Attorney Shawn Holley, a member of O.J. Simpson’s 1995 defense team, has rebuffed claims that lead defense attorney Johnnie Cochran tampered with evidence during the former football player’s infamous murder trial, NBC News is reporting. The denial comes after former Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Christopher Darden on Thursday accused the late Cochran of manipulating a key piece of evidence in Simpson’s trial to help him get acquitted.

Darden said Cochran altered one of the gloves that the prosecution said linked Simpson to the murders of his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman. Simpson struggled to fit the gloves on his hands, after which Cochran made his famous quote to the jury, “if it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.”

In response to Darden’s claims, Holley said “As members of the defense team, Carl Douglas and I were present in court on the day that Chris Darden asked O.J. Simpson to try on the glove…Mr. Darden’s self-serving assertion that Johnnie Cochran tampered with the glove — or any piece of evidence — is false, malicious and slanderous.”

After Holley’s denial, Darden said in a follow-up interview that when he saw Simpson trying on the glove for the jury, its structure appeared to have changed. “A bailiff told me the defense had it during the lunch hour. It’s been my suspicion for a long time that the lining has been manipulated,” Darden added.

Written by: Karen Benardello