30 for 30. OJ: Made in America

[vlad]

I was pretty young and naive at the time. 17 years old in the oh so sophisticated and educational cultural mecca that is suburban Dallas. Fortunately I had immigrant parents so had at least some world view. I remember watching the verdict in our calculus class and how much of a spectacle it was. You can probably blame this for the current state of news channels.

Even then I knew how racially charged LA was - NWA and all that didn't happen for no reason. Not that much has changed at all, I could see the same scenario playing out today.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Johnnie Cochran should be glorified for getting OJ off. He and the dream team were absolutely brilliant.

Not really. The jury wanted to go home after 9 months. They deserve more blame/credit. I won't ever understand how they reached a verdict in just 3 hours.

 

[Manwiththeplan]

Not really. The jury wanted to go home after 9 months. They deserve more blame/credit. I won't ever understand how they reached a verdict in just 3 hours.

and they just as easily could have convicted him in 3 hours. they didn't because the defense presented a much better case. I don't tend to blame the prosecution to much, they certainly made their mistakes, but they did the best they could at that time and in a lot of ways were dealt a bad hand. biggest culprit if you ask me is Mark Furman. Once he was caught in a lie, he didn't have much to lose by telling the truth. If you care about justice, come clean, the evidence for perjury was already there, couldn't have gotten worse, unless he had bigger things to hide, not in this case, but other cases.

 

[Nightman]

Race was part of it, but they tore the LAPD apart. F Lee Bailey had Furhman dead weeks before he took the stand. Their forensics team dismantled the LAPD's collection methods. The prosecution's ego played a big part in it, as well.

If the LAPD had collected the samples properly, it would have been a different story. The defense's job was to bring reasonable doubt into light, and they did.

Furhman's police work was top notch......painting him a racist because he was reading for a screenplay was a cheap parlor trick.....Marcia Clark was no prize but they had blood evidence everywhere, the glove, the Bronco, the shoes, the DNA, the motive, the suicide note, the chase...etc

 

[Manwiththeplan]

Furhman's police work was top notch....

Maybe, I definitely don't see anything he did wrong as far as gathering evidence goes, however, testifying is police work as well, despite how much he tries to gloss over this and that portion was not top notch

painting him a racist because he was reading for a screenplay was a cheap parlor trick.....

He was not reading for a screen play. That has never been, to my knowledge what he's said or what the person recording him said. He was providing back round information for someone hoping to write a screen play and thus was hired as a consultant to give real life stories. Now we can argue whether these stories have any basis in reality, certainly there is evidence to suggest they are fabricated, however, if you have heard the Fuhrman tapes, not just the 2 minutes they played at the trial, you really can not come to any conclusion besides this guy has no business being an officer of the law. He either was schizophrenic and believed these stories to be true, which I doubt, fantasized about doing the things he described or simply saw nothing wrong with what he described.

 

[Silver Surfer]

All hand waving, shouting and foot shuffling aside - to me, its all about the truth. Did OJ kill those people? I personally believe the jury ignored the truth.

 

[Manwiththeplan]

All hand waving, shouting and foot shuffling aside - to me, its all about the truth. Did OJ kill those people? I personally believe the jury ignored the truth.

I don't know if they ignored it, as much as they simply lost sight of it, but what happened on that day was not justice. Justice would have been OJ Simpson being found guilty and being sentenced to life w/ no parole. Justice would have been, the country and specifically LA county saying it's unacceptable for people to hold the views that Mark Furhman does, and while that happened initially, he now paints himself as a victim and is a legal correspondent for a major news outlet, when he is arguably one of the least qualified people in the country to discuss justice. And finally Justice would have been a hard look at the views of police forces around the country to ensure that racist/sexist attitudes are wiped out and that did not happened either. Justice did not prevail that day, only OJ.

 

[Silver Surfer]

With all due respect, the issue at hand was OJ Simpson's guilt or innocence. All the other issues were peripheral to this case. Truth and justice are two different words for a reason. It seems the jury conflated the two.

 

[Manwiththeplan]

With all due respect, the issue at hand was OJ Simpson's guilt or innocence. All the other issues were peripheral to this case. Truth and justice are two different words for a reason. It seems the jury conflated the two.

I agree, which is why I said

I don't know if they ignored it, as much as they simply lost sight of it, but what happened on that day was not justice. Justice would have been OJ Simpson being found guilty and being sentenced to life w/ no parole.

The rest of my comments were things that should have happened in the aftermath of the trial.

 

[CyberB0b]

With all due respect, the issue at hand was OJ Simpson's guilt or innocence. All the other issues were peripheral to this case. Truth and justice are two different words for a reason. It seems the jury conflated the two.

Not in a capital case. The prosecution had to prove that he was guilty beyond all reasonable doubt. The amateur handling of evidence, especially when the guy brought Simpson's blood back to the crime scene, is what ultimately sunk their case against him.

 

[Silver Surfer]

You're arguing the law - I'm arguing the truth.

 

[yimyammer]

All hand waving, shouting and foot shuffling aside - to me, its all about the truth. Did OJ kill those people? I personally believe the jury ignored the truth.

dont know if you've seen the last episode but one of the jury members straight up says it was pay back for the Rodney King verdict

 

[Tabascocat]

Everything said and written above is why this is/was the trial of the century. It will be a long, long time before this is forgotten.

Karma won in the end

 

[big dog cowboy]

dont know if you've seen the last episode but one of the jury members straight up says it was pay back for the Rodney King verdict

Exactly. And like I said before, after 9 months, they just wanted to go home.

 

[Silver Surfer]

dont know if you've seen the last episode but one of the jury members straight up says it was pay back for the Rodney King verdict

No, I haven't seen it yet. Thanks for the information.

 

[CyberB0b]

Everything said and written above is why this is/was the trial of the century. It will be a long, long time before this is forgotten.

Karma won in the end

Not Karma. The Goldberg's relentless pursuit of every dollar OJ made essentially formed him into the situation he was in. Good for them.

You're arguing the law - I'm arguing the truth.

Unfortunately, it's the best system we have. It is fallible, as are all human beings. A man has a right to due process in this country.

 

[CalPolyTechnique]

I lived through the OJ trial as a young adult, watched the trial, saw the verdict.....the whole 9. This series was absolutely fantastic in laying the groundwork and background of the cultural climate that were all factors in this case.

I can definitely see high schoolers having to watch this in civics class and having to write reports on it because there is so much to sink your teeth in.

I was too young to realize at the time what a bumbling idiots the original investigators (i.e. initial tape recorded interview w/OJ) were; what a disaster Mark Fuhrman was/is; the strategic error and freebie Chris Darden gave the defense asking OJ to try on the glove....

Finally, two things are equally true: 1) Johnny Cochran as a trial lawyer was genius and 2) he had absolutely zero moral compass and his tactics, while effective, were unethical IMO.

 

[Silver Surfer]

Not Karma. The Goldberg's relentless pursuit of every dollar OJ made essentially formed him into the situation he was in. Good for them.



Unfortunately, it's the best system we have. It is fallible, as are all human beings. A man has a right to due process in this country.

Never said he didn't. My initial statement/premise had nothing to do with the law. The legal process can be, and often is, corrupted. That's precisely why I'm more interested in the truth than the law.

 

[Tabascocat]

Just getting around to watching it, on episode 3 now. Since when can they cuss like that on regular TV???