The process of elimination is a stage of the investigation which can determine who is truly a suspect, and who is innocent,this can be done through a number of ways, by whittling down the potential suspects, to one main suspect. Firstly, interviewing witnesses can get you a lot of information about the crime and those that are to be suspected of the crime; for example if all of the witnesses are saying that they saw a 6ft man leaving the scene, a 5ft tall female suspect is probably not to blame. This therefore is an important part of the process, as it allows the police to move more efficiently.
This stage continues by investigating all of the evidence collected from the scene of the crime, whether that's physical, biological or chemical evidence . For example , if a red hair was found on the body, that did not come from the victim, then anyone who is a suspect who is a red head will become suspect number on, and will be tested for DNA evidence, and the hairs will be compare .
Another key part of this stage of the investigation is to concentrate on the direction in which the investigation is moving, and who is the most likely to be the suspect, for example if one suspect has clear motive over the others.
Without this stage of the investigation, the investigation would be much longer, therefore giving the true culprit more time to cover their tracks, and potentially commit more crimes.
The OJ Simpson Case
When concerning the OJ Simpson case it became evident very quickly that by following the process of elimination, the one true suspect was OJ. OJ's limousine driver released a witness statement in which he reveals he saw a man fitting OJ Simpson's description climbing over his wall, just after the time of the murder.
All of the evidence at the scene of the crime points towards OJ being there at the time of death, and therefore being the killer. His blood was found at the scene, and the victims blood was found on and inside OJ's car.
Not only that, but there is evidence Nicole purchasing the gloves which OJ claims to have never seen before which were found at his house, and the scene of the crime.
One of the downsides to this aspect of the Investigation is that by focusing so quickly on OJ, it gave the impression of bias, therefore leading the defence to their claims that OJ was being falsely tried due to his race.
Also, there are some theories which highlight OJ's son Jason as the true killer, however due to the focus landing on OJ so quickly, he was overlooked as a suspect.
However, I believe this stage of the investigation did not directly lead to OJ's acquittal of the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, as without it he may never have even been tried. All of the evidence collected from this stage pointed towards OJ Simpson, however it was due to the flaws while collecting the evidence and how it was presented which led to his acquittal.
All of the evidence at the scene of the crime points towards OJ being there at the time of death, and therefore being the killer. His blood was found at the scene, and the victims blood was found on and inside OJ's car.
Not only that, but there is evidence Nicole purchasing the gloves which OJ claims to have never seen before which were found at his house, and the scene of the crime.
One of the downsides to this aspect of the Investigation is that by focusing so quickly on OJ, it gave the impression of bias, therefore leading the defence to their claims that OJ was being falsely tried due to his race.
Also, there are some theories which highlight OJ's son Jason as the true killer, however due to the focus landing on OJ so quickly, he was overlooked as a suspect.
However, I believe this stage of the investigation did not directly lead to OJ's acquittal of the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, as without it he may never have even been tried. All of the evidence collected from this stage pointed towards OJ Simpson, however it was due to the flaws while collecting the evidence and how it was presented which led to his acquittal.