled area marked "Control" where I removed a control sample.

After you removed those items, cut those items, what did you do with them?

I placed them into individual bindles and then into a small manila coin envelope placing them in the serology freezer.

Okay. Now, were those sealed?

No, I don't believe so.

Now, did you also review the documents in this case, including the serology item description notes, to determine when various items were mailed out and transmitted to outside laboratories?

Yes, I have.

All right. I would like to direct your attention to the series of charts that we have labeled as People's 177 for identification.

Mr. Matheson, showing you People's 177, the board that contains items 6 through 24, do you recognize that?

Yes, I do.

And did you have the opportunity to review this exhibit prior to your testimony today?

Yes.

Did you have the opportunity to check it against various items of--various reports that are maintained in the ordinary course of the crime lab's business?

Yes, I did.

Now, you already mentioned the serology item description notes. Did you review serology item description notes in conjunction--let me ask you this: What document did you look at specifically in checking these boards?

I looked at a large--large quantity of documents, both what we have described as serology item description notes, also some cover letters, transmittal letters, and analyzed evidence reports indicating where things had gone and when, documents of that type that are all prepared during the course of these samples being prepared and submitted to outside agencies.

Well, generally speaking, when you are going to send the sample to an outside agency, can you describe what kind of documentation you go through in doing that?

Well, when we need to send an evidence item out to another agency or a company to do work that we don't do ourselves, what is first done is a request to evaluate. We do it in the area of DNA analysis, request to evaluate DNA evaluation on that item, and that is a form in and of itself that gives the item numbers, describes the condition of the item, whether or not the person that is doing the evaluation thinks that there is sufficient evidence to send out or not. Ultimately then where it goes, which laboratory, the date that it went, how much is remaining of that item within our laboratory. There is also associated with that these item description notes, like I previously described, to give a more definitive explanation of what the evidence actually looked like, rather than just of a brief red stain or something along that line. Also prepared along with that is what is called an analyzed evidence report that just is that these items were sent to such and such a laboratory on a certain date which is then part of our permanent file, just like an analyzed evidence report as if we had done the work, letting the detective and the D.A.'s know, or whoever, that something had gone out for analysis on this date for this laboratory. And there is also then a cover letter that is prepared to the laboratory that is being sent to which describes the items that are being sent to them, giving them a very limited information about what the case is involved and who to contact in case they have any questions.

Do you also use something called a serology case summary sheet for this?

The serology case summary sheets tend to be more toward analysis of the items; however, occasionally we will grab a form just to have something to write on as far as that has lines.

And are all these standard forms that are used in the crime lab's business?

Yes.

And will the analyst then use these documents, such as the serology item description notes--

I'm going to object, lack of foundation or vague as to "Crime lab business."

Sustained. Rephrase the question.

Are all of these documents ones that are used in the ordinary course of shipping items out when the crime lab does that?

Yes, they are.

Now, with respect to the usage, for example, of the serology item description notes, if the analyst is preparing the items to go out and packaging them, does--when does he fill out that document in relationship to the preparation and packaging of the items?

That is the document that is prepared while the evidence is actually sitting in front of him.

Now, does this exhibit, People's 177, essentially compile or does it compile information from all of these various documents and just summarize them in one place?

Yes, it does.

And how voluminous were the documents that are represented here that are compiled in 177?

Well, this, along with a couple other charts, filled about a two-inch binder.

Okay. Now, directing your attention to item no. 6, just to start with an example, we don't have to go through each and every one of these, when you were verifying the information in item no. 6, what did you look at?

The piece of information there of interest for myself was regarding the trip to DOJ--well, starting at the beginning, as far as the property report goes, these items were in fact collected on June 13th and that was confirmed by a property report.

Okay. So the information in the left-hand column generally comes from a property report?

Yes, because that is the document we use when things are collected.

And did you take a look at the photograph in cell no. 6 under "Collected LAPD" to see whether you recognized the writing and the DR number?

Yes, I did.

And to verify that that was one of the items in this case?

Yes.

Now, what does "Cellmark" mean?

Cellmark is the name of a company located on the east coast that we use for our RFLP type DNA analysis.

Is that someone that you have used in a number of past cases?

Yes.

And what does "DOJ" mean?

DOJ stands for Department of Justice. In this particular case it is the California Department of Justice Bureau of Forensic Sciences Lab in Berkeley, California.

So that is part of the State of California?

Yes.

And did you verify that according to the records an envelope containing swatches from no. 6 was sent on the 12th of August?

Yes, I did.

Did you also look at the photograph?

Yes.

What did you look at the photograph for?

I wanted to confirm that one of those eight coin envelopes that are depicted there was in fact the coin envelope that was used to transport item no. 6.

And did it have the item number and the DR number?

Yes.

And is that typically how you would do it if you were sending less than the entire number of swatches? Would you put it in a different coin envelope to send it out?

Normally in the process when the samples are being prepared to be sent to an outside laboratory, if we don't send all of the evidence, a portion or a cutting of it is taken from the original bindle and envelope and a new bindle and envelope is prepared which is then sent back to cellmark.

And that would be sent in a sealed condition?

That's correct.

Now, there is a little icon under 12--8/12/94 and the legend says "Swatch" with an "Es swatches." what does that icon represent?

That is to indicate in the case of item no. 6 all that was sent was one of the stained swatches, no control.

And did you verify the correctness of this icon?

Yes.

So in this particular case swatches containing presumably blood were sent but a control was not sent?

That's correct.

And FBI, what is that?

"FBI" stands for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Now, in terms of this verification procedure that you testified to, did you look at the other items on this board and go through the same verification procedure of checking the documents and also the packages?

Yes, I did.

And was the information on this board correct?

Yes.

Now, with respect to item no. 17, it says--it is what appears to be a reference vial. Can you take a closer look at that for a second.

(Witness complies.) that's correct.

Was that the reference vial that you did some testing on?

Yes, it is.

And did you check the records to determine whether according to the records another item of evidence, entitled "O.J. Simpson blood exemplar" was created from that?

Yes, I did.

Objection, hearsay.

Sustained.

No foundation.

The jury is to disregard.

Did you check a record to verify what says "O.J. Simpson blood exemplar"?

Yes, I did.

What did you look at?

Some notes that was prepared by Mr. Yamauchi during the course of sampling the exemplars. It is our habit to try and get portions of a liquid blood when we receive it onto what are called swatch cards so it can then dry out and be frozen rather than just stored refrigerated in the blood vial.

And does the analyst generate one of these records that you have described contemporaneously with doing that?

Yes.

And did you check that record to verify this entry?

Yes, I did.

Now, the little card that is represented there, the white thing, what is that?

Well, that is the exterior of one--they are commercial swatching cards that we have. If you open that up, there is four black circles, approximately an inch in diameter. Portions of the blood or pipette are delivered to each of those four spots and allowed to dry.

Now, with respect to item no. 13, for example, did you take a look at the picture of the exterior packaging to see whether the item number and the DR number was represented?

Yes, I did.

Okay. And did you also check the records to see that that was sent out on September 26, `94?

Yes.

So with respect to item 23, for example, that would have been sent out on September the 14th of `94?

That's correct.

But with respect to that item, did you verify that both swatches and a control was sent?

Per the records, yes.

Okay. Thank you. Let's see the next one.