Orenthal James Simpson, the jury in this matter finds you guilty! Guilty, OJ! No smiles for you. No smirks this time. No look of shocked disbelief on your face that you had beaten the system. Thirteen years ago, former football star and celebrity O.J. Simpson got away with murder. I remember hearing the verdict well while most of America watched it on television. I couldn't see it because my then fiancee Debbie and I were driving home from an appointment involving our wedding, which would take place just four days from then. As the foreperson prepared to read the verdict we pulled over, and there somewhere around Cottman Avenue and Roosevelt Boulevard, sitting in our car, we heard those incredibly unjust words. Simpson had beaten the charges of murdering his ex-wife and another man. He had nearly decapitated the mother of his children, and had gotten away with it thanks to an incredibly inept prosecution and a high-powered, highly competent, and expensive defense team. The reactions to the verdict highlighted yet again the racial disparity of America. Almost to a one, white Americans saw the verdict for the true injustice that it was. A cold-blooded killer with a history of spousal abuse had finally killed the woman, and now a jury had let him off despite overwhelming evidence of his guilt. The large majority of black Americans instead cheered the verdict, not so much for any innocence of O.J. himself, but because, as they saw it, an African-American had beaten a justice system that many of them felt had wrongly convicted innumerable blacks over the course of its history. A black man had beaten the unjust system was how they saw it, and his own personal actions be damned. Of course that should be an embarrassing position for any black American to take, particularly any black woman who has ever been the victim of abuse and intimidation from a black man. In any event, Simpson got away with murder that day. However, a civil jury in a later court action found him appropriately liable for the killings, and choked off his financial resources. For his part, Simpson said that he would begin a search for "the real killers", and publicly set about said search on golf courses across America. He even had the unmitigated gall to write a book titled "I Did It" in which he described how he committed the murders. The courts rightly confiscated the book rights and turned them over to the families of the murder victims, and thus what was finally titled "If I Did It" was published, with proceeds going to the victim families. But Simpson himself continued to walk the golf courses of America for more than a decade as a free man. The case for which he was found guilty, a verdict that came down exactly 13 years to the day after his previous 'not guilty' verdict in the murder trial, was a separate incident. Simpson was loaded for bear with a handgun when he and some associates raided a Las Vegas hotel room in an effort to take items of sports memorabilia which he claimed were his own. The jury in this case found him guilty of robbery and related charges which included the weapons charges. This week, a judge sentenced the now 61-years old Simpson to between 9 and 33 years in prison. In admonishing him after the sentencing, she stated that she could not tell during the trial if Simpson was "arrogant or ignorant, or both" and stated that she now knew the answer. That answer, of course, was that he is both. The man known as 'The Juice' then squeezed out a few crocodile tears as he continued to proclaim his innocence. The fact of the matter is that O.J. Simpson is guilty as sin, and the fact that he was walking around for the last 13 years was a travesty of justice to Americans, an insult to the Brown and Goldman families, and an inexcusable spit on the graves of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman themselves. That the arrogant and ignorant criminal murderer finally tripped up in his life to the extent that he could not wiggle his way out of it finally begins to set things right. The two trials were unrelated, had nothing to do with one another, and yet it doesn't feel that way. It feels as if justice is finally being served. It feels as if a murderous killer who thumbed his nose at society is finally going to face the truth of a life behind bars that is the minimum he deserves. As Goldman's father said yesterday, the verdict will not bring Ron and Nicole back. But what it does is put a killer where he belongs, behind bars, and for a long time. Here is to hoping that he spends the rest of his life there before he has to stand before the ultimate judge at the end of his life. At that point, a billion Johnny Cochrane's won't help him escape final judgement.
