The OJ Simpson Murder Trial and the Criminal Justice System

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.

Trial one happened on October 18, 1954 in the Cleveland Courtroom led by 70 years old Judge Edward Blythin. Popular journalists came to the Cleveland for the trial. A columnist and famous Tv host, Dorothy Kilgallen, asked the judge during the break about the case and the judge replied, “He’s guilty as hell.” (Sheppardaccount. (n.d.). Retrieved November 21, 2016, from http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/sheppard/sheppardaccount.html). Judge’s statement shows that from the evidences, he knew that Sheppard was guilty. As the court started to choose jurors, almost every jurors knew about this case and this is why the judge ordered to move the dates on court at the end of the year. One of the newspaper in Cleveland published each of the jurors name and their photos. Which made things harder for jurors. The processed of this case begun on November 3, 2016. Media started to quiet down about this case, so the judge ordered to continue. The juror was selected as seven men and four women.

about. Everyone has different thoughts about this case. In my opinion he was guilty. Oj Simpson

On November 9, 1994 the world was shocked when news stories and articles began to surface about the murders of Nicole brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. The two were found dead in LA in Nicole’s browns home. Detectives began looking for suspects who could cause such a gruesome murder. Their first suspect was Orenthal Simpson also known as OJ Simpson. Even though he was found not guilty after the trial, I believe he is guilty because there were lost evidence during the trail, he was abusive towards Nicole Simpson during their marriage and the trial was mentally draining on the jury.

The O. J. Simpson double murder case, also titled “People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson was a trial in which James O.J Simpson, a former National Football League player was convicted at the Los Angeles County Superior Court of two murder offenses on June 12, 1994. He was accused of killing his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, a restaurant waiter at Mezzaluna. The trial spans for a period of eight months. The opening statements were read on January 23, 1995, whereas the verdict, which left Simpson a free man, was declared on October 3, 1995. “The Trial of The Century,” as it is commonly known, has been described as the most publicized trial in history. However, before Simpson could be arrested and prosecuted, they had to go through an investigation process with the implementation of some techniques used by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) as this essay illustrates.

As a crime scene investigator, there are duties that have to be met and a job that has to get done. Part of this job includes putting together reliable evidence, and making a list of suspects. As an investigator my job as of right now, is to find evidence to use against Orenthal James Simpson in the prosecution of the murder of his wife Nicole Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. On June 12, 1994, around 10:15 P.M., Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were brutally murdered at her house on 875 S. Bundy in Brentwood, California (Linder).

The trial of the former National Football League and actor, O.J. Simpson, became part of the daily lives of everyone living in the United States for almost a year. He was tried for the murder of his ex wife Nicole Simpson, and waiter Ronald Goldman, but because of his social role he managed to be acquitted. It was a trial influenced by power, wealth, and especially race, which gave Simpson advantage within the jury.

The day was June 12, 1994 and only a few people would know that it would become a very important day in United States history. Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman are stabbed in Simpson’s Los Angeles home. Nicole Brown was the ex-wife of NFL superstar O.J. Simpson. O.J. came home the day after the murder and he found the police waiting for him and they placed him under temporary arrest. The next day OJ was at his attorney’s house and knowing he would be arrested fairly shortly, he rode off in his Ford White Bronco and caused what would be known one of the greatest police chases of all-time. He would be arrested and would be put to a trial. This would only be the beginning of a very important trial.

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,

“If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit” a statement which was used by Johnnie Cochran. A quote from the People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson was one of America’s most famous cases that brought attention to the black community. This Era played a logo in the impact, and after effects of this case. A case that brought attention to many American’s, immigrants, nationwide viewers and also, a case that is known to today’s society as the OJ Simpson case. This case raised concern and debate over the black community. Orenthal James Simpson was a wealthy black man that was a retired college and professional football hero, actor and he was also a commentator for Monday night live football. He was accused for the murder of Nicole

(Burleigh, 1994) Originally this part of the trial process was closed to the media, but Judge Ito later changed his mind and allowed access to the media so long as the substance of the grand jury was not disclosed. Furthermore, the media wanted access to the preliminary hearings. Several news organizations requested access to photographs of the crime and transcripts of conferences held in the judge’s chamber. A lot of this information was sensitive material that was still being decided upon whether to reveal to the jury during the preliminary hearings, but the media still wanted to have access. Eventually the Judge released some exhibits, but others remained sealed. There were two cases that influenced the judge’s decision, Newspaper Co. v. Superior Court 457 U.S. 596 (1982) and Richmond Newspapers, Inc. v. Virginia, 448 U.S. 555 (1980), which both support the public’s 1st Amendment right to access judicial proceedings. (Burleigh, 1994)

On June 12, 1994, the bodies of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were found dead at her home in Brentwood, CA. Orenthal James Simpson, or O.J. Simpson was notified of their deaths and immediately taken into custody for questions. Upon the collection of various pieces of evidence from the crime scene, all avenues pointed to Simpson as the culprit for the double murder. The conclusion of Simpson criminal trial resulted in his acquittal. There were various reasons for this acquittal. The most prominent reasons include accusations of racism, evidence contamination, and the lack of faith in DNA profiling. This paper will discuss the issues that arose with the trial in depth and offer an explanation and solution to resolving issues

Simpson’s lawyers convinced the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Simpson would turn himself in at 11am on 17 June. Simpson did not appear and the LAPD issued an all-points bulletin to arrest him. Simpson was then broadcasted on television evading police in a car chase (Piper, 2014). At the preliminary hearing, Judge Kathleen Kennedy-Powell ruled that there was sufficient evidence for Simpson to stand trial of two counts of first-degree murder (People v. Simpson, 1995, 12) which later took place in the Superior Court (California) in front of Judge Lance Ito and a jury of twelve. The trial lasted nine months and Simpson was acquitted (People v. Simpson, 1995, 234) as the prosecution failed to convince the jury that Simpson was proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt.

It is difficult to believe that O.J. Simpson was once a respected and celebrated professional football player, sports commentator, and actor. However, his image was irrevocably shattered on June 17, 1994 when Simpson was involved in a car chase that lasted about an hour on California's I-405 (O.J. Simpson leads L.A. police on a high-speed chase, 2013). Dubbed the "Crime of the Century," O.J. Simpson's trial was a media circus and was sensationalized for a number of reasons including Simpson's status as a celebrity, the mishandling of evidence, and the issue of race.

He was presumable guilty for being a black male and killing his white wife and the trial became a racial issue in some of its dimensions, but to the black community it did not matter if he was innocent or guilty. They felt as if with all the commotion going on in America they could not let another black man go down by the system. So when he was found innocent there were people everywhere who became ecstatic from the news. “People were celebrating because they were so angry about Rodney that they applied you'd better vindicate what you do with Rodney with OJ.”, said Rene Roselle. Even though in the back of people's minds there was the thought that he was guilty, they just felt some relief from all the anger and aggression they were holding in from the corrupt world that would soon change with the help from ‘gangster rap’ epidemic as a whole. If Oj went down the black community would riot across the