Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Oy, OJ KOed, Ok?

OJ Simpson has to be one of the savvyest consumers of our legal system I have ever seen. Don't get me wrong, I think he is lower than the slime on the bottom of the river. However, sliminess and successful navigation of our Court system are in no way related; although there might be a correlation, I don't think its in any way causative. Whomever he has chosen to advise him- he should pay the person double what he's paying him/her- because s/he is worth every penny.

First, there was the trial. Big egos wonderfully manipulated by the best legal defense team money could buy. My Hubby and I were talking about this the other night- people like OJ have the money to run blind trials on differing types of potential jurors. You may not have known that. Then, the legal team takes the shrink's views and opinions and learns who would be a good juror- and what arguments work well on those people. YOU ONLY HAVE TO GET ONE. That's it folks- 1 out of 11 (or whatever the number in your state)-- less than 10% and you've got a mistrial.

But then- that's what is sooooo amazing about the OJ verdict- they didn't come back split- they gave him a not guilty verdict. ( At the time my opinion was that the Prosecuton screwed up more than the Defense team was successful- but a win is a win, even if you won because the other team forfited.)

Because that's the thing- a mistrial and it can be tried again- but not NOT GUILTY. He could literally stand up on the steps of the White House and proclaim he had, in fact, done what they said he did- and he could not be tried again for their murder.

And then I heard the Statute of Limitations on Perjury expired a few weeks ago- so I'm guessing all the other ancillary crimes have also expired. (Obstructing an investigation, maybe?) Smart- this man is pretty darn smart.

But I want to focus on this book. Now, from what I understand, he isn't saying, "I did it and ..." He's saying, "If I did it, I would have done it SOOOO much better than whomever did it, did it; And this is how I would have done it."

Because, you know, he's innocent and stuff, and clearly, if he had a done it, which he didn't, it would have been done right and he wouldn't have had to go through that trial, which he only had to go through because someone else did it and the police were so inept in their investigation that they couldn't even find the right killer. So there.

It is, in short, the kind of publication that your lawyers sit and beg you not to write, your financial advisors shudder to contemplate how they will manipulate the income so as not to be income, and makes your children's psychiatrist suggest perhaps two days a week really would be better and s/he has an opening on Thursday at 5, and oh, probably for the next few years thank-you-very-much. And then your lawyer bills you for reading the manuscript, your financial advisors for the trusts and off shore accounts, and the shrink for your children's peace of mind.

Honestly, I don't know what to think. On the one hand, if he made the profits from the book go to Ron and Nichole's family, or even his kids I would probably say, go for it, there is no accounting for the taste of the American Public. On the other hand, He's gotta know there is a special place in Hell for him. I know that if a child of mine ever dated a sports star I would want to throw up. I have never cannonized people who are successful at sports- and I don't really understand why Americans do.

But, you probably wanted to me to help you understand this legally- and that I can do.

Look, we have a system. Its NOT perfect, and we don't want it to be perfect. Its ok that sometimes a guilty person gets off and an innocent person is punished- because we are human beings and we cannot design and impliment a perfect system. (Garbage in- garbage out.) We design a good system that works as well as possible with the limitation we give it ("It is better that a thousand guilty men go free than one innocent man be punished.") and with that we, The People, rolls the dice and takes our chances.

Or rather, the design and implimentation of a perfect system is really not what we want because a perfect system would render us not free. (See: any one of a number of future-perfect-world- that-is-really-awful films, 1984, etc...)


So, that's my opinion. Such as it is. I will not be buying the book, nor reading it. I will vote against him with my wallet- really the only vote that matters in our world.

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