Death Doctor

Death Doctor

National Clearinghouse for Science, Technology and the Law brought a pre-eminent pathologist to Stetson.

By Janet Leiser

Managing Editor

The murders of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman most likely involved two killers, not one, and blood droplets on Nicole's back would have led to her killer if the evidence had been properly preserved, according to Dr. Michael Baden, a famous forensic pathologist.

But the police wrongly assumed there was only one killer and the blood droplets that Baden says belonged to one of the killers were lost forever when Simpson's body was taken to the coroner's office, Baden told the crowd at the inaugural lecture for the National Clearinghouse for Science, Technology and the Law.

Stetson University College of Law's 'Great Hall' was packed for the Jan. 30 event attended by law students, lawyers, professors and law enforcement officials, including Stetson Visiting Professor Carol Henderson, who established the federally funded clearinghouse in August, Pinellas County Sheriff Everett Rice and Hillsborough County Medical Examiner Vernard Adams.

Baden, author of "Dead Reckoning: The New Science of Catching Killers" and host of HBO's "Autopsy," discussed the history of murder, beginning with Cain and Abel, and the nuances of forensic science.

"It is interesting how quickly forensic science has captured the imagination of all of us," said Baden, who helped reinvestigate the murders of President John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King. "It's amazing how quickly science moves."

But as the Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman murders show, he said, "The fact we have technology doesn't mean we automatically get the right answer. There are a lot of things that have to be done to make sure it's used properly."

When Baden began his career with the New York City medical examiner's office in the 1960s, about 90% of all murders resulted in a conviction. "Today, with all the new technology that has gone down to 60%," he said.

The No. 1 reason for a wrongful conviction, he said, is misidentification by eyewitnesses.

Another problem with death investigations is that half the country is under the jurisdiction of coroners, he said. Most elected coroners are funeral directors. "Why? That's who likes dead bodies."

Florida is one of the few states with a medical examiners' system, where the person in charge has to be a physician.

Another problem is that only 400 of the 800,000 physicians in the U.S. are forensic pathologists, he said, adding, "And there are a dozen states that don't have a single forensic pathologist in the whole state."

"How do you train the country when most forensic pathologists are in California, New York and Florida?" he said.

Only 8% of all deaths are from homicides, suicides or accidents, he said. Murder investigations are also changing because so many people die in the hospital, sometimes days or months after being injured. And thanks to medical science, many more victims survive that wouldn't have survived 30 years ago.

As for the O.J. Simpson case, Baden said, "It was supposed to be a confession. When he didn't confess, problems arose. I've had a lot to do with Mark Fuhrman. He's a very bright guy. How he got himself into this crazy situation, taking the Fifth Amendment, just shows you that we're all vulnerable to do stupid things."

In the front of the hall, a photograph of Nicole Simpson's front porch, smeared with blood and marked by shoeprints, flashes on the screen. There's a black glove and an envelope containing glasses that Mark Goldman was returning to Nicole Simpson.

"All these shoeprints, it turns out, belong to detectives," Baden said as the crowd gasped. "There were lots and lots of people at the scene who shouldn't have been at the scene. The crime scene has to be protected."

That is easier said than done, he acknowledged. Offering a solution. The first detective at the scene should put up the crime scene tape. From thereon out, anyone who wants to go in should have their name written down and told they can expect to be the first witness called by the defense attorney.

"That keeps them out," Baden said.

A photograph of Nicole Simpson laying face down, blood droplets on her bare upper back shows that the blood "could only have come from above," he said.

"When the body was put on its back all these blood drops were lost," he said. "By the time the body gets to the morgue, they're gone. They're rubbing against the body bag."

The lesson?

"Bodies should be moved in the way they're found," Baden said. "There's no reason to turn the body over. If Nicole Simpson had been moved in that position, put on the stretcher in that position, all that evidence would have been saved."

It would have showed who the killer was, he said.