The LAPD are investigating and testing a knife that was recovered on the property once owned by O.J. Simpson.
The LAPD is investigating and testing a knife that was recovered on the property once owned by O.J. Simpson.
Read: From the Gloves to the Bloodied Clothes, What Happened to Evidence in O.J. Simpson's Trial?
Simpson owned the Los Angeles mansion during the time his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman, were stabbed to death in 1994. Simpson was acquitted of the killings.
The knife was turned over to the police last month by a retired officer, according to Captain Andrew Neiman, who spoke at a press conference on Friday morning. The officer was given the knife by a construction worker who found the knife on Simpson’s Rockingham Estate while the property was demolished, Neiman said.
It is not known where on the property the knife was found or if it is related to the 1994 killings.
According to Neiman, the Robbery Homicide Division did not want the name of the retired officer nor describe the type of knife that was found released to the public as they continue their investigation.
Neiman also said that the LAPD are looking into administrative charges against the retired officer as well as criminal charges.
The captain stressed that the officer was off-duty. He said they are investigating whether he had retired from the force at the time the weapon was given to him. The officer is said to have retired from the LAPD in “the late 90s” according to Neiman.
According to Neiman, the retired officer thought the case was closed, however, since no killer has never been convicted in the murders of Brown Simpson and Goldman, the case has remained open for 22 years.
The department’s Robbery Homicide Division is now testing the knife in forensic labs for DNA and to see if there is any connection to the infamous Brentwood murder case.
Simpson’s ex-wife and Goldman were found murdered at her condo on June 12, 1994. Simpson was found not guilty by the jury the following year in a murder case dubbed “The Trial of the Century.”
During the lead up to the trial and throughout the court case, the murder weapon was never found.
One of Simpson's lawyers from his so-called "Dream Team" defense, Alan Dershowitz, spoke to INSIDE EDITION about the discovery of the knife.
"There are always two verdicts in any case. There is the verdict of the court and the verdict of history," he said. "The verdict of the court can’t be disturbed because of the double jeopardy clause. The verdict of history has its own claims. If history proves that O.J. Simpson did it, then that is what history will determine. History does not have a statute of limitations. History does not have a double jeopardy clause."
Read: O.J. Simpson's Trial: Where Are They Now?
Should the knife be connected to the murders and O.J. Simpson, the disgraced football star could not be tried again in court due to the double jeopardy procedural defense, where a person cannot be tried for the same charges in the same case following an acquittal or conviction.
Simpson is currently serving time in a Nevada prison for armed robbery.
Fred Goldman, the father of slain Ronald Goldman, spoke to the New York Daily News about the discovery of the knife on Friday.
“I hope it turns out to be the weapon. It would be one more nail in (Simpson's) coffin. He should be dead already, but he’s not. Unfortunately, I don’t think it would change much legally,” he said. “It’s unreal to hear that an officer may have had it and didn’t turn it in.”
Watch: Khloe Kardashian: People Scrawled 'Guilty' On My Dad's Car During O.J. Trial
