Doctor Testifies About Cuts on Simpson’s Hand

Enlarged photos of cuts and scabs riveted jurors in the O.J. Simpson civil trial Thursday, as a physician testified that he saw fresh wounds--three lacerations and seven abrasions--on Simpson’s left hand just days after the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald L. Goldman.

Dr. Robert Huizenga testified that the injuries looked five to seven days old when he documented them at the request of Simpson’s lawyers on June 15, 1994.

The plaintiffs contend that Simpson suffered the injuries when his left glove fell off while he was locked in a lethal struggle with Goldman on June 12, 1994. Simpson has said that he cut himself at his home sometime that same day, then reopened the wound a few hours later in his Chicago hotel room when he broke a glass in distress after receiving notification of his ex-wife’s murder.

To undermine Simpson’s explanation, the plaintiffs Thursday presented testimony from Chicago police Det. Kenneth Berris, who searched Simpson’s hotel room at the request of Los Angeles investigators.

Berris found a broken glass in the bathroom sink and a bloodstain on a nearby washcloth. But he testified that he found no blood on any of the glass fragments in the bathroom or in the sink. Berris did find additional blood drops on the sheets and pillowcases of Simpson’s bed, but no trail leading from the bathroom to the bed.

Both Berris and Huizenga testified for the defense in Simpson’s criminal trial.