There are three subjects that are supposedly taboo, RELIGION, POLITICS & O.J. SIMPSON. Well, on this blog the subject of religion has come up once and politics several times. Why not go for the Triple Crown?

I met O.J. and it was after the acquittal. When I tell people that I met Simpson, or show people the photograph that I have of O. J. and myself, the first words out of EVERYBODY'S mouth - BEFORE or AFTER.



I was fascinated with the trial. At the time, I was constantly in my vehicle ( 8 - 10 hours a day) and I listened to the trial the entire time I was in the vehicle. After I got home, I would turn the cable TV channels on, for a 2 - 3 hour recap. People may claim that they listened to the trial and knew what was going on. In reality, they listened to Geraldo giving a recap, which was not equal to listening to the actual trial. 

I'm not going to say if I think he was innocent, or not innocent, I have no idea what the truth is. Trials do not determine if a person is innocent, they determine if someone is guilty, or not guilty. Being innocent or being found not guilty are two entirely different things. The prosecution has to prove the guilt of a person beyond a reasonable doubt. It is practically impossible to prove that you didn't do a crime.  

The prosecution will try to build a solid brick wall of evidence. More often than not, the prosecution is grabbing at theories and they pick the most logical. Their solid wall of evidence might be paper thin. If the defense can poke holes in that theory the defendant can walk free, even if they are guilty. I know that is a simplistic way of looking at it, but it gets the point across.

It is far better to allow ten guilty men to go free, that to allow one innocent man to spend time in jail. Think about it, if somebody claimed you did something and you had to prove your innocence, it would be next to impossible to be successful in defending yourself. The Salem Witch Trials were a prime example of having to prove your innocence. A person claims that their neighbor is a witch and then they are put on trial. Click on the Salem Witch Trial link, you can chose what your course of action would be if your next door neighbor accuses you of being a witch. Trouble is, you can't win. 

The most horrible miscarriage of justice is the imprisonment of an innocent man. Everyone is harmed with the imprisonment of an innocent man. If it can happen to one man - IT CAN HAPPEN TO YOU. False convictions do occur. it might be a rush to judgment, political pressure or countless other reasons, but an innocent person is paying a price because we as a society chose to convict a scapegoat instead of the actual guilty party. Society feels RELIEVED because somebody is sitting in jail and as far as the general population is concerned - CASE CLOSED. Just remember, it can happen to anyone.

Remember how everybody thought the security guard at the Atlanta Olympics was guilty. But he wasn't guilty. He didn't go to jail, he was lucky enough to be FOUND INNOCENT before being arrested. Technically he wasn't arrested, but walking around with a cloud over your head is just the same. He was also lucky because he received a large cash settlement, after the government implicated him.

Patty Ramsey, the mother of Jon Benet Ramsey was thought to be guilty. After the mother's death, it was proven that she wasn't connected to the murder. Those people were FOUND INNOCENT before being arrested. The problem is, they were found guilty in the Court of Public Opinion, people KNEW they were guilty, even though they weren't.  

Every year, innocent people are released from prison after being wrongly convicted of a crime. Some people claim that there hasn't been an innocent person that has been executed. There is no way to know that. After being put to death, the courts will usually not allow any hearings on the possible innocence of an executed inmate.That is why there is no proof that an innocent man has ever been put to death.

Getting back to the Simpson trial. I do know that Simpson's defense team was an incredible group of lawyers and experts. Most people who want to "prove" that Simpson was guilty, will shorten the trial to the 2 minutes that O.J.. was putting the glove on. They claim that Simpson used all of his acting skills when he was trying the glove on. As a side note, have these people ever seen his acting skills? I've seen better actors in Junior High School plays. 

Those people either forgot or didn't pay attention to an important part of the trial, the representative from the glove manufacturer was asked to place his hand against Simpson's hand. O.J.'s hand was enormous compared to the other man's hand. The representative was then asked what size of glove he wore. The glove rep wore an extra large, which was the same size as the glove that Simpson was going to be trying on. The simple fact that Simpson's hand was so much bigger than the glove rep's hand, should be enough evidence that the glove was not the correct size, to fit on Simpson's hand.

There was plenty of evidence that pointed to Simpson as the guilty party and a lot of exculpatory evidence, that showed that he was innocent. Hypothetically, even if he didn't commit the actual physical crime, there is a possibility that he hired it out. That would still make him guilty. There was no evidence presented for this statement and it is probably false, but anything is possible. Only God knows for certain.

As incredible as the defense was, the prosecution acted like a lawyer version of the Keystone Cops, in my humble opinion. Why in the world would they put Fuhrman on the stand? It took the defense about a millisecond to come up with multiple items to knock his testimony out. Also, why would Chris Darden have Simpson try on the glove? First rule of a trial lawyer, NEVER ask a question that you don't already know the correct answer. Obviously, Darden didn't know the true answer.

Well, enough about the trial. 

When Simpson was a spokesman for Hertz, they put out a coloring book with a cover photo of him along with two kids. TV TOY MEMORIES has that coloring book, which has been signed. For more information click on the link.

SUPERSTAR COLORING BOOK
 


For your historical education, you might enjoy watching a commercial that Simpson made for that unnamed car rental company.




If anybody is upset about this blog entry, too bad. The Simpson trial was a part of history. It wasn't a pleasurable part, but it was history. If the History Channel can do a recap of Hitler, or some other murder subject du jour, then I have that same right. So there.







Tweet