OJ...still not guilty of this 'crime'

[Flashermac]

Two friends expressed their dismay about the trial to me. The first is a police forensic pathologist. He said if he'd done such sloppy work as the LAPD had, he'd have been fired. The second - a judge - told me Judge Ito was incompetent and the prosecutors even worse. The judge said: "Defence attorneys don't win trials. Prosecutors lose them."

 

Yup. That was the OJ trial.

 

 

[Torneyboy]

I think we all were at the time..

[Bangkoktraveler]

In regards to the trial, when the prosection had there try, it looked like he was guilty. When the defence got their turn, it looked like he was innocent.

[Torneyboy]

Yeah...just a mess

[Hugh_Hoy]

He sure as hell didn't look innocent to me. Enough evidence to convict 10 people. Jury was stacked from the beginning.

 

HH

[Steve]

The OJ trial told us/or confirmed a few things about our judicial system and America in general.

 

First that you can buy justice. The rich can afford the best lawyer. There is a phrase that high priced lawyers used to tell big time drug dealers. "I can get reasonable doubt for a reasonable fee"

 

In a murder trial, the same as well. The prosecutor has to convince all 12 jurors, the defense only has to convince 1 juror.

 

If OJ had the run of the mill lawyer or court appointed one, he'd have lost, hands down. No wonder it took Gotti a few trials before he could get a conviction. He bought the best. There comes a point though the facts are too strong to ignore, no matter what you may feel.

 

Second that trial in particular was about that dirty little word in America...race. The fact is that a lot of blacks do not get the benefit of the doubt from certain jurors based on prior stereotypes or upbringing. There were/are a lot of blacks in prisons who were innocent and the evidence far less convincing than OJ and circumstantial based on dodgy evidence that couldn't afford a good lawyer. The republican governor of Illinois put a freeze on the death penalty because some cases were getting overturned from DNA and forensic science that were in trial years ago when forensic techniques weren't used or the defense couldn't afford it. I know of at least 2 friends who really 'didn't do it'. The whole neighborhood knew he didn't but he had a court appointed lawyer and no money to appeal it. The black jurors were responding to that and as well as the Rodney King trial that occured earlier and it was a sort of 'payback'. Its wrong. You should judge a trial on its own merits and personally had I been in the juror's box I'd have found him guilty. I understand how they felt having known people who were wrongly adjudged in the system but it doesn't help society as a whole when you do tit for tat. That said, that's what got OJ off as well as other things like Mark Furman, and a few other things. Black americans in general are very sensitive about that N word obviously and Furman helped stir emotion. We can say (rightfully so) that the jurors had an obligation not to use emotion but the same can be said about any set of juries. That's why women get lesser sentences or get off more than men. Peoples prejudices, stereotypes, etc. to make into the decision process. The lawyers do have the right to exclude but all they are doing is excluding the obvious ones. We all have our prejudices. They know that.

 

The funny thing is I think just about every black person I know thinks OJ was guilty but wanted him found not guilty. It wasn't about OJ but an indictment on the American jurisprudence experience for a set of people.

 

I don't have enmity for the Goldmans. I think they genuinely miss their slain member, especially the father. Given the opportunity I think he'd gladly give back any amount for the return of his son.

 

The Browns are a different kettle of fish I think. They prospered from OJ marrying into the family. He helped them buy businesses and such.

 

Anyway, on another note, I read that OJ said he's gotten more women since the trial. Its the same mentality perhaps of women writing serial killers and infamous people who are in prisons who have national attention. Ted Bundy got tons of letters from women vying for his love. Sick..but its society.

[OCgringo]

It was a few years before DNA got respect,

 

if it was today the DNA evidence would have nailed him......Maybe, hard to say with that jury...

 

OC

[sayjann]

i always thought he was innocent....... :smirk:

[Barry]

I've never understood how he could be found not guilty by one court, but then be bankrupted by another for effectively the same offence. Surely he could use the original verdict to prevent the second one?

[Flashermac]

One was a criminal court, the other a civil. Strange way of getting around double jeopardy, but that's also what they did to get the cops who beat the crap out of Rodney King.

 

Steve:

 

Racism works both ways. My parents had a very close friend who was murdered in Chicago. I knew him as "Uncle Everett", though he was actually no kin. He was managing a store. One morning, a black gang came in with guns drawn, ordering all the employees to lie on the floor face down with their hands over their heads. The gang then cleaned out the cash registers. But before they left they shot every employee in the back of the head. It's supposed to have been the bloodiest killing in Chicago since Prohibition - 6 or 7 people were murdered.

 

When the "suspects" were caught, they had a black defence attorney, a black prosecutor, a black judge and a black jury. The victims had been white or Hispanic. Sure enough, despite plenty of evidence against them, the accused were all found not guilty. Reverse racism? His widow and 2 children couldn't believe it and soon moved from Chicago.