Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 21, 1994 TAG: 9407260054
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES NOTE: ABOVE LENGTH: Medium
Moving on two fronts to assert the innocence of their high-profile client, lawyers for O.J. Simpson on Wednesday announced a $500,000 reward for information leading to the ``real killer or killers'' and filed a motion accusing police of ignoring evidence that points to other possible suspects.
``It has become apparent to me that the investigative resources available to the prosecution of this case have, from the first discovery of the bodies, been exclusively devoted to only one theory: that the defendant Orenthal James Simpson was personally responsible for these murders,'' Simpson's lawyer Robert Shapiro stated in a declaration accompanying his motion.
``Evidence suggesting his innocence has been ignored in the investigation.''
In other developments Wednesday:
Law enforcement sources said the Los Angeles Police Department tentatively has determined that it would have been almost impossible for detective Mark Fuhrman to have pocketed a key piece of evidence - a bloody glove later found outside Simpson's home - from the scene where the bodies of Ronald Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson were discovered.
Members of Simpson's defense team have suggested Fuhrman might have planted the glove at the Simpson estate, an assertion department officials say is far-fetched. According to sources, 14 police officers and supervisors were on hand when Fuhrman arrived.
Minutes from a June 29 supervisors' meeting at the Los Angeles County Coroner's Department indicate 16 evidence errors were made during the murder investigation.
An office spokesman downplayed the significance of those errors, which include placement of incorrect labels on fluid samples. He said they would not compromise any evidence in the case, but even minor mistakes could reinforce defense challenges to the integrity and competence of the investigation.
In announcing the reward offer, a Simpson attorney said the defense team is launching its own investigation into the killings, hiring another private investigator and opening a toll-free hot line for tipsters.
In the motion and in Shapiro's accompanying declaration, the defense attorneys cited several items they said could bolster their client's claims of innocence and which they alleged have not been investigated adequately.
For instance, Shapiro said an officer at the scene of the murders suggested the killer might have been bitten by a dog; he requested access to any records of visits to emergency rooms in the area by people seeking treatment for dog-bite wounds.
He also said Nicole Simpson received a number of threatening, obscene phone calls in December 1992 from a suspect who was not O.J. Simpson. Shapiro asked for immediate access to any official information on that topic as well.
Shapiro further alleged that files already turned over to him by prosecutors quote a neighbor who heard Nicole Simpson's garage door being opened on the night of the killings.
Also, a number of fingerprints at the crime scene do not match the victims' or O.J. Simpson's, Shapiro added, demanding more material on those leads be forwarded to him immediately.
Another piece of information cited by Shapiro was a comment by the Simpsons' daughter, overheard by a police officer immediately after the killings. ``I heard Mommy's best friend's voice and heard Mommy crying,'' he quoted the 8-year-old as saying, but did not elaborate further.
In addition, the defense lawyers asked for records including police reports on any prowlers or burglaries in the Brentwood neighborhood in the six months before the killings; reports of ``unsolved similar murders in California in the past year''; and reports on internal investigations involving detectives or other authorities involved in the case.
by CNB