The O.J. Simpson Trial Essay

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.

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 news articles did not specify whether or not this tape was actually found and analyzed, but the text did not cover the admissibility of such evidence in a trial nonetheless. The text also did not cover something that was of great importance in the Foddrill case- the problems with DNA evidence. After three searches of Russell’s home, the only blood evidence they could find was not able to be tested for DNA because it was “either inconclusive or to small to be tested” (Course 105). This type of lack of evidence is very consistent with a problem investigators often encounter during trial known as the CSI Effect- where people expect large amounts of forensic evidence and grand presentations. Oftentimes, prosecutors will bring in experts to explain the lack of evidence in order to make what little they might have count. I was personally surprised by the lack of evidence, since the testimonies of Hubbell and Fowler seemed to indicate that there was a fair amount of violence in the crime and since the crime extended over a few days at least. In conclusion of the case, the investigators were able to convince a jury that Long, Redman, and Russell were guilty despite any flaws or faults within the forensic evidence.

According to “Forensics at the OJ Simson Trial,” written by the Crime Museum, the evidence that incriminated Mr. Simson was mishandled throughout the investigation. It was assumed that 1.5mL of Mr. Simpson’s blood was missing from a vial of evidence.

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,

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

Given these facts, I believe that Orenthal James committed the two murders, even though there was no real evidence. With this in mind, I believe that the truth will come out, for Mark 4:22 says, for nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light. This is one of the most famous trials, it even aired on television. Even though the evidence never lies, which side do you choice O.J. or the

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

In the article,”The Lizzie Borden Case”, paragraph 3 says,”A few days before the murders, Lizzie bought prussic acid, a poison, saying she needed to kill rats. A friend reportedly found Lizzie burning a dress at the kitchen stove a few days after the slayings; she said she had spilled paint on it.” This leads us to believe that she may have been burning the evidence. Was she destroying incriminating evidence? No one would burn a dress even if there was paint on it. In a similar way, there is circumstantial evidence against OJ Simpson. In paragraph 2, in “Case Study: OJ Simpson”, it states,”Detective Mark Fuhrman reported finding a bloody glove at the crime scene as well as a matching glove outside OJ’s home...noticed his bandaged hand and began questioning him…” OJ Simpson’s bandaged hand and the bloody glove at the crime scene and its pair at OJ’s mansion lead us to comprehend that OJ is guilty. Did OJ forget to cover up the evidence because he was in a hurry? Did OJ hurt or injure his hand because Ron Goldman put up a fight to defend himself and Nicole? Yes, some may argue that when he tried on the gloves, they didn’t fit, but how can we be sure that he did that on purpose? He could have been acting or pretending that the gloves didn’t fit by stretching out his fingers. After all, he did have a career in acting. Therefore, the evidence still

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 murders occurred between 10:15 p.m. and 10:40 p.m., this is based on testimony from prosecution and defense witnesses who heard barking from the area of the crime scene. Ms. Simpson's blood-covered pet Akita was found

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

Many people believe that the aspect of money can determine how a case is carried out (Dershowitz 149). In any given case, the prosecution has more resources than the defense. The defense team in the Simpson case included twelve lawyers while the prosecution used nearly fifty (Dershowitz 150). In addition, the prosecution had unrestricted access to a vast amount of federal officers. They also had the judge on their side and the majority of the public supporting them. Due to his careers in professional football and acting, Simpson was a rare defendant that had enough money to legitimately compete with the prosecution (Dershowitz 151). Dershowitz claims the American legal system is never on a relatively level playing field between the prosecution and the defense, often leading to police and prosecutors to slack due to their used to winning (Dershowitz 152).

On June 12, 1994 Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman were brutally murdered with what appeared to be a single-edged sharp weapon, most likely a knife. Nicole Brown was the ex-wife of a celebrity; this made things complicated