“Closure For America”
Goldman lawyer calls it. Meanwhile, the Boston Herald’s own O.J. gets Simpson Dream Teamer Alan Dershowitz. He doesn’t want to talk about it. O.J. is so 1995:
By Oryan Johnson
A key member of O.J. Simpson’s “Dream Team” of criminal defense lawyers said yesterday that he’s through discussing the Heisman Trophy winner and former Buffalo Bills running back, whom he successfully defended in what was billed the trial of the century.
“I’m done talking about it,” said attorney Alan Dershowitz of Cambridge - 13 years to the day after he helped Simpson win an acquittal for the double murder of his wife, Nicole Brown, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. “I’ve had enough O.J. in my life.”
The Harvard law professor was carrying two armloads of groceries into his posh home the morning after a Clark County Jury ended 13 hours of deliberations to find Simpson and an accomplice guilty of 12 criminal counts, including kidnapping and armed robbery.
Way to doorstep ‘em, Ohj.
The 61-year-old football Hall of Famer faces a sentence that could send him to jail for the rest of his life.
Simpson’s 1995 trial happened in a Southern California legal landscape still reeling from the riots that scorched the city after the contoversial verdict that freed four white cops accused of beating black motorist Rodney King.
As much as it was a racial-relations petri dish, it was no less a sideshow presided over by a cast of characters such as the camera-happy Judge Lance Ito, showman defense lawyer Johnnie Cochran, since deceased, and coif chameleon and prosecutor Marcia Clark.
Live broadcasts ground America to a halt and riveted veiwers with near-daily plot twists as his defense team, including Dershowitz and another Bay State bar icon, F. Lee Bailey, put on the first globally televised celebrity trial.
As much as his first trial was a national spectacle, Simpson’s latest barely earned a nod from national media as Americans spent much of the four-week trial consumed with the presidential election and mired in political debate over the $700 billion financial bailout.
There were no live broadcasts or culture-shaping one-liners like Cochran’s infamous “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit,” referring to the bloody, black-leather gloves allegedly worn by Brown and Goldman’s maniacal killer.
In Nevada, Simpson stood accused of storming a Las Vegas hotel room with five other men. He allegedly held two memorabilia collectors hostage in a bid to retrieve items that once belonged to him, including an autographed picture of Simpson and former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. By the time the case reached trial, four of Simpson’s accomplices took plea deals in exchange for testifying against him.
Reaction yesterday was relatively muted. David Cook, who represents Goldman’s father, Fred, said: “Going to jail for beating Fred Goldman out of footballs and family mementos. Is this closure for Fred Goldman? No. Is this closure for America? Yes.”
Yeah, but not so fast. As long as the Las Vegas judge doesn’t pull any jury nullification at sentencing, we still have years of “O.J. behind bars” coverage ahead … You know, O.J. tries to get in with the Muslims for protection from the Aryan Nations. You think the Muslims will want to mess with O.J. like the white supremacists messed with Neil Entwistle?
A lot of this important journalism will be advanced by the supermarket tabloids, which toil doggedly to cover the stories no one else will. Headlines to look forward to:
O.J. Behind Bars: “I’ll Never Stop Looking for Nicole’s Real Killer.”
O.J.: “My Cellmate’s The One!”
Simpshank Redemption: Heisman Trophy Winner Goes Deep in Breakout Bid
O.J. Finds Love Again: “Big Bubba Has Helped Me Get Over Losing Nicole.”
O.J. Stops Prison Race Riot With Heartfelt Appeal: “Can’t We All Just Get Along?”
You could see O.J. on the parole track:
O.J.’s Prison Golf Seminars: Gangbangers Learn Key Skills For Corporate Success.
Sought-after legal expert:
Jailhouse Lawyer O.J. Counsels Crims on Evidence Handling, Jury Selection
No end of possibilities. But here’s a scoop you can look for exclusively in the Weekly World News:
Inmate O.J. Gets Religion: “Forgive Me, Lord, I Killed Nicole and Ron.”
Topics: crime, punishment
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:56 am on Sunday, October 5, 2008
One Response to ““Closure For America””
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October 5th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Looks like the party’s over, Juice. Not soon enough, though.