The death of O.J. Simpson brings back memories of his very divisive criminal trial and controversial verdict. Americans split over his case largely along racial lines. Many African Americans hoped for and believed in his innocence, while many whites believed with equal fervor that he was guilty.
I think that the race part played a big role in certain circles (i.e. urban, coastal, Democrat), but for the rest of us out here in real America, it most certainly was NOT about race. This was OJ, the Juice, and we all loved him. He was a fantastically popular sports figure, sure, and as you glancingly note, he also did commercials, but he also was in movies, in every popular magazine, and did walk-ons on our favorite shows. America loved, loved LOVED OJ Simpson.
I'm pretty sure that pretty much all of us were aware that he was black. Weird, in your telling, no? How do you get from this absolute celebrity in sports, on tv, in the movies, beloved by all of America to this whole guilty/not guilty thing was about race? That's just nonsensical, and frankly, this is the problem with you Democrats and everyone who sees everything solely through the prism of race . . . you are a small minority. The rest of us didn't and still don't decide what we think of someone because of their race. The Juice was legend, and all of America (white, black, blah blah blah) LOVED him. And then he (almost certainly, who else could have and left OJ's blood all over the place?) killed Nicole and Ron Goldman. I remember it all vividly. My first reaction, was oh, no way! That's OJ. The Juice. He didn't do that. He can't have a bad or violent or angry bone in his body.
But then a funny thing happened, and the pictures of Nicole beaten by OJ, her phone calls to 911, all of it was made public. And then we all thought, wow, if he can beat her. Over and over. Harm her so horribly over jealousy and who knows what? Sure he could have taken it a step further. Most abusers do. As you must know. And killed her. A LOT of abusers do that, too, as you must also know. As we all certainly knew. Then the evidence trickled out, the clown car prosecution made us all cringe, you guys on the defense made us all a little sick (but we understood he deserved the best defense his wealth, created by being a huge celebrity among WHITE Americans, could buy).
I really think you need to sit down and try to think like a person who is . . . just a person. Not a person with an agenda, not a partisan hack, not some kind of armchair social scientist, just a person. People don't think like you think they do. Goodness, haven't you seen that yourself since October 7th. How much of all of that took you by surprise? You know who it didn't surprise. All of us, out here in real America who were huge OJ fans . . . until he killed his ex-wife and Ron Goldman. We also knew that there is far more antisemitism in your circles than there has been racism in ours for half a century or more. Wake all the way up, please. It's time.
The only people who do not realize that OJ was 100% guilty are absolute morons and deniers. There was overwhelming evidence that no other person in the world committed these atrocious murders. The glove was a joke. As with virtually all of the prosecution, Ms Clark, Mr Darden and others were incompetent at best. When water or blood soaked, a leather glove shrinks. It must be stretched out to once again fit the wearer. If any thinking person has ever soaked their gloves while playing in snow the result is evident. No parent says the glove shrank so new ones have to be purchased every time a snowball is made. He made his hands swell without arthritis medication, plus had a glove liner of some kind to my recollection, so the glove was not going to fit under that circumstance. Cochran was no better than any other good lawyer. The defense got lucky with inept Marcia and team, wishy-washy Kato and lying, know-it-all Fuhrman who humiliated and perjured himself with no charges stating he never said the N word, but was found to have said it countless times. The gloves belonged to OJ as sure as the sun is hot. The double-murderer was pictured in the Buno Magli shoes after denying he owned the same. A juror was witnessed the other day on X saying that 90% of the jury believed he was guilty but they voted for acquittal out of revenge. Most people with a third grade education, had they chosen to use it, could have surmised that given the voluminous evidence against him. I could not care less about his football record. It has no meaning whatsoever. The only matter of fact is that OJ savagely murdered and nearly beheaded two beautiful, innocent people who posed no threat to him whatsoever. He is nothing but a parasitic germ who should have never have been born. Mr Dershowitz, shame on you for expressing one iota of regard for this savage. The case was closed for him from the verdict forward. The case will never be closed for the Brown and Goldman families. Their anguish is never-ending. I don't recall any recent mention by you of the two souls he monstrously eradicated. They were Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman. May they rest in eternal peace. May God damn their heinous eliminator.
I watched the complete trial. There is zero doubt in my mind of OJ's guilt. My opinion has nothing to do with race. OJ had a long history of domestic violence, jealous rages and wife battery. He was the only one with any possible motive. He fits a standard criminal wife murderer profile. Next he took off and ran wild in his white Ford Bronco for miles, which shows hysteria and panic. If he didn't do it, why would he do that? The glove was wet, so it shrank. There was a bloody fingerprint on his Bronco. You can dismiss all the physical evidence, but the motive and his behaviour tells the real tale. The prosecution made a grave mistake of not trying him in the district of the murder: Santa Monica, where the jury pool would have been mostly white. They decided on downtown Los Angeles which turned out to be mostly black. The result was to be expected, a verdict based along racial lines, they let him off as he was a black superstar, no other reason. O.J. Simpson benefited from rich man’s justice but was found guilty in the subsequent Civil Case. I really hope that there is a GOD and therefore a HELL. They are waiting for him there. I have NO sympathy whatsoever for wife batterers.
