Slow Grind
But a fine grind of justice as O.J. Simpson is found guilty on all counts. NYT suggests a lack of caring:
LAS VEGAS — By the time O.J. Simpson stood up in court late Friday to hear the spray of guilty verdicts on robbery and kidnapping charges that may send him to prison for the rest of his life, he was already so far removed from the heights of his fame and popularity that an entire generation of young Americans was barely aware that he had ever been a football star.
One measure of his downfall: few cared.
Gone were the adoring fans who lined the streets of Los Angeles more than 14 years ago as Mr. Simpson, a Heisman Trophy winner and National Football League Hall of Fame inductee, led police officers on a slow-speed chase in a white Ford Bronco after they went to arrest him in the murders of his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald L. Goldman.
I dunno. I care. You care? Smirk absent:
Mr. Simpson, 61, stood up older and noticeably less confident as guilty verdicts were read on all 12 charges than he did when he emphatically declared himself “absolutely, positively, 100 percent not guilty” in the 1994 killings.
This time, he sighed heavily as his sister, Carmelita Durio, sobbed and fainted. He appeared resigned to the idea that the jury of nine women and three men had not believed his argument that he was trying to retrieve personal keepsakes that had been stolen from his home or that he was unaware that two of the five men had carried or displayed weapons.
The bullshit didn’t fit, they did not acquit.
Judge Jackie Glass of District Court ordered Mr. Simpson remanded into custody until Dec. 5, when she is scheduled to sentence him. The most serious charges, two counts of kidnapping with a deadly weapon, carry a minimum sentence of 15 years to life with parole possible after five years. The dozen charges, which include robbery, burglary, conspiracy, assault and coercion, could carry a total minimum sentence of more than 50 years in prison if sentenced consecutively.
“I don’t like to use the word payback,” said Mr. Simpson’s lawyer, Yale Galanter. “I can tell you from the beginning my biggest concern was whether or not the jury would be able to separate their very strong feelings about Mr. Simpson and judge him fairly and honestly.”
Apparently that wasn’t a problem this time.
Topics: crime, justice, punishment
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 11:32 pm on Saturday, October 4, 2008
One Response to “Slow Grind”
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October 5th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
And good riddance.