In a Friday news conference, Los Angeles Police Department Capt. Andrew Neiman noted, “It is my understand that double-jeopardy is in place here”.
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“That retired motor officer hung on to the knife”, Neiman told KNX 1070 NEWSRADIO.
“We need to determine if it’s evidence”, Neiman said.
Despite Simpson’s acquittal of double-murder, the LAPD still considers the 1994 murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman an open case, Neiman said.
The confirmation follows a report, published Friday by TMZ and citing law enforcement sources, that said a construction worker found a knife years ago buried on the perimeter of the former Simpson home and handed it over to a police officer working security for a nearby film shoot.
“I would think that an LAPD officer, if this story is accurate as we are being told, would know that any time you come into contact with evidence that you should and shall submit that to investigators”, Neiman said. He would not reveal the name of the former officer who turned over the knife, nor would he say whether that person would be facing charges for withholding evidence, though he did express surprise that a former LAPD officer would do such a thing. Detectives believe the weapon was possibly recovered during the demolition of the property.
The officer, whom he declined to identify, kept the knife until recently, when he turned it over to Los Angeles police, Neiman said. Simpson was almost decapitated and had defensive wounds on her hands.
However, even if police find that the knife is in fact from O.J. Simpson’s former property and that it implicates him in the killings, he could not be brought forth on murder charges stemming from the development.
Simpson, 68, is now serving a prison sentence in Nevada for the 2007 armed robbery and kidnap of a sports memorabilia dealer.
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The original case is receiving renewed attention after the FX series “American Crime Story” featuring the trial was released earlier this year.
