8 Days of O.J. - "DNA EVIDENCE NO ONE UNDERSTANDS: When Science Met Skepticism and Lost" - Day 5

0:03 Caalerogushark Media. This is Reed Carter, Tuesday, September thirtieth, twenty twenty five, Day five of eight days of OJ. We're examining. May nineteen ninety five the month science went to war with skepticism and lost. The month DNA evidence that should have guaranteed O J. Simpson's conviction became just another reason to doubt the system. May was the month prosecution presented their most powerful evidence, genetic proof that OJ Simpson was at the crime scene, that his blood was mixed with the victim's blood, that the odds of someone else being responsible were literally astronomical. One in one hundred seventy million.

0:48 Those were the odds that the blood at Bundy Drive belonged to anyone other than O J. Simpson. One in one hundred seventy million. You're more likely to be struck by lightning while winning the lottery than for that blood to belong to someone else. But Barry Sheck was about to prove that statistics don't matter if people don't trust the statisticians, that science doesn't matter if you can convince a jury that the scientists are incompetent, That being right doesn't matter if you can't explain why you're right in terms twelve people can understand. Thirty one days of watching the most sophisticated forensic evidence in legal history get explained away by contamination theories and collection complaints. Thirty one days of watching prosecutors turn certainty into confusion and proof into propaganda.

1:34 I'm read Carter, this is day five of eight days of OJA. Welcome to the month we learned that DNA doesn't speak for itself. It needs translators, and the defense had better translators than the prosecution. May nineteen ninety five thirty one days that should have been the prosecution's victory lap. Thirty one days of presenting DNA evidence so overwhelming, so scientifically certain, so mathematically definitive that any reasonable jury should have convicted OJ Simpson before lunch. Instead, May became the month we learned that reasonable juries don't exist when the case is about celebrity and race instead of evidence and truth.

2:16 The month began with the prosecution's DNA experts taking the stand to explain what should have been the simplest concept in the world. OJ Simpson's blood was at the crime scene where Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were murdered case closed trial over verdict guilty. But nothing in this case was ever simple because simplicity doesn't generate television ratings or defense fees or reasonable doubt. When you need unreasonable acquittals may second doctor Robin Cotton from cell Mark Diagnostics takes the stand. Cotton is one of the world's leading DNA experts. She's testified in hundreds of cases. She's helped pioneer the use of genetic evidence in criminal prosecutions. She should have been the witness who ended any doubt about Ojay's guilt. Instead, Cotton turned into a science professor, lecturing students who didn't want to be in class. Cotton explained restriction fragment length polymorphism testing. She described polymerase chain reaction amplification.

3:19 She walked through statistical probability calculations that proved Ojay's guilt beyond any mathematical doubt. And I can see exactly what happened watching this testimony thirty years later. The jury's eyes glazed over, like they were back in high school chemistry, wondering when this would be over so they could go to lunch. The prosecution made their fatal mistake. Again, they assumed evidence speaks for itself. They assumed that being scientifically correct was the same as being persuasively convincing. They forgot that juries are made up of regular people who need to feel the weight of evidence, not just hear about it. Cotton testified about the blood found at Bundy Drive, OJ Simpson's blood, not blood that might be his, Not blood that was similar to his. OJ Simpson's actual DNA deposited at the scene where two people were murdered. The statistical probability that this blood belonged to someone else one in one hundred seventy million. Cotton explained this number multiple times, in multiple ways, with multiple charts and graphs. One in one hundred seventy million. There aren't one hundred seventy million people in Los Angeles. There aren't one hundred seventy million people in California. You could test every person in America and not find another DNA match to the blood at Bundy Drive. But Barry Sheck was ready with his contamination symphony.

4:41 Sheck didn't dispute the DNA results. He couldn't. The science was too solid, the testing too reliable, the match is too perfect. Instead, he disputed everything else, how the blood was collected, how it was stored, how it was transported, how it was tested. May tenth, Jeck begins his cross examination of Cotton, and it's a masterpiece of misdirection. Instead of arguing about what the DNA showed, he argued about whether the DNA could be trusted. Was the blood properly refrigerated, where chain of custody protocols followed exactly? Were testing procedures performed in the correct sequence? Could contamination have occurred at any point in the process. Each question was designed to plant doubt about the reliability of results that showed OJ's guilt with mathematical certainty. Sheck wasn't trying to prove the DNA testing was wrong. He was trying to prove it was questionable, and with a jury that had already been convinced the LAPD couldn't be trusted with evidence collection questionable was enough for reasonable doubt, but May brought even more damning evidence from OJ's white Bronco, the vehicle that should have been his mobile. Confession to double murder. May fifteenth, the prosecution presents evidence from inside the Bronco, OJ's blood on the driver's door handle, on the steering wheel on the center console, Nicole's blood on the carpet, Ron's blood mixed with Ojays in multiple locations, hair evidence that matched Nicole,

6:14 fiber evidence that matched the crime scene, a trail of physical proof that connected OJ to the murders as clearly as if he'd left a signed confession. The Bronco wasn't just OJ's car, it was his mobile crime scene. Every surface told the story of what happened June twelfth, nineteen ninety four. Oj drove from the murder scene with the victim's blood on his hands, in his car, on his clothes. But the defense had an answer for this too, contamination cross contamination evidence planting the same conspiracy theories that had worked for the other evidence would work for the Bronco. Evidence too. May also brought one of the most bizarre pieces of testimony in this entire bizarre trial. Jose Camacho, OJ's former cellmate, claimed Oj had told him about dreaming of killing Nicole. According to Camacho, OJ described a recurring dream where he confronted Nicole and got carried away, where his anger turned to violence, and violence turned to murder, where his jealousy and control issues finally exploded into deadly rage.

