📂 Thursday, July 7, 1994 — Day 5
◀ Preliminary Trial
📅 Thursday, July 7, 1994 28 proceedings 2579 lines 💬 1 sidebar
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TRIAL
▲ Day 5 of 6

Day 5 — Thursday, July 7, 1994

Rockingham Evidence Survives as Defense Attacks Police Handling
Judge Kathleen Kennedy-Powell • Preliminary Trial • 28 proceedings • 2579 lines
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Judge Kathleen Kennedy-Powell ruled that police lawfully entered O.J. Simpson's Rockingham property under emergency circumstances, allowing the glove, driveway blood, and Bronco blood into evidence. Detectives Tom Lange and Philip Vannatter detailed the Bundy and Rockingham investigations, while the defense attacked delays, documentation gaps, chain of custody, and the failure to examine Simpson's finger injury medically. Testimony from nurse Thano Peratis and criminalist Dennis Fung established the collection and handling of blood and other physical evidence, though cross-examination exposed limits in measurements, field tests, and recordkeeping. The day ended as supervising criminalist Gregory Matheson began presenting the prosecution's forensic-serology evidence.

  • Judge Kathleen Kennedy-Powell denied the defense motion to suppress the Rockingham glove, driveway blood, and blood recovered from the Bronco.
  • Detectives Tom Lange and Philip Vannatter linked evidence from Bundy and Rockingham while defending decisions about crime-scene security, staffing, and collection priorities.
  • The defense emphasized delayed processing, incomplete records, uncertain custody, Simpson's medically unexamined finger cut, and a burglary broadcast near the time and place of the killings.
  • Nurse Thano Peratis and criminalist Dennis Fung traced the collection and handling of reference and crime-scene blood, after which Gregory Matheson began explaining the serological testing.
Day 5 • 28 proceedings • 2579 lines
Preliminary Trial
Department 103
📂 Day 5 — JUL 7, 1994
JUL 7, 1994