Crossing The Yellow Tape: Operating At Crime Scenes

Debate still lingers over whether O.J. Simpson murdered his ex-wife, Nicole Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman. Many people have their opinions, but thankfully our justice system does not operate on hunches, feelings or intuition. A person on trial for murder has to be proven guilty beyond "reasonable doubt."

Enter O.J. Simpson's Dream Team! Their job was to defend Simpson and create "reasonable doubt" in the minds of the jurors. How did they do it?

Every piece of evidence, DNA or testimony was disputed and confronted with some explanation or challenge. For example, the prosecution was able to demonstrate to the jury that hair fibers from O.J. Simpson were found on Nicole Simpson's body and clothing. Sounds pretty conclusive, doesn't it? Sounds like O.J. was definitely in contact with Nicole at the time of the murder. But wait - the Dream Team had an explanation.

"Your honor, we would like to enter into evidence, pictures of the crime scene in which Nicole Simpson has a blanket over her body. You can see, your honor, from the picture that she has a cotton, wool blanket over her body that is not a traditional clean, white, linen sheet used on crime scenes to cover up a body. Your honor, this blanket is the exact same blanket that Mr. Simpson would use when he sometimes slept over night at the house on the couch. Therefore, your honor, Mr. Simpson's hair fibers were already on this blanket and when the police officer took the blanket out of the home and placed it over Nicole Simpson, he cross-contaminated her body with his hair fibers."

If you are a juror, is there "reasonable doubt"? Unfortunately, the crime scene was so bloody, and the bodies were visible from the street, that a police officer took the initiative to retrieve a blanket from the home and place it over Nicole Simpson's body. While his intentions were well meaning, it hampered the prosecution of O.J. Simpson.

The Simpson-Goldman murder case clearly demonstrated the need for maintaining the integrity of crime scenes. As EMS providers, fire personnel routinely enter crime scenes and treat victims. Unfortunately, we can also be the ones who help create opportunities for smart lawyers to produce that "reasonable doubt " in a juror's mind. Our actions in a crime scene can very well destroy the single piece of evidence that may be used to convict a murderer.

Even where we park apparatus can destroy evidence. Several years ago, a suspected child serial killer dumped a small girl's body in a secluded dirt alley in north St. Louis. Paramedics responded to the scene and drove their Ford E-350 conversion ambulance up the dirt alley, parked next to the girl, pronounced her dead and exited the crime scene.

A security camera on a warehouse about a block away recorded a van, which happened to be a Ford E-350 rental truck, driving up the alley about 4 o'clock in the morning, stopping, and someone dumping the small girl's body out of the truck and onto the ground.

The police finally had a lead on a child serial killer. This will be simple, they thought. We'll make an imprint of the tire tracks from the rental truck, go to all the truck-rental shops in the St. Louis area and match the tires on the trucks with the imprints from the alley. When we find the truck, the records will show who rented the truck on that day.

But there was a problem. The rental truck was a Ford E-350 van and the ambulance that drove up the alley was a Ford E-350 conversion van. Which tracks were made by the rental truck and which by the ambulance? Luckily, the ambulance was not driven exactly over the same tracks as the rental truck's. If that had occurred, the single key piece of evidence would have been destroyed. As a result, there were two sets of tire tracks from Ford E-350 vans in the alley.

Before the police could check rental trucks at the various lots, they had to first determine which ambulance was on the call, take an imprint of its tires and eliminate one set of tracks from the alley. Eventually, the police efforts paid off and the tire tracks led them to the killer. But the simple action of the medics driving an ambulance up an alley into a crime scene could have let a killer remain free, maybe to kill again.

Crime scenes fall into two categories - those that are controlled and those that are uncontrolled. In the case of the little girl's body lying in the alley, that would be an uncontrolled crime scene. Even though the area is secured with yellow police tape to keep civilians out, the scene is still subject to the elements, including wind, rain and possibly animals. Any of these elements could destroy evidence. The controlled crime scene is usually found in a building, which not only can be secured from gawkers, but against environmental elements or animals.

Please do not forget about safety. Scene safety is the first priority on any call. Before entering any possible violent crime scene, you should stage and the scene should be "secured" by the police. "Secured" is the key word. "Secured" means that the police are on the scene and the assailant is in custody or has left the scene. It does not mean the police are on the scene. The police can be on a scene and the scene can still be dangerous.

To be continued.