21 proceeding appearances across 2 trials • First appearance: July 24, 1995
💬 From the record:
Dr. Fredric Rieders, a Vienna-born forensic toxicologist, was called by the defense in July 1995 to deliver testimony central to the blood-planting theory. He told the jury that EDTA — the preservative used in police blood collection tubes — was detected on evidence from Nicole Brown Simpson's back gate and O.J. Simpson's sock at levels roughly 1,000 times higher than diet alone could explain, bolstering the claim that stored blood samples had been planted at the crime scenes. Prosecutor Marcia Clark subjected Rieders to an extensive cross-examination spanning multiple sessions across two days, systematically targeting his credibility, before Robert Blasier conducted a redirect to shore up the defense's position.
Fredric Rieders was an internationally renowned forensic toxicologist. He was born in Vienna, Austria and reportedly emigrated to the United States alone at age 16 to escape Nazism. During the O.J. Simpson murder trial, he testified that the presence of detectable amounts of the preservative EDTA found in blood at the scene indicated it may not have come from a human being, but possibly was planted.