THE O.J. SIMPSON MURDER TRIAL

Loyola Law School professor Laurie Levenson and defense lawyers Jill Lansing and Gigi Gordon offer their take on the Simpson case. UCLA Law school professor Peter Arenella, a regular Legal Pad commentator, will be off most of this week. Today’s topic: Bindles, evidence envelopes and other esoterica of the chain of custody.

LAURIE LEVENSON

On the prosecution: “The day that time stood still. Jurors deserve a medal for sitting through excruciatingly detailed chain of custody testimony. Hair and fiber evidence may be key to the prosecution’s case, but so far they have only offered tidbits regarding its importance. For example, whose blue fiber was found on Nicole’s throat tissue?”

On the defense: “Bob Blasier’s best tactic of the day was to say, ‘So stipulated.’ By doing so, he spared jurors even more chain of custody testimony. His examination of Denise Lewis was brief but effective. By pointing out that bags were not sealed or properly marked, he raised the possibility of cross-contamination or tampering with the evidence.”

JILL LANSING

On the prosecution: “The prosecution scored points by showing that the Bundy and Rockingham gloves were dramatically smaller than their uncontaminated counterparts. However, the prosecution’s failure to highlight this potentially significant evidence with a picture or chart, while showing endless photos of bindles and envelopes, may have diminished its impact.”

On the defense: “From the defense perspective, the only thing that mattered is that when evidence arrived at the FBI lab there were hairs from the knit cap and both gloves, which either weren’t there or weren’t seen by the LAPD. The defense has the delicious choice of arguing that the LAPD was incompetent or that the hairs were planted--both familiar themes.”

GIGI GORDON

On the prosecution: “It was like watching Paul Revere’s tedious ride, warning that ‘The defense is coming! The defense is coming.’ But the prosecution doesn’t know if they’re coming by land or by sea. So Marcia Clark spent the entire day fortifying the evidence collection battlements.”

On the defense: “The defense must be overjoyed at the reappearance of the gloves, turning up like the prosecution’s proverbial bad penny. Without rising from the table, the defense once again proved their point: The crime scene gloves don’t fit and they have Susan Brockbank’s direct testimony to thank for it.”

Compiled by HENRY WEINSTEIN / Los Angeles Times