O.J. Simpson Case

This research paper examines how the evidence in this case was used by the jury to find the defendant, O. J. Simpson, not guilty. The predominantly black and female jury took less than four hours to arrive at its verdict. Such a speedy decision appeared to many to be strange behavior after a case which took nine months to try and involved 1015 pieces of evidence, 45,000 pages of transcript and scores of witnesses (Behind 27). This led many observers to conclude that the jury had ignored a 'mountain of evidence' against Simpson and had voted to acquit based on its emotional biases and external perceptions unrelated to the evidence. A more accurate interpretation would be that the jury made up its mind before it began its deliberations and found that a reasonable doubt existed as to Simpson's guilt, largely because it selectively relied on some items of evidence, principally the jurors' perception that the police may have framed him and that the authorities had mishandled key items of blood evidence, and discounted other evidence, which was more than sufficient to sustain a guilty verdict. In arriving at their verdict, the jury was influenced by many factors before and during the trial, including police and prosecutorial errors, questionable rulings by the trial judge Lance Ito, media-created impressions and clever playing of the race card by the defense Dream Team.

Importance of pre-trial events and decisions

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be exaggerated. The County spent $10 million on the case (Cockburn 27). Going into the trial, the criminal trial experience of the two sides was roughly equivalent (Bugliosi 34-43). Weight of the Evidence The prosecution lacked any eyewitnesses, foot prints or weapon. Nevertheless, the circumstantial evidence it presented against Simpson was sufficiently strong to support a guilty verdict. DNA analysis showed there was an extremely high statistical probability that blood found at the crime scene, in Simpson's Bronco, in his home and on the glove found at Rockingham was his. Lab analysis of other blood samples showed that Goldman's and Nicole's blood were at Rockingham. A great deal of testimony was offered by both sides concerning whether Simpson had had the time to drive to and from Nicole's condo, commit the crimes and get dressed for his planned business flight to Chicago. Whatever the perpetrators may have planned, Goldman's unexpected arrival narrowed, if the killer was OJ, his margin for error. The ambiguous testimony of Kato Kaelin and the more credible testimony of limo driver Allan Park showed that Simpson probably had just enough time, but the accounts of Nicole's neighbors as to when the crime actually occurred,
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Ron Goldman, EVIDENCE VERDICT, Rodney King, Woo A1, Park Simpson, Los Angeles, Philip Vannater's, Henry Lee, Dream Team, Victoria Toensing, oct 1995, blood evidence, simpson's guilt, los angeles, dream team, opinion racial lines, racial lines, convict simpson, closing argument, 5 oct 1995, crime scene, pre-trial publicity tended, simpson probably, oct 1995 a1, polarize opinion racial,
Approximate Word count = 2097
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)

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