The Rashomon Effect

In conclusion after reviewing the arguments on both sides, there is no way one can believe O.J. Simpson is innocent and did not kill Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown. As Vincent Bugliosi states, “When a person is innocent of a crime, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, chances are there is not going to be anything whatsoever pointing toward his guilt ... Not only does the physical, scientific evidence in this case conclusively prove this defendant's guilt, but virtually everything he said and did points irresistibly to his guilt“ (279). In the infamous Bronco chase, O.J. was to turn himself in by 10 a.m. on June 17, 1994 and never showed up. Police drove over to Simpson’s home sometime around 1 p.m. and he was nowhere to be found. There, they found

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 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 May 4th, 1994, the Goldman family sues O.J. A lot of Simpson’s personal items, such as his trophies and cars were seized. On November 6th 1996, the jury was composed of nine Whites, one Black, one Hispanic, and an Asian. A photographer claims to have taken a picture of Simpson in 1993 wearing Bruno Magli shoes, which were the same ones that were worn by the killer of Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman. O.J completely denied the picture; which led the photographer to release to the jury over 30 pictures of Simpson in the shoes. Also, on November 11th, pathologists thought that the scars and scratches on O.J’s hands may have been caused by the victim’s finger nails when trying to resist being stabbed to death. However, Simpson claimed that he might have gotten the cuts and scars on his wrists by “rassling” with his son. (http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/index/nns171.htm)

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.

An example of this relationship occurs in the court systems. Usually, there are twelve jurors that are appointed to a court case, and those people are asked to decide if the accused is guilty or not. This decision has to be made without reasonable doubt in any of the facts presented. In the movie 12 Angry Men, only one juror entertained the

Known around the world as O. J., famous celebrity Orenthal James Simpson was arrested and convicted for the murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her mistress, Ron Lyle Goldman. Although Simpson denied any participation in the crime, the FBI found numerous evidence that proved hands down that he was the murderer. After a trial that lasted more than eight months, he was acquitted and was able to go home. Personally, I feel that the jury made the wrong decision.

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

That made the African Americans on O.J.’s side. The murders were very bloody and violent. There was a trail of blood leading to O.J.’s white bronco. Nicole had called the cops complaining about O.J. abusing her before the murder ever happened. On the day O.J. was going to be arrested he left Robert Kardashian’s house with one of his close friends, AC, to run from the cops.

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”.

Jeffrey Toobin writes about how Nicole Brown had called the police force at least eight times to report domestic violence. The eighth call, however, was the worst, where Nicole exclaimed “He’s going to kill me! He’s going to kill me!” when the police showed up. Confused at first, the officer John Edwards, “Shined his flashlight on Nicole’s face. Her lip was cut and bleeding. Her left eye was black-and-blue. Her forehead was bruised, and on her neck -unmistakably- was the imprint of a human hand,” (Toobin 120). This was one of many times that Nicole had called the police to report domestic violence against O.J. proving that he was responsible for engaging in the violence more than once. His actions were not okay- especially because he was disrespecting a woman- and I believe that when Nicole finally stood up for herself (like a woman should) and divorced him, he got angry and ended up murdering her and her good friend Ron

On June 12, 1994, Former American football star O.J. Simpson (Orenthal James Simpson) was arrested for the brutal murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman in their Brent-wood townhouse. Police reports indicate that Nicole and Ronald where both repeatedly stabbed to death. O.J. served 473 days in custody for these two murders, won his criminal trial which was the lengthiest in the U.S. legal history showing more than 50,000 transcript pages, and after all of this he pleaded 100% not guilty, walking away from all this with no scratch in his name.

With the insight and humble words of Chimamanda Adichie, I have learned that a “single story” is how you define somewhere, someone or something. Ignorance steps into control and you begin to develop the beliefs and the opinions you have, though, you may only have a brief encounter with the subject. This can cause a lot of confusion and anger. Ultimately, the disappointing truth is that judging this way is human nature. We continue to be both the perpetrator and the victim of this; including myself.

On June 17, 1994 when police charged Orenthal James Simpson, Brown's ex-husband, and after leading police on a 60 mile low speed chase down the highways of southern Los Angeles in his friend Al Cowling's white Bronco, was arrested and jailed without bail, the story became even more complicated. This was when the police knew this would not be just any murder case. This was OJ Simpson, the famous football player, this would be complicated. Their only hope of conviction was the evidence that would place him as the murderer.

The awareness of these major differences in perception is very beneficial. This leaves both parties suddenly aware of what led to the dispute at hand. A careful consideration of the different positions, important issues, and alternate perceptions can give everyone an understanding of how difficult it is for a judge and/or jury to come to a fair conclusion. Who is right? Who is telling the truth? Who can prove their claims with proof?