Oj Simpson Trial Essay

The people directly involved with this case are Judge Lance Ito, the prosecution lawyers, Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden, the defense lawyers, Johnnie Cochran, Robert Shapiro and Robert Blasier , the jury and the defendant, O.J. Simpson. The families of the victims have also been present in the courtroom, as well as other spectators and news media. This case has heard one hundred and twenty witnesses over a nine month period.

The book that I am going to introduce is Outrage: The Five Reasons Why O.J. Got Away With Murder, written by Vincent Bugliosi, and was published on June 17, 1996. We all know that Nichole Simpson and Ronald Goldman were stabbed to death and their bodies were discovered on June 12, 1994 early morning. It was said that after a car chase, O.J. was found with $9,000 I cash, his passport, disguise, and a gun. O.J. Simpson who is her ex-husband was acquitted October 3, 1995, for their deaths in a trial that riveted the nation and divided people along racial differences. In 1997, he was ordered to pay a little over $33 million for their deaths. O.J. Simpson is still serving time in prison for things like kidnapping, robbery, burglary, assault with a deadly weapon, and numerous other charges. Mr. Bugliosi sums up five reason why the case was lost. Those five can be labeled as the jury, the change in venue or settings, the judge allowing the defense to play the race card, the stupidity of the prosecution throughout the trial, and lastly the summation of what should really have been done. But in honesty when the media started reporting about this case it was already falling apart.

You're not gonna tell me you believe that phony story about losing the knife, and that business about being at the movies. Look, you know how these people lie! It's born in them! I mean what the heck? I don't even have to tell you. They don't know what the truth is! And lemme tell you, they don't need any real big reason to kill someone, either! No sir! [Juror 10, page 51] This type of prejudice offended many of the other jurors, especially Juror 5 who is of similar race to the accused.

In an attempt to counter the racist claims of the defense, the jury was selected and was mostly African American females (Gaines 2001). The district attorney of Los Angeles believed that an all white jury would be ineffective if Simpson were to be found guilty (Thernstrom & Fetter 1996). This outcome of the jury selection upset the Caucasian population because they felt as though the jury selection gave Simpson the upper hand in the trial regardless of the fact that the jury was majority female. The defense counsel was able to control the jury, in a sense through instilling in their minds that the LAPD was in fact racist. At the trial’s conclusion approximately 83% of blacks believed that Simpson was guilty, whereas only 37% of whites believed that Simpson was guilty (Thernstrom & Fetter 1996). These allegations also pushed the evidence collected from the crime to be discredited as well.

The fact that it was a well-known case from all the media outlets already put even more pressure over this new district attorneys head. John Skagen's case had no real chance, because of this fact. Sad but true fact The accused James Richardson had the well know William Kunstler, who was very popular, well-liked lawyer with well-known cases. Mr. Kunstler knew exactly how to work the jury. He had the upper hand to begin with in this case. As for the outbursts throughout the

The prosecution called 78 witnesses with Allan Park, O.J.’s limo driver, being the best witness they had placing O.J. within the timeline of the murders(Geis & Bienen, 2016). The crime happened sometime after 10 pm before O.J. had left for LAX to travel to Chicago for a business meeting(Geis & Bienen, 2016). Allan Park testified that he was at O.J. Simpson’s house and knocked on his door at 10:25 pm but there was no response(Geis & Bienen, 2016). Mr. Park stated he did not see O.J.’s white Bronco anywhere and assumed he was not home yet(Geis & Bienen, 2016). At 10:56 pm, Mr. Park saw O.J. enter the front of his home(Geis & Bienen, 2016). Mr. Park noticed O.J. was very anxious and was

Many people may argue that since OJ Simpson didn’t care at all about Nicole then why did he go through so much trouble to kill her. Well, I believe that OJ was so angry that his old punching bag was now out of his grasp and happy that couldn’t stand it and killed her.

