Analysis of Physical Evidence

Once a weapon has been found at a crime scene it has to be carefully examined and every feature of the weapon has to be stated. For example, if the weapon was a knife, then the length and width of the blade must be written down. This is so when the forensic scientists are analysing the body they can see if the size of the wounds match the murder weapon. This is also the case for tools such as hammers and screwdrivers which are known to be common murder weapons, The type of screwdriver can be easily confirmed by looking at the entry would of the victim. You can match the size and shape of the entry wound with the size and shape of the suspected screwdriver. As you can see by the picture on the next page, all of the different screwdriver heads are a different size and have different shaped heads which makes them easily identifiable. When an object that is not shatter resistant (glass, plastic, chips of paint) is smashed it breaks in lots of different pieces. The edges of these pieces are known as fracture lines, the pieces can sometimes be put together to uncover hidden evidence such as fingerprints. Shattered glass on the floor can tell a forensic analyst a lot, it could be a murder weapon, a breaking and entering case, a hit and run etc. If a piece of glass is found it also has t be documented, the forensic analyst should note down the colour, thickness, size, surface characteristics and tint. These things can help investigators to link suspects to the scene of the crime. An example of how they would do this would be if the glass found at the scene matched the glass on the headlight of the suspects’ car.

OJ Simpson

In the case where OJ Simpson allegedly murdered Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman a lot of evidence was found at the scene of the crime, most of the evidence found could be linked to OJ Simpson in some way. One of the most valuable pieces of evidence found at the scene by the police was a glove stained with blood, it was later found that the blood belonged to Nicole and the glove was also a match to the glove that was later found in OJ Simpsons house by detective Mark Fuhram. Even though a large amount of evidence was collected, only a small amount of evidence could actually be used due to how badly the evidence was collected by the forensic team. The pair of gloves that where found (one at the crime scene and one at OJ's house) were one of the main pieces of evidence used in court that could link OJ to the crime scene, however, the keep the gloves preserved they had to be frozen and due to them being wet with blood this resulted in them shrinking, this is why when OJ tried on the gloves in court they did not fit which resulted in him not being charged for the crime.

A second main piece of physical evidence was also found at the scene was the shoe prints that were found which started at the bodies of Nicole and Ronald and led to the entrance of the house, it was later found that the shoes were a size twelve which is the same size as OJ Simpson and that the shoes had a very rare sole which only belonged to the shoe make Bruno Magli which OJ had a pair of.