O.J. Simpson, Football Player and Actor Accused of Murdering Ex-Wife, Dies at 76

After watching a bunch of these Dateline type murder shows where either the person accused is proven innocent or guilty, it made me wonder in broader terms what do we have a justice system for...punish the guilty or protect society?

From our history we don't seem to be making a dent on either side and wasting a lot of money as a result.

Here in Texas we have our share of in state and out of state serial killers hiding in plain sight caught by bone head decisions like driving a vehicle with busted tail lights. We have one serial killer who confessed to killing a hundred people across the nation who just happen to be African American. Another with similar body counts who is Caucasian. Another Hispanic.

So I ask, was OJ a menace to society like one of these serial killers? I would say not. But what does punishing him do? Satisfy the feeling of revenge for the victim's family? There's always civil court justice for that.

Someone needs to shorten what's termed a speedy trial because these murder shows are telling me people across the land still think they can get away with murder. I guess statistics will say otherwise depending where one lives.

 

You sure it's not working? The U.S. has the 55th highest intentional homicide rate in the world among countries. Could be worse. Just south of the border, Mexico is ranked 15th place. Admittedly, the U.S. is just about the worst among western countries. Our northern neighbor Canada is much better at 112th place.

Of course, there is a huge demographic disparity in who commits and dies of murders in the U.S. One statistic: "The death rate by homicide for African American males was 38 per 100,000 population, compared to a rate of just 5.2 per 100,000 population for white males." And the vast majority of homicides have both the perpetrator and victim as the same race. So there are clearly different causes involved here than what the laws are. We are all subject to pretty much the same laws, but homicide is a bigger problem in some communities than others.

 

That linked data is difficult for me to decipher on what's good or bad in regards to causality and motivation. It's one of the reasons I watch murder shows to see various ways people are motivated to kill people and then think they can get away with it either by claiming mental illness vs selfishness.

Either way I do see a rise in "Loner-ism" no matter the amount of intentional homicides in the US. For me it's getting to the point I don 't know what's going to flip someone off enough to retaliate with violence. The I-Crime TV series of live cellphone video captures of random meet ups with strangers going about their daily lives suddenly turning violent would make anyone want to live in a cave. Oh well! Back to the stone age is the answer.

 

Canada's population is just above the population of the state of California, I believe, so Maple Leaf Land ~should~ have a much lower homicide level with only 39 million people interspersed throughout the large country.

 

never say that coming, did ya?

 

and convicted armed robber?

 

but but he was only trying to get back his own property

 

And don't forget KATO KAELIN. He got some kind of measure of 'fame' from the murders and the subsequent trial.

 

????

 

Where does one find this Vincent Bugliosi video you mentioned? I’ve never heard anything of that. I agree with you about the “Made in America” documentary. Well worth watching.

 

I was in law school when the trial occurred and the verdict came out. The reactions on the verdict were...fascinating. Haven't felt the same about people, or this country, ever since. Really opened my eyes.

 

There've been a number of trials that were bigger mis-carriages of justice than the O.J. trial where he was found innocent. Hell, O.J's. son could've done it after all and O.J. wanted to protect him.

I remember something like this line: "If the glove does not fit...you must acquit".

 

Cancer will get off on any criminal charges, but be ruined financially by the civil case.

 

Excuse me? What is there to understand? Are two people not high enough of a body count for you? He stalked, terrorized, and abused Nicole for years. Just that makes him "a menace to society."

 

If that was the situation, then O.J. would've confessed and gone to jail. It does nothing to protect his son to firmly deny that he committed the murders. That would've left his son open to prosecution at a later date.

 

I won’t miss him.

 

Just about my only experience with the justice system was participating in a mock jury one time (real case, mock jury). Fortunately it wasn’t the real jury, but they were told to deliberate as if they were. Pretty much everybody on the jury decided that the defendant was not liable, but that because the event was so awful, the plaintiff shouldn’t go without some form of compensation, so they found the defendant liable so that the defendant would get some money for her suffering. Jurors, by and large, are morons.

 

What an absolute prick. I could see saying something like, “It’s my job as the executor to ensure to the best of my abilities that his estate is distributed to his beneficiaries, and I must take that job seriously.” But what he said? The dude clearly murdered their son.

For those who didn’t click on the link, here’s the executor’s quote: “It’s my hope that the Goldmans get zero, nothing. Them specifically. And I will do everything in my capacity as the executor or personal representative to try and ensure that they get nothing.”

I hope they get everything, every single penny.

 

like decent people everywhere

 

@cwd: You're funny with your 'eye-rolling' bit.

Here's a short clip to see:

 

It's not the nature of the evidence, it's the seriousness of the charge.

 

When you scratch the surface of those around OJ it gets weird fast. Robert Kardashian dated Priscilla before Elvis died. The then-Bruce Jenner had kids with Linda Thompson who was Elvis's last girlfriend. Jenner married Robert Kardashian's widow.

Being unable to keep up with the Kardashians has occurred for more than 45 years.

Another oddball twist is rumoured of Johnny Cochrane dying of a brain tumour caused by extreme 80s grey brick cell phone use. 100,000 hours level phone use. He lived on it and had them as soon as they were widely available on car dash boards in late 70s maybe on luxury cars.

Nicole kept a diary and photos of the OJ abuse starting in 1978. IIRC she kept some of that evidence in a bank vault and freely told those close to her. Domestic violence then was viewed very differently than now plus add in celebrity and maybe some OJ football concussion issues.

Chris Benoit was ex WWF wrestler with concussion issues who committed murder-suicide on his wife.

Unless OJ signed a big stash of stuff they can sell, not sure how OJ has power to make his kids sign an NDA.

 

Available on YouTube....

 

I saw this argument back then, as well as the trial, including the "demonstration" where OJ showed nope, he just couldn't get that on his hand. Respectfully, what is your point? Of some interest to me, at least, this point occurred in Tennessee jurisprudence before the OJ trial, with shoes.