The OJ Farce

This Saturday, O.J. Simpson found himself facing a lifetime in prison. A Las Vegas court found him guilty of 12 criminal charges, including kidnapping and robbery.

The case didn't generate the same controversy as O.J.'s murder trial, but it did exhibit the same stink of corruption. Watching O.J. get sentenced, we're all reminded that lynch-mob justice still exists in the Wild West.

I've written before about what a farce the 'trials of O.J. Simpson' have been. Whether or not you believe he was guilty of the 1994 murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, the media and the justice system have put Simpson through the meat grinder during the 13 intervening years and it's totally unacceptable.

In the 1994 trial, the jury was forced to agree that 'reasonable doubt' existed about O.J. Simpson's guilt. Why? Because the Los Angeles police department had planted evidence (the 'bloody glove') to strengthen their case - a fact made clear when Police Detective Mark Fuhrman was forced to 'plead the fifth' on the witness stand to cover his perjury.

In 1997, O.J. was in court again. The families of Simpson and Goldman sued him for the 'unlawful death' of their family members. Because a civil court demands only a 50/50 jury split (instead of a criminal court's unanimous decision, like the one that aquitted him) it was easy to win the settlement - $33.5 million. Enough to bankrupt Simpson for the rest of his life.

My problem with this verdict? It think it's very wrong that a civil court found Simpson guilty of something that a criminal court didn't. Like it or not, there was 'reasonable doubt' that OJ didn't commit the crime and therefore, no civil court in the country should have accepted the case.

In the 2008 trial, jury selection found that all of the members of the all-white jury were familiar with O.J. Simpson's murder trial and more than half of the jurors believed 'he did it.'

That makes a complete farce of a 'fair trial.'

Add to that the fact that the prosecution witnesses were all taking plea-bargins and immunity in return for their testimony and it's clear that the entire trial was a 'stitch up' by the District Attorney to make up for letting O.J. slip through the net thirteen years ago.

O.J. Simpson's lawyer, Yale Galanter, accused the jury of having "an agenda" and described the guilty verdict as "payback." Recording of Las Vegas police officers played during the trial revealed their excitement as being able to 'get' the guy who slipped through the fingers of the LAPD over a decade earlier.

It was vengeance, pure and simple. Whether or not you think O.J. Simpson committed murder is irrelevant. The subsequent trials and tribulations of the former NFL star have been nothing more than an extended campaign of persecution by corrupt elements within the legal and law enforcement system.