Glove Evidence

Within the examination of the murder scene of Nicole Brown Simpson a right hand glove was found by Mark Fuhrman. Mark Fuhrman examined the glove before the arrival of the SOCO’s this was to decide whether the glove belonged to the victims or the suspect. Due to the fact Fuhrman examined the glove without any PPE contamination possibly could have occurred, this fact allowed the prosecution to raise an argument surrounding this piece of evidence as to whether this evidence was admissible within the investigation.

This evidence was passed around many members of the investigation team. This consisted of the detectives (Fuhrman and Riske), SOCO’s, Forensic scientists and general police officers. Every single team member had the responsibility of ensuring that this piece of evidence was secured within the transportation in the evidence audit trail, bagged and labelled correctly and to ensure the whereabouts of the evidence at all times. This piece of evidence was logged into the chain of custody and only one of the few that actually where.

The matching left hand glove was found also by Fuhrman upon the illegal search of OJ Simpson’s personal property. Fuhrman climbed over Simpson’s wall and found the matching glove which appeared to have blood upon. Fuhrman did not request any SOCO’s to collect the glove however collected it himself. This evidence was entered into the chain of custody however due to the fact it was never labelled or packaged correctly prior to the examination or collected in an accurate or professional manner cross contamination could have possibly occurred. Due to the fact Fuhrman found this evidence after the crime scene had been processed the question of planted evidence was raised by the defence within the court trial. 

Within the court trial this vital piece of evidence was produced, this had meant that once the analysation had been complete the evidence went back into the exhibits log where all evidence was stored and transported to the court room. Within court OJ was asked to put the gloves on to demonstrate whether the gloves fitted or not. The gloves did not fit however Simpson had plastic gloves on and the glove was soaked in blood ultimately allowing the material to shrink in size. The prosecution stated that the blood found on the glove was both victims however the defence argued that it could have been planted. Due to the fact OJ has been in contact with the evidence it could never be processed again.