No one with any common sense who paid much attention to the case could believe that OJ was innocent.
I've seen reports that Johnny Cochran and/or someone else on the defense team advised OJ to quit taking arthritis medicine at some point not long before the famous glove-fit demonstration, knowing that this would cause his hands to swell. Can you confirm that, Professor?
I just this moment read an article from the Christian News Alert (.com) saying that on his deathbed John Dunton announced that OJ was at the crime scene and that he hired the Gambino family…..so I am inclined to totally dismiss what Mr. Dershowitz says in this article….Previously i had said there were no stats that decisions about guilt or innocence were along racial lines…seems to me this article shows entirely diffferent information than a main lawyer on the case….makes me think our system is even worse that I had thought, meaning more corrupt and that even so called great lawyers are fooled all the time….even Mr. Dershowitz….
For me race took no part in my feelings toward OJ. I just really really wanted him to be not guilty. Not necessarily for him but his poor young children having live without their mom. No matter what I wanted to believe about him I can't understand anyone who watched to come away and not believe he was 100% guilty with no remorse. I guess in his death he can now stop "looking for the real killer"
I like this article as you wrote from the heart and as a vulnerable almost compromised brother in a catch 22. My Holocaust heroic grandfather loved you, so my poignant remarks come from love. My case may come down as much bigger as far as trials of the following century if not millennium. I AM¹ []≡[] utilizing it's elements for end times prophecy as we are in hebrew year 5784/6000 MAX. This dream team is related to Joel 2:28 or 3:1.
I was flying back to Houston after an overnight in New Mexico. The other pilot was a former cop. He had been saying that they didn't have the evidence for a conviction. As for race, I don't think it was ever a factor except, perhaps, among black activists.
If he was guilty beyond any reasonable doubt why did the police meddle with evidence and use laboratory samples of his blood to deposit them into his Bronco and other personal effects? A unique anticoagulant only in laboratory kits was in the blood within the Bronco and OJ’s clothing. I understand that doesn’t mean he is innocent but it does raise the prospect of a weak case when the police have to create evidence against a defendant. Plus, the glove did not fit and his physical injuries did not correspond to the injuries on Ron Goldman which was a fight to the death on his part when OJ’s injuries were non-existent.
If I were sitting on his jury I would have acquitted him too, his culpability was highly dubious.
Another example why we don’t try cases in the court of public opinion!!
Like many others, I remember seeing the trial daily, and realizing the horror of what happened to 2 people. Race didn’t enter the picture in consideration of OJ’s guilt or innocence. I did have opinions of the state v. private attorneys.
Excuse me Professor but where is your data that we were divided along racial lines. I never make a decision based on race and no one I knew in the day either. I’m white and I actually never came to a conclusion.
Your statement is inflammatory and I think without data you should not have made it.
I lived in a large spiritual community and no one thought along racial lines.
You are still a Dem and divisive. Except on Israel.
The criminal trial also exposed the hypocrisy with which many people live.
If a verdict comes out the way they want it to, they see it as justice, and they will demand that other people respect the jury's work. However, when the verdict is against their rooting interest, they have no problem finding fault with everything, except the quality of the case.
We have this same phenomenon with elections. If they come out the way people want, they're free and fair; if they don't, they're rigged or stolen.
As far as OJ's murder case is concerned, the verdict is correct. The government did not sustain its burden.
Of course, many, many people are convicted on much less than what was adduced, which shows that if you can put up a fight, you have some chance in the American criminal conviction system. Hence, much credit goes to Mr. Shapiro for his early management of the case: (1) locking up the best experts; and (2) locking down the evidence in an immediate PX. Under-appreciated, high-quality legal work.
Hardly inspirational. O.J.'s trial won't be remembered for exposing "racial division" in America; it will be remembered as exposing how cultural politics - in 1895 as much as in 1995 - can lead civilized-nation courts to the wrong verdict...
I think that the race part played a big role in certain circles (i.e. urban, coastal, Democrat), but for the rest of us out here in real America, it most certainly was NOT about race. This was OJ, the Juice, and we all loved him. He was a fantastically popular sports figure, sure, and as you glancingly note, he also did commercials, but he also was in movies, in every popular magazine, and did walk-ons on our favorite shows. America loved, loved LOVED OJ Simpson.
