The Effects of the Media during the O.J. Simpson Murder Trial In 1994, a murder trial rocked the world, and changed the media forever. Although Simpson had most evidence stacked against him, with a superb team of lawyers he left the courtroom as a free man. As you can assume with a murder case involving people of such high caliber, the public became instantly invested. Tabloids, news channels, and radio shows everywhere were constantly covering the case. Anywhere you looked, you could find Americans, black and white glued to TVs and radios everywhere just to see what would happen next. Likewise, people all around the country had very strong opinions about the case. Many claimed that because of his fame and ability to hire hot shot lawyers …show more content…
Simpson Fast Facts) the jury released the final verdict. Simpson was “not guilty”. (FamousTrials.com) Because they broadcasted the trial for all of America to see, the citizens all had very strong opinions concerning the case. So, the moment that the jury released the verdict, one half of America was rejoicing while the other half was mourning. To this day, the O.J. Simpson trial continues to divide our country. No one but O.J. Simpson will ever truly know what happened on June 12th, 1994. Even though most people only focus on whether or not the jury made the right decision, that wasn’t the only aspect of this trial. As sad or uncomfortable as it may have been, this trial changed our country forever. After the trial ended, our government decided that it was best that cameras were not allowed in courtrooms in hope that trials would remain more authentic. It showed that no matter how much evidence you have, you must prepare to back that evidence up in court. Most importantly it brought light to the fact that America was still struggling with racial problems among our citizens; and taught us all to be a little more causiouswhen believing everything that the media shows …show more content…
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The job of a criminal lawyer is quite difficult. Whether on the defense or the prosecution, you must work diligently and swiftly in order to persuade the jury. Some lawyers play dirty and try to get their client off of the hook even though they are guilty without a doubt. Even though the evidence is all there, the prosecution sometimes just can’t get the one last piece of the puzzle to make the case stick and lock the criminal up. Such is the case Orenthal James Simpson.
Things only got worse when it was alleged that he transported and planted one the gloves on the Simpson estate, and the defendants legal team stating the officer wanted to frame Simpson because he was black and he disliked blacks an considering the jury was made up of mostly minorities this helped O.JSimpson even more.(2015) The key to winning a case apart from collecting evidence there must be a clear way to paint a picture that the people of the jury can understand whether or not you done the crime one must be convincing. Even though Simpson’s blood was on majority of the evidence collected it was argued that he was framed along with the contamination of evidence even if he had done it his team used all the weaknesses exposed by police involved in the case to paint a picture of innocence to the jury which proves perception of wrongdoing as persuasive to a jury as actual wrongdoing. I am sure with O.J Simpson being acquitted of the charges left a bad taste in the mouth of both police and some people in the legal field. There were too many mistakes made by the people that were tasked with the duty of collecting evidence and also in the department of how the evidence was handled but there are many lessons to be learned in every mistake the obvious one would be to not make the same ones
O.J Simpson should have been found guilty due to his violent actions on June 12th, 1994. There were many actions or causes that led up to his violent act. The main and most known cause of Simpson’s act was “infidelity”. Simpson’s wife Nicole Simpson had been spending too much time with a man by the name of Ronald Goldman. When O.J became suspicious, he took immediate action.
Simpson had a great defense team, that some called the “Dream Team,” gave Marcia Clark a run for her money. Marcia Clark is the main prosecutor. Primarily, the case was led by Robert Shapiro, one member of the “Dream Team”. Throughout the case, aspiring lawyer Johnnie Cochran, did not make as many irrational decisions as Shapiro did. Prosecutor, Marcia Clark and District Attorney, Chris Darden were trying to prove Simpson guilty. A majority of America hated Marcia Clark because they thought Simpson was
On January 24, 1995, after half a year of multiple configurations including the selection of the jury, and the decision if the media was to be allowed in the courtroom and many other factors, the trial had finally begun. Prosecutor Christopher Darden started the trial by depicting Simpson as a possessory
When the trial was happening, I had no idea who he was until the trial started. I had my Dad tell me all the details of who he was, and everything else I learned was from watching television. I was young, but I still knew that racism was awful. I looked upon the television to Simpson sitting in the trial and just thought, "Oh, okay." I know it 's hard to believe, but I wasn 't brought up to believe race had anything to do with whether people judged based on race, but this case was a 101 course in proving I was oblivious to the real world. However, what I did hear based on pure evidence was that this guy totally did it. There was too much evidence that proved he was involved, and the only reasonable doubt that was brought into the case was purely based on race.