Showing posts with label Johnny Cochrane. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Johnny Cochrane. Show all posts
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Arrogant & Ignorant...and Guilty as Sin
Orenthal James Simpson, the jury in this matter finds you guilty! Guilty, OJ! No smiles for you. No smirks this time. No look of shocked disbelief on your face that you had beaten the system. Thirteen years ago, former football star and celebrity O.J. Simpson got away with murder. I remember hearing the verdict well while most of America watched it on television. I couldn't see it because my then fiancee Debbie and I were driving home from an appointment involving our wedding, which would take place just four days from then. As the foreperson prepared to read the verdict we pulled over, and there somewhere around Cottman Avenue and Roosevelt Boulevard, sitting in our car, we heard those incredibly unjust words. Simpson had beaten the charges of murdering his ex-wife and another man. He had nearly decapitated the mother of his children, and had gotten away with it thanks to an incredibly inept prosecution and a high-powered, highly competent, and expensive defense team. The reactions to the verdict highlighted yet again the racial disparity of America. Almost to a one, white Americans saw the verdict for the true injustice that it was. A cold-blooded killer with a history of spousal abuse had finally killed the woman, and now a jury had let him off despite overwhelming evidence of his guilt. The large majority of black Americans instead cheered the verdict, not so much for any innocence of O.J. himself, but because, as they saw it, an African-American had beaten a justice system that many of them felt had wrongly convicted innumerable blacks over the course of its history. A black man had beaten the unjust system was how they saw it, and his own personal actions be damned. Of course that should be an embarrassing position for any black American to take, particularly any black woman who has ever been the victim of abuse and intimidation from a black man. In any event, Simpson got away with murder that day. However, a civil jury in a later court action found him appropriately liable for the killings, and choked off his financial resources. For his part, Simpson said that he would begin a search for "the real killers", and publicly set about said search on golf courses across America. He even had the unmitigated gall to write a book titled "I Did It" in which he described how he committed the murders. The courts rightly confiscated the book rights and turned them over to the families of the murder victims, and thus what was finally titled "If I Did It" was published, with proceeds going to the victim families. But Simpson himself continued to walk the golf courses of America for more than a decade as a free man. The case for which he was found guilty, a verdict that came down exactly 13 years to the day after his previous 'not guilty' verdict in the murder trial, was a separate incident. Simpson was loaded for bear with a handgun when he and some associates raided a Las Vegas hotel room in an effort to take items of sports memorabilia which he claimed were his own. The jury in this case found him guilty of robbery and related charges which included the weapons charges. This week, a judge sentenced the now 61-years old Simpson to between 9 and 33 years in prison. In admonishing him after the sentencing, she stated that she could not tell during the trial if Simpson was "arrogant or ignorant, or both" and stated that she now knew the answer. That answer, of course, was that he is both. The man known as 'The Juice' then squeezed out a few crocodile tears as he continued to proclaim his innocence. The fact of the matter is that O.J. Simpson is guilty as sin, and the fact that he was walking around for the last 13 years was a travesty of justice to Americans, an insult to the Brown and Goldman families, and an inexcusable spit on the graves of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman themselves. That the arrogant and ignorant criminal murderer finally tripped up in his life to the extent that he could not wiggle his way out of it finally begins to set things right. The two trials were unrelated, had nothing to do with one another, and yet it doesn't feel that way. It feels as if justice is finally being served. It feels as if a murderous killer who thumbed his nose at society is finally going to face the truth of a life behind bars that is the minimum he deserves. As Goldman's father said yesterday, the verdict will not bring Ron and Nicole back. But what it does is put a killer where he belongs, behind bars, and for a long time. Here is to hoping that he spends the rest of his life there before he has to stand before the ultimate judge at the end of his life. At that point, a billion Johnny Cochrane's won't help him escape final judgement.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
The Juice is Not Loose
Have you ever known someone who got away with some extreme crime or a personally hurtful action and been frustrated and angry, but there was nothing you could do about it? You know, when you get that thought across your mind that "They will get what they have coming to them some day" or maybe you just believed that the person was so personally or professionally irresponsible by nature that they were bound to mess up again, or commit another crime, and that next time they wouldn't be so fortunate as to get away? Well, it has finally happened for those of us normal human beings as relates to the life and crimes of one Orenthal James 'O.J.' Simpson. The murderer who nearly decapitated his wife and the mother of this children, Nicole Simpson, and who overpowered and sliced up a young waiter, Ron Goldman, who was simply returning sunglasses to her, over a decade ago and got away with it won't be getting away with his latest crime. A jury in Las Vegas found Simpson guilty on a dozen charges, including armed robbery and kidnapping, and the two-time murderer, as a civil trial found him responsible for, will hopefully now spend the rest of his life behind bars. All those people who stood and cheered and applauded on that somber day in late summer of 1995 when Johnny Cochrane and his brilliant legal team put on a spirited, financially extravagent defense to free the murderer, are now sitting on their hands. Some of them are probably even thinking "they was gonna get him, they wasn't gonna let him get away, they wouldn't let him breath, etc." Fact is, no imaginary 'they' had to do anything to 'get' this particular murderer. Like most of them, all he needed was to be left out in the world long enough, and he was going to slip up again. Thankfully he slipped up so big that the rest of us, those who didn't care about race or anything other than finding justice for Nicole and Ron, finally have a measure of it. Simpson, known during his playing days as 'The Juice', is finally where he has belonged all along: behind bars. He no longer has to worry about scouring the nation's golf courses in an attempt to track down "the real killers." Unfortunately we are left with the same attitude as always among those who cheered his previous fortune. They continue to wail and cry when one member of their community murders another. They continue to defend their sons and brothers after they kill and maim and rob, consistently calling them a 'good boy' who just had some bad breaks in life. The fact is that people make their choices and have to live with the ramifications of those actions. Those around them need to stop accepting this when it is done over and over again, and need to hold them responsible whithin their families and communities. Should there be forgiveness for sins? Of course. Who among us hasn't made mistakes, some huge, in their lives? I certainly have. But I haven't murdered anyone, let alone two people, had tens of thousands cheer my release, and then walked around for over a decade flaunting that court room victory. The murderer is finally in the cage where belongs, where he can't murder or rob any more innocent citizens (not to mention family members), and likely he will remain there for the rest of his life. God will one day serve whatever ultimate justice He feels is appropriate for the murderer, but for now justice is served, and the Juice is no longer loose.
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