One of the smallest and most powerful pieces of evidence against O.J. Simpson was revealed to jurors Friday - a fragment of hair resembling Simpson's on the bloodied shirt of Ronald Goldman.
Douglas Deedrick, an FBI hair and fiber expert, said he could think of no way the hair could have been transferred to Goldman's shirt except through physical contact with his killer.Although prosecutors have presented DNA analysis of blood drops said to link Simpson to the scene of the slayings of Goldman and Simpson's ex-wife, there is no evidence of his blood on either victim.
Deedrick rejected the idea that the hair would have reached Goldman's shirt by blowing off other clothing or fabric.
Simpson's defense team has suggested his hair was scattered at the crime scene when a blanket from Nicole Brown Simpson's condominium was brought outside to cover her body. His attorneys also have suggested that any of Simpson's blood at the crime scene was either planted by police or left there earlier when Simpson was visiting his children.
Deedrick said the hair taken from Goldman's shirt had no root and was "a very short head hair fragment."
He also identified 12 hairs similar to those of Simpson on the dark knit cap discovered under bushes at the condo near Goldman's feet and another two hairs on a golf cap on the floor of Simpson's Bronco.
"These hairs exhibit the same microscopic characteristics and could have originated from the defendant," Deedrick said.
Loyola University law professor Laurie Levenson called the hair evidence a powerful finale for the prosecution case.
"A lot of people say they (prosecutors) are going out with a whimper," she said. "This is not a whimper."
Using a photograph of Nicole Simpson projected on a 7-foot-high screen, Deedrick told of analyzing many blond hairs similar to hers. He said 35 of them were found on Goldman's shirt - an indication that the killer attacked her first, then moved toward Goldman, transferring her hair to Goldman's clothes.