Anxiously awaiting the verdict Tuesday afternoon along with the rest of the nation, I honestly didn't know what fate had in store for the ex-Buffalo Bill and television personality, O.J. Simpson. I tended to believe he was guilty but was never completely convinced. However, the first thought that entered my mind when I heard the jury's verdict of not guilty on all counts, was one of complete shock. How could a jury of the Juice's peers find him innocent in light of all the DNA, domestic violence, and other convincing evidence against him? What instilled their doubt?

This verdict reaffirms my somewhat pessimistic position that America is no longer a land of promise; rather, it is a nation where money can buy you anything, including freedom. A high profile, high cost defense team prevailed, setting O.J. free at the cost of justice, not to mention the Brown family's security. I am not suggesting that this is a unique phenomenon in American judicial history, instead it appears more significant in this case as a result of the widespread media attention that O.J. has managed to attract. You could not, in the past year, turn on the television set without noticing some newly created talk show or "news" program discussing the trial and its predicted outcome. Every area worthy of analysis in the trial was picked apart on a daily basis, on twenty channels, repeated twice daily, and updated on the half hour. With the extensive coverage and analysis, the public was much better informed as to the trial's circumstances, making Americans greater critics than they would have been in a less publicized trial.

The Mark Furhman tapes and the "race factor" were drilled to death by Johnnie Cochran and the defense team. This turned a minor factor in the case into a spectacle designed to grab hold of certain emotions in the members of the predominately African-American jury. The defense wanted to upset the jury. Instilling anger and disgust in the jury by playing the infamous tapes and painting the entire L.A.P.D. as a racist organization, the defense correctly predicted that attention from the real issues in the case-- the concrete evidence-- would be tossed aside. In short, Cochran and company knew that race was an emotional issue capable of setting O.J. free, so they used it to their advantage. Of course, this will be reflected in the defense team's upcoming paychecks from Simpson.

Many aspects of the Simpson case get me fired up. The television coverage of the trial and analysis of the courtroom proceedings obviously had negative effects on the case. Why else would Judge Ito threaten to remove cameras at several critical junctures of the trial? Glorification of Simpson also took its toll on the trial. In the realm of professional athletes which include Michael Jordan, Bo Jackson, Deion Sanders, and Shaquille O'Neal, O.J. Simpson falls behind the pack. We only concluded O.J. was somehow glorious after the media and other sources told us so. The moral of this story---shame on us for believing everything we read and hear. If we did, life would be a lot like the trial of O.J. Simpson.

© Trincoll Journal, 1995.