How the mystery knife could affect O.J. Simpson’s parole

Even if O.J. Simpson used the knife now being tested in the 1994 brutal slayings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution guarantees that he will not face a second prosecution for the infamous murders.

But it doesn’t preclude the Nevada Department of Corrections — where Simpson is doing time for an unrelated armed robbery and kidnapping — from taking notice.

Simpson, incarcerated in a prison located an hour outside of Reno, Nev., is currently serving a sentence of nine to 33 years for a 2007 conviction in which he tried to recover football memorabilia.

The 68-year-old is eligible for parole next year, but a knife tying Simpson to the unsolved murders could block his release.

“The Nevada Parole Board may consider and give relevant weight to any evidence that bears on whether the release of the petitioning inmate could constitute a danger to the public,” a spokeswoman from attorney general Adam Paul Laxalt’s office said in an email to Yahoo News.

Nevada law permits the parole board to take into account:

(a) Whether there is a reasonable probability that the prisoner will live and remain at liberty without violating the laws;

(b) Whether the release is incompatible with the welfare of society;

(c) The seriousness of the offense and the history of criminal conduct of the prisoner.

News of the knife is the latest twist in a saga that’s captured the world's attention for more than two decades. Simpson’s ex-wife Nicole and Goldman, her friend, were stabbed to death June 12, 1994, in Los Angeles’s upscale Brentwood neighborhood.

A murder weapon was never found, but police recovered a bloody glove in Simpson’s yard two miles from the crime scene. A jury acquitted the Hall of Fame running back during the sensational so-called Trial of the Century. Two years later, a civil court jury determined that Simpson, who has always maintained his innocence, was liable for the deaths and awarded $33.5 million to the Brown and Goldman families.

The unearthed knife, now undergoing forensic testing, was allegedly found by workers who were razing the Simpson estate in 1998 after the property was sold.

But Trent Copeland, an attorney for retired Los Angeles Police Department patrolman George Maycott, told the Los Angeles Times his client didn’t receive the knife until 2003. That’s when Maycott, while working security on a Brentwood movie, said a construction worker handed him the knife.

“‘Hey look, I found this knife on what I think is O.J. Simpson’s property,’” Copeland said of his client’s recollection of the encounter. “‘It is dirty, muddy and rusted out, but do you guys want it?’”

Copeland told the newspaper that the officer, who retired in 1998, called the West L.A. Police Department Traffic Division minutes after receiving the knife. Maycott, the attorney said, was put on hold before being told the Simpson case was closed.

“O.J. Simpson has been acquitted and there is double jeopardy ... there is nothing we can do,” Copeland said Maycott was told.

Last Friday, Capt. Andy Neiman emphasized that detectives were still trying to determine the authenticity of the knife story and whether “this whole story is possibly bogus from the get-go.”

“It’s unusual how this all of a sudden becomes a huge story during this time,” Neiman said. The original saga is currently receiving renewed attention because of the FX series “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story.” In June, ESPN plans to air a five-part miniseries on the rise and fall of Simpson called “O.J.: Made in America.”

The owner of the construction crew who leveled Simpson’s former home is among those casting doubt about the knife’s connection to the case.

“I think it’s a joke,” Mike Weber, owner of Weber-Madgwick Inc., told the Los Angeles Times. “It’s just filler. … No one on my crew found anything. I had instructed my people, ‘If you find anything, don’t keep it. Tell me, we’ll take the appropriate action.’”

Jason Sickles is a national reporter for Yahoo News. Follow him on Twitter (@jasonsickles).