The knife that was allegedly found on the former property of O.J. Simpson raises legal questions.
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The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story has drawn the U.S. tv set audience back into the 1 of the most infamous criminal trials of our time, but that involvement could pale in comparing to speculation sparked by a sometime LAPD officer who turned in a pocketknife that he claims was found on Simpson'due south former property and could exist the missing weapon in the 1994 murders of Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman.
If this knife is indeed that missing knife, what does information technology mean for the murder investigation?
The Hollywood Reporter asked USC constabulary professor and criminal defense force attorney Michael Brennan to explain.
When is a criminal instance officially closed?
It closes when somebody is arrested and convicted of the crime that's been committed. In this case, that hasn't happened. [Simpson] was charged and acquitted, so the case is still open. They just haven't prosecuted and convicted anyone for those two homicides. I'm not sure the LAPD has spent a tremendous corporeality of time trying to find another suspect.
What could happen next if no DNA bear witness is establish on the knife?
So it's only some other pocketknife. If there is some forensic evidence that ties the knife to the victims, either victim, then the knife has some historical outcome only information technology wouldn't accept a legal issue.
What could happen next if O.J. Simpson's Dna is found on the knife?
He can't be tried for the same crime twice [because of the double jeopardy clause]. Federal regime in federal court could pursue charges of violation of the victim's federal civil rights. I don't know off the top of my head if that'due south a possibility in the O.J. case because of the statute of limitations. Having said that, that piece of evidence alone might not exist plenty to cause federal prosecutors to file such charges even if they could.
What is double jeopardy and why is it necessary?
Nosotros've always had the concept of double jeopardy in our legal arrangement. The prosecution has one chance to charge and prosecute someone for a crime. If you are found non guilty, then the country or the federal government cannot charge you again. It prevents people from being harassed with criminal charges that they've been acquitted of in the past. If you lot fail to captive them, y'all can't try it again.
Is that accented, or are in that location any loopholes?
It's absolute in terms of the state. The country cannot charge you lot with that aforementioned criminal offence again. There are no loopholes. The simply exception is the one I mentioned earlier, which would be if yous are acquitted in state court of a offense, there is the possibility of federal prosecutors prosecuting you in federal court for violation of a victim's civil rights. That seldom happens, but it is a possibility.
What could happen next if someone other than O.J. Simpson's Dna is found on the knife?
The LAPD and the county DA's office is going to accept to determine whether they take enough evidence to prosecute someone else. Deoxyribonucleic acid of the victims and DNA of a third person probably wouldn't be sufficient for them to charge a person with the homicide because you need more than that type of evidence. I would remember it would be unlikely.
What could happen side by side if this is discovered to be a prank of some sort?
I think it's pretty articulate that the LAPD officer who turned the knife over has had it in his possession for more than than 10 years, so I don't retrieve information technology's a prank. Information technology was probably a mistake on his part not to plough it over when he received it. I don't think he's committed any kind of a law-breaking, only I know LAPD is probably not happy with him for not turning it over earlier.
If the knife had been turned in before, Brennan says whatever forensic evidence found on information technology would have been stronger. Only more than than twenty years after the crime, this pocketknife is likely not a smoking gun.
Says Brennan, "People would similar to accept some evidence that supports their conclusions about O.J. and his guilt or innocence, and that would satisfy some of those matters, simply legally the knife doesn't have much significance."
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