On June 12, 1994 two bodies that had been found brutally stabbed in the Brentwood area. When police arrived to the scene and discovered the bodies. The bodies were identified as Nicole Brown Simpson, OJ ex wife and Ronald Goldman. At the time the LAPD had no suspects and no motives. OJ was contacted the next morning and agreed he would catch the next flight back to Los Angeles from Chicago. When he returned home there was a full investigation, with police tape around his front gate. Officers asked OJ to come with them to the Parker Center were they could ask him a series of questions. The officers failed to get any knowledge regarding the murder. Soon the LAPD felt like they had obtained enough evidence on the murders and obtained a warrant on OJ. Simpson 's attorney, Robert Shapiro worked a deal with the police department and agreed OJ would turn himself in on 10 am on June 17. Simpson fail to show up at the agreed time and location. Officers were sent both to Simpson 's and Shapiro 's home and there was no answer. OJ was at Robert Kardashian 's home with his defense team, officers contacted Shapiro. This is when Shapiro discovered OJ had gone missing with his long time teammate and friend Allen Cowlings (AC) in a White Ford Bronco. The news reported on Simpson gone missing an a motorist called in, saying they had seen the White Bronco. Officers had found OJ on the run, the chase ended peacefully when OJ returned to his home and surrendered. The trial was set on January 24,

Simpson and the death of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman, many believe O.J. got away with double murder. I believe Simpson's status had a part because it’s well known that in his court case, The people vs. O.J. Simpson, he had leverage because he was found not guilty on both counts even with evidence including DNA analysis of blood found in, on, and near Simpson's car revealing traces of the victim's blood and shoe prints of a rare shoe with only 29 existing, searching revealed Simpson owned the exact rare shoes. They jury had all the evidence to charge Simpson so why is he "innocent" in the eyes of the court? I believe it has to do with his past career as a NFL player and his wealth more than anything because in June of 1944, another black male, George Stinney, was wrongly convicted and executed for double murder. 14 year old Stinney still holds the record for the youngest individual to be executed as a result of a racially-biased conviction that took less that 10 minutes for the all white jury. Stinney's family of seven was far from rich and lived in housing given by his fathers

The People trials, no one will ever outshine the infamous, Mark Fuhrman. Mr. Fuhrman arrived at the scene before anyone else. As soon as he finds the bodies of the victims, he continues to Mr. Simpson’s house to tell him of the news. Here, Fuhrman finds the gloves and picks them up along with all the evidence ever found at O.J.’s household. The defense used the argument that Fuhrman, along with the Los Angeles Police Department, planted this evidence at O.J.’s house. Mr. Fuhrman had previously been charged with making racist comments while on the job. Then the case took a turn, tapes had resurfaced of Mark Fuhrman making statements that explained how he would frame an African-American for a crime (Toobin). As if saying these horrible comments did not amount to enough, Fuhrman also lied on the stand about making racist statements. Mark Fuhrman’s lies and comments swayed the jury beyond

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

concerned about pinning the murder on someone and they really didn?t care who it was. Interrogators literally forced Williamson to make his dream confession and this was the basis for the entire prosecution even though the defendant was obviously mentally incompetent The prosecution team used other unreliable sources of evidence, mainly hair samples, and ?jailhouse snitches? who received reduced sentences as a reward of testifying against the defendant. Eventually they manipulated an inexperienced jury into believing their insignificant evidence and Ron Williamson was sentenced to death. His friend Dennis Fritz was sentenced to life in prison, mainly for being the only friend Ron had when the murder occurred.

Jodi tried so hard to hide who she really was by changing up here story and lying uncontrollably, but with the amount of evidence available, the prosecution was able to paint out a vivid image in the jury’s mind making it easier to keep them focused and see what had happened that day. From my perspective without the DNA, hair, and incriminating photos it could have been extremely difficult for the prosecution to convince the jury of Jodi’s heinous acts. The jury had stated that majority asked for the death penalty after hearing both sides of the story, but one juror made a claim that sentencing Jodi to death would be an act of revenge not justice. Of course when the rest of the jurors were questioned they were in awe with such a statement, and were convinced the rogue juror was biased on their ruling by not acknowledging the evidence at hand. By the end of the trial I feel myself and the jurors alike could see through Jodi’s façade, and with the help of all the evidence could conclude the trial with the verdict of guilty of first degree

The O. J. Simpson murder case was a criminal trial held at the Los Angeles County Superior Court, in which the former NFL star and actor O. J. Simpson was trial on two counts of murder for the deaths of his ex-wife Nicole Brown, and a waiter named Ronald Goldman. The O.J. trial could be seen as a historical lens and cultural lens as well. The reason why I use those two perspectives was because; in history the black people has been treated as non-human, criminals, and properties. And in a culture perspective, black people are racial discriminated and profiled which plays a huge part in the OJ Simpson trial. The trial and case of O.J. Simpson has been described as one the most publicized criminal trial in all of American history.