I'm pretty sure that pretty much all of us were aware that he was black. Weird, in your telling, no? How do you get from this absolute celebrity in sports, on tv, in the movies, beloved by all of America to this whole guilty/not guilty thing was about race? That's just nonsensical, and frankly, this is the problem with you Democrats and everyone who sees everything solely through the prism of race . . . you are a small minority. The rest of us didn't and still don't decide what we think of someone because of their race. The Juice was legend, and all of America (white, black, blah blah blah) LOVED him. And then he (almost certainly, who else could have and left OJ's blood all over the place?) killed Nicole and Ron Goldman. I remember it all vividly. My first reaction, was oh, no way! That's OJ. The Juice. He didn't do that. He can't have a bad or violent or angry bone in his body.
But then a funny thing happened, and the pictures of Nicole beaten by OJ, her phone calls to 911, all of it was made public. And then we all thought, wow, if he can beat her. Over and over. Harm her so horribly over jealousy and who knows what? Sure he could have taken it a step further. Most abusers do. As you must know. And killed her. A LOT of abusers do that, too, as you must also know. As we all certainly knew. Then the evidence trickled out, the clown car prosecution made us all cringe, you guys on the defense made us all a little sick (but we understood he deserved the best defense his wealth, created by being a huge celebrity among WHITE Americans, could buy).
I really think you need to sit down and try to think like a person who is . . . just a person. Not a person with an agenda, not a partisan hack, not some kind of armchair social scientist, just a person. People don't think like you think they do. Goodness, haven't you seen that yourself since October 7th. How much of all of that took you by surprise? You know who it didn't surprise. All of us, out here in real America who were huge OJ fans . . . until he killed his ex-wife and Ron Goldman. We also knew that there is far more antisemitism in your circles than there has been racism in ours for half a century or more. Wake all the way up, please. It's time.
The only people who do not realize that OJ was 100% guilty are absolute morons and deniers. There was overwhelming evidence that no other person in the world committed these atrocious murders. The glove was a joke. As with virtually all of the prosecution, Ms Clark, Mr Darden and others were incompetent at best. When water or blood soaked, a leather glove shrinks. It must be stretched out to once again fit the wearer. If any thinking person has ever soaked their gloves while playing in snow the result is evident. No parent says the glove shrank so new ones have to be purchased every time a snowball is made. He made his hands swell without arthritis medication, plus had a glove liner of some kind to my recollection, so the glove was not going to fit under that circumstance. Cochran was no better than any other good lawyer. The defense got lucky with inept Marcia and team, wishy-washy Kato and lying, know-it-all Fuhrman who humiliated and perjured himself with no charges stating he never said the N word, but was found to have said it countless times. The gloves belonged to OJ as sure as the sun is hot. The double-murderer was pictured in the Buno Magli shoes after denying he owned the same. A juror was witnessed the other day on X saying that 90% of the jury believed he was guilty but they voted for acquittal out of revenge. Most people with a third grade education, had they chosen to use it, could have surmised that given the voluminous evidence against him. I could not care less about his football record. It has no meaning whatsoever. The only matter of fact is that OJ savagely murdered and nearly beheaded two beautiful, innocent people who posed no threat to him whatsoever. He is nothing but a parasitic germ who should have never have been born. Mr Dershowitz, shame on you for expressing one iota of regard for this savage. The case was closed for him from the verdict forward. The case will never be closed for the Brown and Goldman families. Their anguish is never-ending. I don't recall any recent mention by you of the two souls he monstrously eradicated. They were Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman. May they rest in eternal peace. May God damn their heinous eliminator.
I watched the complete trial. There is zero doubt in my mind of OJ's guilt. My opinion has nothing to do with race. OJ had a long history of domestic violence, jealous rages and wife battery. He was the only one with any possible motive. He fits a standard criminal wife murderer profile. Next he took off and ran wild in his white Ford Bronco for miles, which shows hysteria and panic. If he didn't do it, why would he do that? The glove was wet, so it shrank. There was a bloody fingerprint on his Bronco. You can dismiss all the physical evidence, but the motive and his behaviour tells the real tale. The prosecution made a grave mistake of not trying him in the district of the murder: Santa Monica, where the jury pool would have been mostly white. They decided on downtown Los Angeles which turned out to be mostly black. The result was to be expected, a verdict based along racial lines, they let him off as he was a black superstar, no other reason. O.J. Simpson benefited from rich man’s justice but was found guilty in the subsequent Civil Case. I really hope that there is a GOD and therefore a HELL. They are waiting for him there. I have NO sympathy whatsoever for wife batterers.
No one with any common sense who paid much attention to the case could believe that OJ was innocent.
