Los Angeles County Coroner's Office

The Los Angeles County Coroner's Office performed autopsy and evidence-handling work concerning Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran, who described himself as the office's head doctor, testified about its procedures, including photographing decedents upon arrival, holding homicide cases in refrigerated crypt space before autopsy, and documenting transfers of autopsy specimens to the toxicology laboratory. The record identifies Dr. Irwin Golden as the medical examiner assigned to Goldman's case and reflects extensive examination of the original autopsy findings and reports. Dr. Lakshmanan acknowledged approximately thirty errors in Dr. Golden's original autopsy work but testified that none affected the cause-of-death determinations. Court questioning also addressed the timing of coroner notification and the interaction between coroner personnel and LAPD investigators, but the supplied record does not establish the alleged delay or contamination as fact.