O.J. Simpson and the Trial of the Century Essay examples

On June 12,1994, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were murdered. Their bodies were discovered outside Nicole Simpson's condominium. Nicole Simpson was the estranged wife of the famous football player and T.V. star O.J. Simpson.

The jury really didn’t seem to remember the most important piece of information which was that the defendant’s blood was actually found at the crime scene. Bugliosi said “From the moment O.J. Simpson became a suspect in this double murder case, it was in the air, perhaps as in no other case within

On June 12th, 1994, Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman’s bodies were found Nicole’s condominium; the victims had been stabbed to death. The identity of the murderer was unknown up until O.J was suspected to be a suspect. When accused, he was in another state, and was forced to fly back. (Aaseng 1996)

The police cooperation was the first initial process of the investigation. The murders had started in Seattle, Washington on January 31, 1974. Ted Bundy was living in Seattle and attending school at the University of Washington at that present time. The first reported victim was a twenty-one year old by the name of Lynda Ann Healy. She had been abducted from her apartment and the officers could only find her nightgown that was neatly hung up in her closest with blood on it and her sheets also had traces of blood. The police conducted searches but was unable to find Lynda. On March 12, Donna Gail Mason at Evergreen State College located in Olympia, Washington was last seen leaving her dorm to attend a concert. She was later reported missing and was not located. In Ellensburg, Washington at Central Washington State College Susan Elaine Rancourt disappeared from her campus on April 17, 1974. The

The second issue with the Simpson trial, is the collection of evidence from the crime scene. The crime scene must be protected at all costs to ensure the integrity of the evidence that will be collected from the crime scene (Schiro, n.d.). Evidence from a crime scene is arguably the most important aspect of solving a crime and finding an individual to be guilty of a particular crime. Evidence collection techniques can make or break a case. Poor evidence collection techniques can discredit the prosecution and glorify the defense,

Soon later the police finally picked up enough evidence to get a warrant for his arrest. Simpson and his lawyer Robert Shapiro both agreed that he will turn himself in at 10:00 am on June 17. Simpson didn’t go at the time he was given so the policemen and Robert Shapiro went to Simpsons home and discovered that he disappeared and left a letter saying "Don't feel sorry for me. I've had a great life, great friends. Please think of the real O. J. and not this lost person.  Thanks for making my life special. I hope I helped yours. Peace and love, O. J." (Linder). Policemen and his lawyer thought it was a suicide letter. Until someone in Orange County saw Simpson riding a white bronco and immediately called the police. Only a couple of minutes later police cars and helicopters were chasing him, they followed Simpson all the way to his front gate of his house. Policemen saw that he was wearing a fake beard and had $8,750 in cash, loaded gun, and a passport, days later he was on his first day of the trial. On Tuesday, Jan 24, 1995 was the first day of the trial, Judge Lance Ito open to the people in the courtroom that he will be expecting to see some good lawyering skills for the case. Christopher Darden who open the trial said that Simpson was and abusive and a jealous husband to Nicole B. Simpson.

blood on O.J.'s Bronco door, on the console, on the interior side of the door, a

The O.J. Simpson trial was one of the most distinguishable cases in American history. Many Americans tuned into the bronco chase on June 17, 1994 when Simpson was the main suspect for the murder of Nicole Brown-Simpson, O.J.’s ex-wife, and her friend Ronald Goldman, which occurred a few days prior (Lamb, 1994). O.J. Simpson was the murder suspect for the double homicide of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman. He was a retired professional football player who resided in California. He was one of the black entertainers of the 1990’s along with Oprah, Michael, Wesley, and Spike. Through these entertainers, it was shown that there is opportunity to succeed for black men and woman in society (White, 1995). The number one question on everyone’s mind was not if O.J. was innocent or guilty, but whether he would be found guilty or just walk away. Other questions on the mind of American’s was did he actually commit the crime?