7:18 This should have been devastating testimony, the defendant allegedly confessing to the crime in his sleep, revealing the psychological motivation behind the murders. But Camacho was a jailhouse informant with credibility issues. He was facing his own charges and had reason to lie for leniency. The defense destroyed his testimony by attacking his character and his motives, and Judge Itto, who had led in hours of DNA testimony that confused the jury, ruled that Camacho's testimony was too prejudicial to be fully heard. The jury got a sanitized version that didn't include the most damning details. Meanwhile, the defense was preparing their own see scientific counter narrative. Oj was too injured, too arthritic, too physically compromised to commit these murders. May twentieth.

8:09 The defense presents evidence of Ojay's arthritis and other physical ailments. He was taking medication for joint pain. He had limited mobility in his hands. He was too crippled to overpower too healthy adults and kill them both. This was laughable. Oj Simpson was playing golf regularly, He was working out, He was physically active. And obviously capable of violence. But the defense sold this story with medical records and expert testimony that made oj seem like a decrepit old man instead of a former professional athlete. And here's what I think the prosecution should have done. They should have put Ojay on a golf course, should have shown video of him swinging clubs, walking courses, playing eighteen holes. Should have demonstrated that someone to arthritic to commit murder was somehow healthy enough for recreational sports. Instead, they let the defense paint Ojay as a victim of his own physical limitations, while ignoring evidence that he was perfectly capable of the violence that killed Nicole and Ron. But May's most important revelation was what the DNA evidence revealed about the jury itself.

9:16 We could see them struggling with the scientific testimony. We could see their frustration with technical details they didn't understand. We could see them checking out mentally when experts started talking about statistical probabilities. The prosecution was presenting graduate level science to people who needed elementary level explanations. They were talking about molecular biology to jurors who needed to hear about blood and murder and guilt. In terms they could feel as well as understand. By May thirty first, the prosecution had presented the most scientifically conclusive evidence in legal history, DNA proof that OJ Simpson was guilty beyond any reasonable doubt, mathematical certainty that should have guaranteed his conviction. But they'd also lost the jury completely. They'd confuse them with complexity when they should have convinced them with clarity. They'd overwhelm them with data when they should have moved them with truth.

10:08 The defense, meanwhile, had successfully planted enough doubt about the science to make the jury distrust the results. They'd turned DNA evidence from proof of guilt into proof of conspiracy. May nineteen ninety five was the month the prosecution proved OJ Simpson was guilty and proved that proof doesn't matter if you can't sell it to twelve people who've already decided they don't trust the system that's trying to prove it. Thirty one days of watching scientific certainty become reasonable doubt, thirty one days of watching mathematical proof become statistical confusion, thirty one days of watching DNA evidence that should have ended the trial become just another reason to distrust the evidence.

10:51 We'll be right back with how May's scientific failure set the stage for June's catastrophic glove demonstration, The moment Chris Darden handed o ja A. Simpson his acquittal on live television. Welcome back to day five of eight Days of OJ. I'm Red Carter, and we're examining how May nineteen ninety five turned the most powerful forensic evidence in history into meaningless statistics. What really happened in May? The prosecution committed the same mistake they'd been making since January. They assumed that being right was enough to win. They assumed that scientific proof would overcome political prejudice. They assumed that DNA evidence would speak louder than defense theories. They were wrong about all of it. The jury that heard this DNA testimony wasn't interested in statistical probabilities. They were interested in police accountability. They weren't concerned with molecular biology. They were concerned with whether racist cops could be trusted with any evidence, scientific or otherwise. And Barry Czech understood this perfectly. He didn't need to disprove the DNA results. He only needed to make the jury distrust them. He didn't need to show the science was wrong. He only needed to show the scientists were fallible. May also revealed the prosecution's fundamental misunderstanding of their audience. They were presenting evidence to jurors who'd been selected by the defense specifically because they distrusted

