As you know, O. J. is in jail again. The timing of his recent arrest couldn’t have been more perfect to promote his book. In 2006 Simpson wrote a book “IF I DID IT” (the original cover is seen on the left) which is a “hypothetical” description of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
The original release of the book in Oct 2006 was cancelled.
Last month, a Florida bankruptcy court awarded the rights to the book to the Goldman family to partially satisfy the settlement of the wrongful death civil trial in which Simpson was found guilty.
The Goldman’s have expanded the title to read “IF I DID IT: Confessions of the Killer.” The word "if" is written so small you can hardly see it! (Notice the new book cover to the right). Over the past couple of weeks, it has been one of the best sellers on Amazon.com.
The murder trial of O.J. was a sensational event caused more people to tune in to the 24 hour cable news channels. We probably all remember people who were glued to the television for the full duration of the trial.
Simpson hired a team of expensive (totaling $4 million), high-profile lawyers, including F. Lee Bailey, Barry Scheck, Robert Shapiro, Robert Kardashian, Alan Dershowitz, and Johnnie Cochran, who argued that Simpson was the victim of police fraud and sloppy internal procedures that contaminated the DNA evidence. Simpson's defense team, dubbed the "Dream Team" by reporters, argued that LAPD detective Mark Fuhrman had planted evidence at the crime scene. Police evidence collector Dennis Fung also faced heavy scrutiny. In all, 150 witnesses gave testimony during the eight-month-long trial.
On October 3, 1995, in front of an estimated 150 Million television views, Simpson was declared not-guilty.
A CNN poll after the trial in 1995 revealed that 33% of Americans agreed with the verdict and 56% disagreed.
The essence of our judicial system is that a jury of his peers determined that the prosecution failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he was guilty. Legal verdicts are not determined by popular opinion. The principle of Double Jeopardy guarantees that O.J. won’t be tried again for murder.
Some people believe that in our celebrity-obsessed culture, we utilize a different standard for sports and movie stars like O.J. (or Michael Jackson). Michael Vick’s arrest and guilty plea for dog-fighting may represent a backlash against this double standard.
But now O.J. has been arrested for armed robbery in Las Vegas. Only God and O.J. know for certain whether he got away with murder or not. But if he gets sent to jail for armed robbery there would almost be a sense of poetic justice about it all.
However, according to our legal system, he is innocent until proven guilty. Every person gets “their day in court.” It looks like OJ will end up having several!
This only serves to remind me that I stand before the Judge of the Universe and plead that I am completely guilty and deserve the fullest punishment under His perfect law. And in the moment that I throw myself upon the mercy of the court, the Judge steps down from the Divine bench and becomes my advocate. Then, Jesus steps up and accepts the punishment that I deserve.
“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2cor 5:21)
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