On the late evening of June 12th, 1994, a fellow Brentwood neighbor went to investigate why a nearby dog was constantly howling when they discovered the grisly murder scene(Geis & Bienen, 2016). The victims, 35-year-old Nicole Brown Simpson and 25-year-old Ronald Goldman, were violently stabbed to death with a knife in the walkway of Nicole’s home(Geis & Bienen, 2016). Nicole Brown Simpson was the

They gathered enough evidence to charge him with two counts of first-degree murder. The prosecution, therefore, had to prove that O.J knowingly caused the demise of both Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman. Simpson’s house guest was recorded saying that he saw O.J Simpson, shortly after the murder, being pulled up in his white Bronco. Moreover, the limo driver stated that he waited for him for fifteen minutes before driving him to the airport. Interestingly, the times given by the witnesses coincided with suspected murder time proving that Simpson actually had planned the crime. His alibi was also precarious. He also had a record of spousal abuse. All evidence was against him and after the police established all crime elements, Simpson was charged

The next process in the Justice system, a Grand Jury indictment, was interrupted. OJ Simpson hired a top notch team of defense and appellate lawyers to defend him in this case and they were able to get the Grand Jury dismissed from this case due to the massive media coverage. They claimed that the jury was prejudiced toward the defendant because of the readily available information about the case. In lieu of the Grand Jury trial a probable cause hearing was conducted. With that, the judge in this hearing felt that enough evidence did exist for a criminal trial and OJ Simpson was arraigned on July 29th 1994. At his arraignment OJ pleaded not guilty, specifically stating that he was “one hundred percent not guilty”.

Another cunning piece of evidence was the bloody glove found behind Nicole's house, that had fit O.J.'s hand and supposedly had blood in it, but when it was time to call the glove as evidence in the court room, there was no blood. This leads us into question about whether or not racism played a role in the lengthiest trial in United States history. With the help of a strong team of forensic experts, the lawyers were able to identify irregularities in the conduct of the investigation by LAPD detectives and forensic specialists. For example, one of the detectives Philip Vannatter, had carried a sample of Simpson's around with him for hours: and some of the blood taken from Simpson was unaccounted for. After much investigation, the defense team found evidence that Mark Fuhrman, the detective who allegedly found the bloody glove in Simpson's yard, was a raving racist who, contrary to his claim on the stand, frequently used the word “nigger” and had bragged about framing blacks, especially those involved

Through mistakes made within the investigative process of the case, the outcome of the case was affected. On the collection of evidence many pieces were contaminated causing flaws in this evidence. When packaging blood swabs the cotton swatches used were packed in plastic bags and then left in a hot truck. This blood was also contaminated as the technician who handled it still had the blood voluntarily given by Simpson on his gloves (Jones, 2009). Degradation of missed blood, which was left for three weeks after the initial run through, may have turned unusable by the time investigators examined it. It was weeks after finding the socks at O.J. Simpson’s house that the police noted the blood on them. Destruction of evidence may have been caused through the bodies not being taken to be autopsied till 10 hours after they were found. During evidence collection the majority was compiled by a Junior Detective, who was taped dropping blood swabs as well as wiping tweezers with dirty hands, this made the evidence highly contaminated (Deutsch, 1995). To conceal the body of Nicole Simpson a police officer place a blanket over the body, this was done to

Dershowitz explains that two very different Simpson trials were carried out: the trial before the jury and the trial before the public (Dershowitz 140). Dershowitz also supplies the strong assertion that television coverage of a trial brings “greater accuracy, less bias, and more direct observation of the trial” (Dershowitz 147).

One of the main reasons that Simpson's trial was sensationalized was because he was a celebrity. Thus, it can be argued that Simpson's celebrity status was one of the reasons the trial was televised. Gerald Uelmen (2010), law professor and co-counsel for the defense in Simpson's trial, comments, "[T]he cameras were a mistake because they affected the behavior of all the trial participants, judge, lawyers, and, most regrettably, witnesses. Building upon what was broadcast, tabloids and other media outlets began to attempt to take advantage of the attention Simpson's case was generating. Uelmen (2010) continues,