12:24 the LAPD. They were trying to convince people who'd already decided that police evidence couldn't be believed. Doctor Robin Cotton could explain restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis all day long. She could calculate statistical probabilities until the numbers filled the courtroom, but none of that mattered to jurors who'd been convinced that contaminated evidence produced contaminated results. And here's what frustrates me most about May nineteen ninety five. The prosecution had the smoking gun and decided to explain how gunpowder works instead of just showing the jury the bullet holes. They had OJ's blood at the crime scene. They had the victim's blood in his car. They had hair and fiber evidence connecting him to the murders. They had a timeline that put him at the scene. They had motive and opportunity and consciousness of guilt. They could have told a simple story. OJ. Simpson killed Nicole and Ron, left his blood at the scene, drove home with their blood in his car, and tried to cover up his crimes. The DNA proves this beyond any doubt. Instead, they told a complex story about allelk ladders and molecular weight determinations and population frequency databases. They turned a murder case into a science lecture and wondered why the jury stopped listening, But may also showed us something else. How the defense strategy had completely succeeded in transforming this case from murder trial to police misconduct hearing. Every piece of evidence became an opportunity to attack LAPD procedures. Every scientific result became a

13:59 chance to question laboratory protocols. Every proof of guilt became a reason to doubt the people presenting the proof. The jury wasn't asking whether O. J. Simpson killed Nicole and Rawn anymore. They were asking whether the LAPD could be trusted to investigate anyone, especially a black celebrity. And with the LAPD's history of racism and incompetence, that was a fight the prosecution couldn't win, no matter how strong their evidence. By the end of May, I think both sides knew where this was heading. The prosecution knew their evidence was overwhelming, but their presentation was failing. The defense knew their client was guilty, but their strategy was working. The DNA evidence that should have guaranteed conviction had become just another exhibit in the case against the LAPD. The scientific proof that should have ended reasonable doubt had become the foundation for unreasonable conspiracy theories. May nineteen ninety five was the month we learned that in celebrity justice narrative, Trump's evidence every time, the defense had sold a better story about police corruption than the prosecution had sold about scientific proof, and the jury was buying what the defense was selling regardless of what the science was proving. The prosecution spent weeks on DNA evidence that meant nothing to a jury that had already decided the LAPD couldn't be trusted with simple evidence collection, let alone complex scientific analysis. They presented mathematical certainty to people who preferred political probability, They offered statistical proof to

15:32 jurors who wanted emotional truth. They provided scientific evidence to people who needed moral conviction, And in the end, all that scientific certainty didn't matter because the jury had stopped listening to the science and started believing the story. The story of racist cops framing an innocent black celebrity was more compelling than the story of DNA evidence proving a guilty defendant's crimes. May nineteen ninety five, the month science went to court and lost. The month proof became propaganda and evidence became irrelevant, The month that proved being right isn't enough if you can't convince twelve people to care about being right more than being righteous. That's day five of eight days of oj May nineteen ninety five, the month the most powerful scientific evidence in legal history became meaningless statistics to a jury that had stopped caring about science.

16:29 Tomorrow Day six June nineteen ninety five, the month of the most catastrophic prosecutorial decision in American legal history, when Chris Darden asked Oja to try on the bloody gloves and handed him his acquittal on live television. When if it doesn't fit, you must acquit became more memorable than one in one hundred seventy million, when a moment of prosecutorial arrogance destroyed months of evidence. June fifteenth, nineteen ninety five, the day that changed everything, The day the prosecution snatched defeat from the jaws of victory with one disastrous decision that we're still talking about thirty years later. But before we get to that catastrophe, let me remind you what may really proved. It proved that OJ Simpson's DNA was at the crime scene with mathematical certainty. It proved that he left a genetic fingerprint at the location where two people were murdered. It proved his guilt beyond any scientific doubt.

17:29 It also proved that scientific doubt doesn't matter if you can create reasonable doubt about the scientists, That mathematical proof doesn't matter, if you can convince jurors to distrust mathematics, That being factually correct doesn't matter if you can't be persuasively convincing. Doctor Robin Cotton presented evidence that should have convicted O. J. Simpson in any reasonable courtroom. She showed genetic proof of his presence at the crime scene that was more reliable than eyewitness testimony, more definitive than fingerprints, more conclusive than confessions. But this wasn't a reasonable courtroom. This was celebrity justice, where evidence matters less than narrative, where science matters less than storytelling, where proof matters less than performance. The prosecution had won in one hundred and seventy million odds that they were right. The defense had twelve jurors who didn't care about odds when they'd already decided the game was rigged. Nicole Brown, Simpson and Ronald Goldman deserved better than complicated science lectures and statistical probability explanations.

18:35 They deserved prosecutors who could translate evidence into emotion, data into justice, proof into conviction. Instead, they got experts who confused the jury and lawyers who forgot that being right isn't enough. You have to make people want to believe you're right. May nineteen ninety five was the month the prosecution proved OJ Simpson was guilty and proved that proving guilt doesn't guarantee conviction, not when the jury cares more about the messenger than the message, more about the system than the evidence, more about sending a message than delivering justice. Join me tomorrow for June nineteen ninety five, when Chris Darden made the decision that guaranteed OJ Simpson's freedom and guaranteed that Nicole and Ron's killer would walk free. I'm read Carter. The science was clear in May nineteen ninety five, the verdict was wrong in October, and DNA evidence is still one in one hundred and seventy million reliable, whether juries choose to believe it or not,