O.J.'s Sentence

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright December 5, 2008
All Rights Reserved.                    

        When O.J. Simpson stood for sentencing in the Las Vegas courtroom of Judge Jackie Glass, he wished his old attorney the late Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. was at his side.  Unlike his spectacular acquittal for double-murder of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman Oct. 3, 1995, Simpson was represented by Yale Galanter, who couldn’t convince a Las Vegas jury that his client was innocent of kidnapping and armed robbery.  Since the guilty verdict Oct. 4, 2008, Galanter insisted O.J. didn’t get a fair trial because there were no black jurors.  Before that, he also insisted his client couldn’t get a fair trial because of notoriety related to his past criminal trial.  Glass sentenced O.J. to 33 years in jail with the possibility for parole after nine years.  Simpson begged for clemency in a five-minute ramble.  “I didn’t want to steal anything from anyone . . . I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” said O.J., offering more feeble excuses.

            O.J.’s legal team couldn’t reverse the undeniable reality of an audiotape hearing Simpson ordering his codefendants to seal the doors.  “Don’t let nobody out of this room,” O.J. was heard on the voice recording, convincing the 12-person jury that he was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.  “I’m not here to try and cause any retribution or any payback for anything,” said O.J. in his brief statement to the court.  He echoed the feeble defense theory that he was simply taking back stolen items Sept. 16 at the Palace Station Casino-Hotel from Sports memorabilia dealers Alfred Beardsley and Bruce Fromong.  O.J. confessed at the time of his arrest he was simply retrieving his stolen merchandise, though denied that a gun was wielded at the scene.  Judge Glass dismissed O.J.’s benign description of events, calling the evidence of kidnapping and armed robbery overwhelming.

            Crying foul, Simpson’s attorney Yale Galanter blamed the outcome on band pretrial publicity.  “It really made us all aware that despite our best efforts, it’s very difficult to separate the California case from the Nevada case,” promising to appeal the verdicts and sentence.  Most legal experts see little basis for appeal in the Nevada court system.  Watching the sentence read in the courtroom, Fred and Kim Goldman, Ron’s father and sister, expressed relief and satisfaction.  “We are thrilled, and it’s a bittersweet moment,” said Fred Goldman.  “It was satisfying seeing him in shackles like he belongs,” after getting little satisfaction after winning a wrongful death case and $33.5 million judgment Feb. 5, 1997.  For 10 years the Goldman’s collected next to nothing, only recently winning rights June 15, 2007 to a controversial book entitled, “If I Did It,” by a Florida Bankruptcy judge.

            Publishing “If I Did It,” cost tabloid book mogul Judith Regan her job with ReganBooks, an imprint of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp’s HarperCollins.  Whatever the Goldmans’ earned in royalties, it paled in comparison to finally seeing O.J. carted off to state prison.  Since his acquittal Oct. 3, 1995, the public has followed the 61-year-old NFL Hall of Fame running back from golf courses to sports memorabilia conventions eventually to Las Vegas where O.J. finally meted out his own punishment.  “You do things and you’ve got to expect karma to come around,” said Greg Wheatley, 32, of Los Angeles.  Since walking out of Los Angeles Superior Court a free man, O.J. has found it difficult to return to a “normal” life, having numerous scrapes with the law.  After everything put into his criminal trial, Johnnie Cochran would be turning in his grave watching O.J. self-destruct.

            Galanter’s right that O.J.’s criminal trial followed him around like a bad virus, eventually causing his demise.  What he’s wrong about is that O.J. didn’t get a fair trial in Nevada.  As Judge Glass pointed out, the evidence against O.J. was overwhelming this time around.  It’s hard to argue with eyewitnesses and collectibles’ dealers Thomas Ricco’s voice recording, especially hearing O.J. say, “Don’t let nobody out of this room.”  Unlike the 1995 verdict, most people believe justice was served in Las Vegas.  Few expected the once popular celebrity to skate from this latest escapade.  What seems so ironic is that he’ll do at least nine years—provided his appeal fails—for a relatively minor infraction compared with the gruesome knife attack that ended two young lives and ruined the victims’ families.  Whether admitted to or not, O.J. orchestrated his own sentence and way to prison.

            Simpson finally got his comeuppance, not, as his counsel Yale Galanter says, because of pretrial publicity, but precisely because his guilt induced his self-destruction.  Several past brushes with the law finally caught up with the former pitchman for Hertz Rental Cars and Honey Baked Ham.  Charismatic, charming with movie-star looks, Simpson was once at the top of the celebrity world.  His 1995 acquittal on double-homicide kept him out of jail but not out of the psychological prison leading to his eventual demise.  His incoherent apology in Glass’ courtroom today reflects a pathetic deterioration in his mental faculties.  Sniveling before the judge, Simpson reminded the court of the toll taken on a life interrupted by one-night’s homicidal binge.  For the next nine years, O.J. will finally have the chance to make amends with a life of so much promise that caused so much pain.

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.  He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet  and  Operation Charisma.

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