Blood Drop Evidence Is Missing, Simpson Lawyer Says

Raising fresh questions about the integrity of evidence, one of O.J. Simpson’s lawyers said Tuesday that he has been unable to track down a swatch containing a blood drop collected from Nicole Brown Simpson’s back gate.

The drop was lifted from the back gate two weeks after Nicole Simpson and Ronald Lyle Goldman were murdered. Prosecutors touted the drop--found to contain genetic markers consistent with O.J. Simpson--as part of the “trail of blood” linking the crime scene to Simpson.

But the defense team said the drop merely bolstered their theory that police framed Simpson. They pointed out that the blood drop was collected late, contained more concentrated amounts of DNA than some other drops and, according to their expert, showed traces of EDTA, a preservative found in test tubes. Furthermore, Det. Tom Lange did not include the drop in his detailed notes about the gate during his initial inspection of the crime scene, as he acknowledged in his deposition Monday. The defense’s implication: that a rogue officer daubed a drop on the back gate straight from the vial containing O.J. Simpson’s blood sample.

Eager to probe that theory with more EDTA testing, Simpson’s lawyer complained that he has not been able to find out whether any of the blood drop remains--and if so, where it’s located. The district attorney’s office maintains that all evidence was turned over to the police. But the defense’s documents note that the swatch was checked out to the district attorney’s office.

Goldman family attorney Daniel M. Petrocelli dismissed the defense complaint: “I just think they’re trying to manufacture controversy that’s not real to create the erroneous impression that something untoward happened with the evidence.”