The Juice should thank his lucky stars there's such a thing as double jeopardy!

A knife found buried at OJ Simpson's former Rockingham estate in Brentwood has been turned over to the LAPD for investigation, TMZ first reported this morning.

The possible murder weapon in the Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman's slayings had been discovered on the property by a construction worker during house demolition, who handed it off to an off-duty cop who was nearby on a movie shoot. That cop, apparently, didn't think it was necessary to turn over the blade and kept it in his possession for over twenty years until he retired. He even thought of framing it as memorabilia rather than getting it tested!

The LAPD confirmed the reports this morning during a press conference, and explained the odd timing of the developments in the crime of the century.

"Within the last month LAPD became aware of an item that was allegedly recovered by a citizen from the Rockingham property during the demolition of the site. We need to vet that, we still don't know if that's an accurate account," explained Captain Andrew Neiman.

"The investigators will continue to look at this. That item has been recovered by robbery homicide investigators. It is being treated as we would all evidence. It has been submitted to our lab. They are going to study it and examine if for all forensics, including serology and DNA and hair samples. I was really surprised. I would think that an LAPD officer – if this story is accurate as we're being told – would know that anytime you come into contact with evidence, you should and shall submit that," he continued.

The NFL great, who is currently behind bars for armed robbery in Las Vegas, cannot be re-tried for the 1994 murders of Simpson and Goldman, but because he was found innocent and no other suspect has ever been charged, the case remains open.

"Unless there's an actual arrest or conviction, to prove that we have actually closed the case, the cases remain open. That is where we are with the Nicole Brown case. This is a double homicide that is still open and ongoing. There will be plenty of additional investigation, I don't know where that will lead our investigators," he concluded.

It's going to be hard for OJ to maintain he's innocent if the murder weapon was found buried in his backyard!