O.J. Simpson And Daniel Taylor example essay topic

Evidence is the key element in determining the guilt or innocence of those accused of crimes against society in a criminal court of law. Evidence can come in the form of weapons, documents, pictures, tape recordings and DNA. According to the American Heritage College dictionary, evidence is the documentary or oral statements and the material objects admissible as testimony in a court of law (476). It is shown in court as an item of proof, to impeach or rehabilitate a witness, and to determine a sentence. This paper will examine two murder cases, O.J. Simpson and Daniel Taylor.

Perhaps the most famous case in the 20th century was the O.J. Simpson double murder trial. On June 12, 1994, two people were brutally killed. Those two people were Nicole Brown Simpson, O.J. Simpson's ex-wife, and Ronald Goldman. O.J. was arrested the next day and charged with their murder. O.J. pleaded innocent to murder and went to trial in criminal court. There was a load of evidences at the residence of Nicole's to charge him with two counts of first degree murder and it seemed almost impossible for O.J. to be found innocent. There were loads of evidences found at the scene and O.J.'s home. The bodies of both Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman, blood of the victims, shoe prints and other evidences.

But, one of the main evidence was the questionable bloody glove found behind the guesthouse, which was proven by DNA testing to have O.J. 's, Nicole's and Ron's blood and hair on it. Fibers were also found on the glove that came from O.J.'s shirt and his Bronco (CNN). In addition, a bloody footprint which matched O.J.'s shoes, blood on O.J.'s Bronco door, on the console, on the interior side of the door, a bloody footprint in the Bronco, bloody socks in O.J.'s house, O.J.'s injured finger, blood found at Nicole's condo that matched O.J. 's, and so on (CNN). But, the defense claimed that the evidence had been planted. Eyewitnesses are also an important piece of evidence. Allen Wittenberg, a knife store owner, testified during the preliminary hearing that O.J. bought a 14-inch Stiletto knife from his store. O.J.'s limo driver arrived to drive O.J. to the airport and saw a black man, with the same build as O.J. sprinting across the lawn towards O.J.'s house.

When O.J. answered the door, he said he'd been napping (CNN). Simpson's house guest stated that he saw Simpson pulled up in the white bronco shortly after the time of the murders. All the times given by these witnesses were around the alleged time of the murders. The police investigations uncovered more evidences to link Simpson to the murders. Their testimonies showed that Simpson had actually planned the crime. He had an alibi but it was shaky.

Simpson's history of spousal abuse gave the prosecutors was a blow to his case too. All the evidences pointed unfavorably toward O.J. Simpson Despite all this evidence, the jury found O.J. not guilty. The LAPD made some mistakes, which allowed the defense to attack the creditability of the police. O.J.'s defense, called 'The Dream Team,' took advantage of the prosecutions and the officers incompetence and created reasonable doubt in the jurors minds (CNN). The officers' duties included making sure that no unauthorized people may enter the scene. They had allowed unauthorized officers the go through the scene, thus causing some contamination to the crime scene. By all accounts, the prosecution did a poor job presenting the evidence and the officers did not do a very good job at securing the scene On the other hand, the case of Daniel Taylor, who was convicted of murdering two people also, had a solid Alibi with paperwork and witnesses to support his alibi it seemed almost impossible for the jury to find him guilty.

But on "December morning in 1992, 17 year old gang member, Daniel, confessed to a double murder committed two weeks earlier in the Uptown neighborhood. (Chicago Tribune) ". The case was built upon Taylor's confession. Taylor claimed that they broke down the door and demanded money from the victims. When the victims refused to give him and his accomplishes the money, they killed Jeffrey Lassiter and Sharon Haga book. The murders took place approximately 8: 43 pm (Chicago Tribune).

After he was picked out of a lineup, Daniel Taylor started thinking where he was on the day in question. He remembered a court date he had and realized he was in jail doing the double homicides There were solid evidences to support Taylor alibi. "Within days, police found an arrest report that showed Taylor was locked up for disorderly conduct at 6: 45 pm on November 16th, the night of the murders. A copy a bond slip showed he had not released from the Town Hall District lockup until 10: 00 p.m. (Chicago Tribune). Instead of releasing Taylor and "questioning how he came to confess, detectives gathered evidence putting Taylor on the street when the murders occurred and casting doubt on his arrest records (Chicago Tribune).

The bogus evidences consisted of witnesses that put Daniel at the crime scene. The witnesses consisted of a drug dealer, who claimed he saw Taylor in Clarendon Park and gang members. In addition, two police officers testified that they saw Daniel on the street and not in jail. The officer stated that after they responded to "a radio bulletin of the shooting, he encountered Taylor (Chicago tribune) " and asked for his assistant in finding one of the men in the neighbor. Taylor's lawyer forced the officer on the stand to admit that his report was not filed until two weeks "after Taylor asserted his alibi and a month after the encounter (Chicago tribune) and his report weren't approved by his superior.

Taylor's lawyer called the arresting officer, who stated that he arrested Taylor in the parker at about 6: 45 pm to the stand. He continued to stated that Daniel was acting rudely and was charged with disorderly conduct. The officer went on to state that he drove Daniel to the station and "moved him to the lockup at 7: 25 pm-about the same time the prosecution put Taylor in the park (Chicago tribune) ". Another witness for Taylor was the lockup keeper, who testified that he left work after 9: 00 pm and Daniel was still locked up.

Lastly, another officer testified he issued Taylor his bond slip around 10: 00 am. Daniel lawyer also, "called a handwriting expert, who said that the signature on the bond slip appeared to be Taylor's signature. Unlike O.J. there was no DNA linking him to the crime scene or the bodies. Again, all the evidences pointed favorably toward Daniel Taylor and despite the evidences presented, the jury found Taylor guilty of murder.

In closing arguments, Need hand and Bishcoff sought to discredit the officers who had testified for Taylor, accusing them of covering up sloppy record keeping for fear they would be blamed for letting Taylor leave jail early to commit murders (Chicago tribune). In addition, the prosecutor used Daniel's confession on tape to convict him. "Paperwork is not foolproof", Bishcoff, the prosecutor, said. But I'll tell you what is foolproof. And what is foolproof are the defendant's own words" (Chicago tribune). REFERENCE " DNA Fingerprinting" (1997) Encarta Encyclopaedia 1997"Blood truths, Why the Police Want to Tag Your Body" Helen O'Neill, The Australian 6.12.

1997"Flaws in New DNA Database " Simon Kearny, The Sydney Telegraph 22.04. 2001"Jail For Rapist Caught by DNA " No ula Tsavdaridis, The Advertiser 21.10. 2000 The American Heritage College Dictionary, 3rd edition, 1997, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston MA, 476.