I am a firm believer that the American Justice system, particularly the criminal court system, is put in place to dole out punitive justice. I do not believe that is should be used for preventative or retributive reasons. Having said that, with the result of the recent O.J. Simpson trial, it will be hard for many to consider that this verdict is not retributive.
Aristotle said that law is reason free from passion, but let's face it, emotion and passion play a larger part in jury deliberations than they should. In a perfect world, jurors would be able to proceed rationally through evidence presented to them and reach a fair and equitable verdict. We do not live in a perfect world.
There are countless people who believe that O.J. Simpson murdered Nicole and Ron Brown. There are countless who believe that he didn't. And there are untold others who don't care, they simply wanted a black man to beat the system.
Well, he did. Sort of. He wasn't found guilty in his criminal trial, eliminating the chance of serving time for the murders. However, he was found guilty in the civil trial. O.J. Simpson is a murderer. He was found guilty of that crime. There is no debating this. O.J. Simpson has been convicted of murder.
So now, of course, people are crying that the guilty verdicts from his Nevada trial are retributive, that this was a chance to right a wrong, in the eyes of many. This was the chance to put him in jail.
There are a ton of reasons that people offer, facts they believe show there was some kind of conspiracy (again) against the Juice. Give me a fucking break. Look, we all now that this thing was crawling with creeps. These sports memorabilia guys are whores with jerseys. That is a given. And even if they did set up the meeting with O.J., they didn't force him to grab six guys with guns and storm a hotel room.
This is more of the blame-oriented society that the United States has been morphing into for the last fifteen years or so. The cops set him up? They were heard on tape saying they were going to get him? That's your argument for some huge conspiracy? You're a moron. Cops say that they are going to get every suspect for every crime that they investigate. That's they nature of being a cop. They identify the perpetrator(s) of a given crime and then collect evidence to help support their case. And let's not forget that O.J. Simpson has a mountain of evidence against him.
I am actually kind of thankful that all of these guys were scumbags. Nobody trusted anybody, so all of them were wired at various times. There were tapes before the robbery; there were tapes during; there were tapes afterwards; there were jail house phone recordings; there were answering machine messages. The evidence was absolutely staggering. I think that I was about one of three people in the country who didn't have a tape of at least some part of the incident.
I have heard some say, "well, the tapes were doctored". No, the tapes were not doctored. That is one of the dumber comments I have heard thus far. Yale Galanter, Simpson's attorney made the claim in court, that some of the tapes were doctored, yet do you know how many experts he produced to support this accusation? A rough guess? Anybody? That would be exactly ZERO!
Let me tell you something, if you are a defense attorney, and you make the argument that the most damaging evidence against your client has been fabricated, the first thing you would do is line as many people as you could up to stipulate to such in court testimony. Galanter produced NOBODY, not one person who would testify that these tapes were doctored. Want to know why? Because they weren't. The tapes were tested and retested by several independent experts, and everyone told Galanter that the tapes were authentic. That is why he made the accusation that the tapes were doctored but failed to produce anyone who would corroborate that assertion.
And what really makes me laugh is his defense to the robbery charge. He claimed O.J. was simply trying to get his "stuff" back. Yeah, there's a problem with that. We don't allow vigilante justice. A person can't break the law to get back at someone who has broken the law against them. Just because you think that someone robbed you doesn't mean that you get to rob them back. Can you imagine how lawless our society would be if we allowed that? I mean, more lawless than it already is.
There is no argument for his innocence here. You can't make one intelligently. And I find it sad really. Simpson used to be an American hero, but he has always been a sociopath. He has always been violent. The accusations of domestic violence against him go back two decades, if not further. His arrogance is what has put him into the position that he is currently in. He could've showed up at that hotel room with one other guy and no guns, just asked for his property back menacingly, and I guarantee he could have gotten it all back. Sometimes, simply the appearance of physical superiority is far more persuasive than actual physical acts.
But, then that wouldn't be O.J. would it? The guy has spit in the face of the American judicial system one too many times, and I would think that he would be kissing its ass. If you avoided the criminal culpability of a double-murder that you committed, wouldn't you lay low? You know, thank your lucky stars, start praying a hell of a lot more, and keep your nose clean? I think that's what most of us would do, but Simpson's ego would just not allow it. He had to be the badass once again.
And I agree that all of the people involved are scumbags. The sports memorabilia guys, the idiots Simpson convinced to go with him, that buddy of his from Florida. Where the hell did he dig this guy up? Tom Scotto? Who the fuck is he? He owns a garage in Florida. This is the only guy that Galanter could find to offer as a character witness? It just shows how far Juice has sunk. I almost feel bad for him... almost.
He did this to himself. That's it, end of story. Nobody ever forced him into doing anything. He was in control. Listen to the tapes. He knew there were guns before hand; he was in control during, basically acting as director of the entire ordeal; and he was trying to run spin control afterwards. The guy was trying to regain some sense of importance and control. Something that he lost long ago, with the murder of two people.
You got yourself back into the spotlight, O.J. For right now everyone is paying attention to you. It'll last about two days. I hope it was worth your freedom.
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