I've seen reports that Johnny Cochran and/or someone else on the defense team advised OJ to quit taking arthritis medicine at some point not long before the famous glove-fit demonstration, knowing that this would cause his hands to swell. Can you confirm that, Professor?
Then as today I saw & see justice perverse. In short Justice rarely prevails.
I just this moment read an article from the Christian News Alert (.com) saying that on his deathbed John Dunton announced that OJ was at the crime scene and that he hired the Gambino family…..so I am inclined to totally dismiss what Mr. Dershowitz says in this article….Previously i had said there were no stats that decisions about guilt or innocence were along racial lines…seems to me this article shows entirely diffferent information than a main lawyer on the case….makes me think our system is even worse that I had thought, meaning more corrupt and that even so called great lawyers are fooled all the time….even Mr. Dershowitz….
For me race took no part in my feelings toward OJ. I just really really wanted him to be not guilty. Not necessarily for him but his poor young children having live without their mom. No matter what I wanted to believe about him I can't understand anyone who watched to come away and not believe he was 100% guilty with no remorse. I guess in his death he can now stop "looking for the real killer"
I like this article as you wrote from the heart and as a vulnerable almost compromised brother in a catch 22. My Holocaust heroic grandfather loved you, so my poignant remarks come from love. My case may come down as much bigger as far as trials of the following century if not millennium. I AM¹ []≡[] utilizing it's elements for end times prophecy as we are in hebrew year 5784/6000 MAX. This dream team is related to Joel 2:28 or 3:1.
re: Your Legacy
Our legal standing vs Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft's clients won't fade:
https://covidandvaxfaqs.substack.com/p/incriminating-patents-update
¹Exodus 3:14~15 = Pi ♾️ iP åbove
Psalm 37:
כִּ֤י יְהֹוָ֨ה ׀ אֹ֘הֵ֤ב מִשְׁפָּ֗ט וְלֹא־יַעֲזֹ֣ב אֶת־חֲ֭סִידָיו לְעוֹלָ֣ם נִשְׁמָ֑רוּ וְזֶ֖רַע רְשָׁעִ֣ים נִכְרָֽת׃
For the LORD loves what is right,
He does not abandon His faithful ones.
They are preserved forever,
while the children of the wicked will be cut off.
I was flying back to Houston after an overnight in New Mexico. The other pilot was a former cop. He had been saying that they didn't have the evidence for a conviction. As for race, I don't think it was ever a factor except, perhaps, among black activists.
If he was guilty beyond any reasonable doubt why did the police meddle with evidence and use laboratory samples of his blood to deposit them into his Bronco and other personal effects? A unique anticoagulant only in laboratory kits was in the blood within the Bronco and OJ’s clothing. I understand that doesn’t mean he is innocent but it does raise the prospect of a weak case when the police have to create evidence against a defendant. Plus, the glove did not fit and his physical injuries did not correspond to the injuries on Ron Goldman which was a fight to the death on his part when OJ’s injuries were non-existent.
If I were sitting on his jury I would have acquitted him too, his culpability was highly dubious.
Another example why we don’t try cases in the court of public opinion!!
Like many others, I remember seeing the trial daily, and realizing the horror of what happened to 2 people. Race didn’t enter the picture in consideration of OJ’s guilt or innocence. I did have opinions of the state v. private attorneys.
Excuse me Professor but where is your data that we were divided along racial lines. I never make a decision based on race and no one I knew in the day either. I’m white and I actually never came to a conclusion.
Your statement is inflammatory and I think without data you should not have made it.
I lived in a large spiritual community and no one thought along racial lines.
You are still a Dem and divisive. Except on Israel.
The criminal trial also exposed the hypocrisy with which many people live.
If a verdict comes out the way they want it to, they see it as justice, and they will demand that other people respect the jury's work. However, when the verdict is against their rooting interest, they have no problem finding fault with everything, except the quality of the case.
We have this same phenomenon with elections. If they come out the way people want, they're free and fair; if they don't, they're rigged or stolen.
As far as OJ's murder case is concerned, the verdict is correct. The government did not sustain its burden.
Of course, many, many people are convicted on much less than what was adduced, which shows that if you can put up a fight, you have some chance in the American criminal conviction system. Hence, much credit goes to Mr. Shapiro for his early management of the case: (1) locking up the best experts; and (2) locking down the evidence in an immediate PX. Under-appreciated, high-quality legal work.
Maybe Israel is analogous to OJ. OJ was a well loved celebrity until he wasn't. Israel was an honorable and respected country until it wasn't.
May his memory remain a blessing to all who loved him.
Hardly inspirational. O.J.'s trial won't be remembered for exposing "racial division" in America; it will be remembered as exposing how cultural politics - in 1895 as much as in 1995 - can lead civilized-nation courts to the wrong verdict...