The O.J. Simpson Murder Trial, Research Paper Example

Abstract

This paper serves to provide a perspective on the People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson BA 0977211, which was tried between January 29 and October 3, 1994 and presided over by the Judge Lance Ito.

Details will be provided in an effort to give an indication as to why the verdict obtained was arrived at, especially with regard to how the strategies and evidence were presented by both the prosecution and the defense.

The case has been classified as one of the trials of the century by many experts especially due its massive international publicity, and will be remembered by the famous quote of the leading defense, Johnny Cochrain, who in the closing arguments to the panel of basically African American Jurors that if it (the gloves) does not fit, you must acquit.

The O. J. Simpson, Murder Trial

Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman according to Police reports were found murdered at the former condominium in June 1994, and based on evidence obtained Orenthal James Simpson was arrested and tried at the Los Angeles County California Superior Court in the case called the People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson BA0977211, between January 29 to October 23., 1995, with Judge Lance Ito presiding.

The lead prosecutors n for the case Christopher Darden and Marcia Clark made an error in judgment according to Linder (2000), when they file the Simpson case to be tried in the downtown district of California Superior Court, rather than following the normal procedure of doing so in the district where the murder actually took place, which was in Santa Monica.

According to Linder (2000), the underlying reason may have been political and historically connected to the Rodney King trial which ended in riots in the city, due to the not guilty verdict given by an all white panel of jurors.

The facts of the case as the prosecution saw it were, that a jealous O.J. Simpson despite his fame and high profile media status went to the condominium of his estranged wife Nicole Brown Simpson and killed both her and her lover Ronald Goldman in cold blood while they slept. They contend that O.J. Simpson mentality was that if he could not have Nicole Brown Simpson nobody else shall, and would present the evidence to show that Mr. Simpson was guilty of the double murder.

The defense lead team for O.J. Simpson made an impressive start to the case by making an application for Out Of State witness Marcus Allen to be present at the trial for three days. This was in order to impress the jurors that this material witness was proof that their client, the accused was not a murderer as the prosecution was alluding according to Walraven (1995).

Mr. Allen’s presence was requested principally because he had confessed two weeks before his marriage to the accused that he had been sexually intimate with Nicole Simpson, and Mr. Simpson despite this had allowed him to use his house for the wedding, according to Walraven (1995).

There was a preponderance of evidence and critical incidents of importance presented by the defense regarding their beliefs that O.J. Simpson had committed the murders and these include;

• J. Simpson’s failure to account for his whereabouts between 9.30 and 10.55 on the evening of the murder
• The defendant’s failure to respond to the limo drivers ringing of the doorbell from 9.40 to 10.54
• His fussing with the luggage and midnight flight to Chicago so close to when the murders were committed
• The blood and other incriminating evidence found at both Bundy and Rockingham residences
• Simpsons failure to surrender to the police at the time agreed on
• His suicide note left behind and the high speed chase for nearly 50 km according to Caton (2011).

These overwhelming evidence and developments seems according to Caton (2011), to have driven the defense to strategize an early racial counter narrative approaching order not to lose the case.

This was done by making Detective Mark Furman the major target after evidence surfaced that he had displayed racial attitude over the years he had served in the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) according to Jones (2011). The defense team with the permission of Judge Lance Ito to question the Detective if he had used the “n” word over the last 10 years, and this significantly turned the interrogation form the defendant to the question of racial intolerance possible exhibited by the police officer.

Additionally, the defense had discovered that the handling of the blood evidence was poor by any standard and exploited all these areas to take control of the case (Jones, 2011).

The prosecution also exacerbated their position with the handling of the evidence surrounding the gloves. The developed a chain of evidence  beginning from where Nicole Brown Simpson purchase several pairs of the sane gloves to even photographs with the accused wearing at least one of them, but made a fatal mistake of commanding him to tried the pair found at both his house and at the crime scene (Jones, 2011).

The incident made the prosecution looked bad, inept and embarrassed, and the defense lead counsel Johnny Cochrain along with the defendant, exploited the moment to convincingly send strong messages to the jury that the crime was not committed by the accused that was then  presently on trial.

According to Caton (2011), before a criminal trail goes to the jury, the defendant is presumed innocent, the burden of proof has to be beyond reasonable doubt, privilege of self incrimination is protected by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, and a unanimous decision has to be arrived at whether for conviction or acquittal.

However the defense must have had strong intuition of the fact that the prosecution case was not beyond reasonable doubt and advised the defendant not to take that stand in his defense. This perhaps was based on the handling of the gloves and the blood samples as well the racial attitude of Detective Mark Furman.

The jury had a short deliberation of approximately 4 hours before declaring a not guilty verdict for O.J. Simpson. This was much to the agony, angst and consternation of the Brown’s and Goldman’s family and their supporters, but great jubilations in the African American Community nationally.

Mr. O. J. Simpson was able to walk from the court a free man and the trial had gone down in history as one of the Trials of the Century, due to the large international media exposure that it had receive as well as the reactions on both sides of the national divide before, during and after the final decision.

Reference

Caton, C. (2011). The People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson: Background E      vents The Fromm Institute www.usf.usca.edu/fromm/handouts.winter2011/caton%20class20four.pdf , 11/07/11

Jones, T.L. (2011). Analysis of O.J. Simpson Murder Trial 2011 Turner Entertainment Networks Inc www.truty.com/library/crimes/notorious_murders/famous/simpson/index_.html , 11/07/11

Levenson, L.L. (2000). Cases of the Century www.llr.lls.edu/volumes/23-issue2/levenson.pdf , 11/07/11

Linder, D.O., (2000). The Trial of Oriental James Simpson www.law2.umkc.edu/faculty/project/f/trials/simpson/simpsonaccount.html , 11/07/11

Walraven, J. (1995). Jack Walraven’s Simpson Trial Transcript-Request for Marcus Allen to Testify www.simpson.walraven.org/m.allen.html , 11/07/11