The New York Times bestseller book titled Reasonable Doubts: The Criminal Justice System and the O.J. Simpson Case examines the O.J. Simpson criminal trial of the mid-1990s. The author, Alan M. Dershowitz, relates the Simpson case to the broad functions and perspectives of the American criminal justice system as a whole. A Harvard law school teacher at the time and one of the most renowned legal minds in the country, Dershowitz served as one of O.J. Simpson’s twelve defense lawyers during the trial. Dershowitz utilizes the Simpson case to illustrate how today’s criminal justice system operates and relates it to the misperceptions of the public. Many outside spectators of the case firmly believed that Simpson committed the crimes for which he was charged for. Therefore, much of the public was simply dumbfounded when Simpson was acquitted. Dershowitz attempts to explain why the jury acquitted Simpson by examining the entire American criminal justice system as a whole.
It was the night of June 12, 1994, a woman and her long time male friend are murdered in cold blood. The victims, Nicole Brown Simpson, her neck cut so savagely it was almost severed from her body and Ronald Goldman, stabbed repeatedly, nearly 30 times. The accused, her ex-husband and football star, Orenthan James Simpson, better known as O.J. Simpson. During the trial, a trial that consisted of 150 witnesses, lasted 133 days and cost in the ball park of 15 million dollars, there were many questions asked and even more questions left unanswered (Douglas).
The evidence discovered during the investigation suggested to the police that OJ Simpson may have had something to do with this murder and they obtained an arrest warrant. The investigators believed that they “knew” OJ Simpson committed the murders. His lawyers and him were informed of the arrest warrant and agreed to a specified time when OJ would turn himself into authorities. Investigators are later admonished, by the defense, on how they handled the crime scene.
The American public has always been fascinated by tragedy. Why? It’s in our human nature, as we tend to gravitate towards looking upon other people’s mistakes or failures as if it were as precious and watchable as someone’s victories. Add in an event so tragic being televised, and you have yourself a hit with everyday U.S citizens. The O.J Simpson Trial was a turning point in not only the American judicial system, but it completely changed the thoughts that there was no more racial division in our country. People suddenly viewed our court system as a broken, failed section of our government due to the outcome of the trial.
After a lengthy two hundred and fifty-two-day trial “not guilty” were the words that left the world in shock. O.J Simpson was your typical golden boy. He had it all, the nice car, the football career, and his kids. Unfortunately, this all came to an end when two bodies came to be spotted deceased in Nicole Browns front yard and was a gruesome sight. O. J’s ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ronald Goldman both found with brutal stab marks. Unfortunately, all his glory days now brought to an end, he went from playing on the field to begging for his freedom when becoming the main suspect of their murders. Since this trial has not only altered the way Americans viewed celebrities, but it also racially divided society,
The people directly involved with this case are Judge Lance Ito, the prosecution lawyers, Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden, the defense lawyers, Johnnie Cochran, Robert Shapiro and Robert Blasier , the jury and the defendant, O.J. Simpson. The families of the victims have also been present in the courtroom, as well as other spectators and news media. This case has heard one hundred and twenty witnesses over a nine month period.
During the time that O.J was on trial for the murders of Nicole and Ronald, everyone who was following the hearing had a deep sense of fear and pity. They were fearing that the man they once adored and aspired to be like was actually capable of committing such an inconspicuous crime. Also, due to the accusations of the murder, the viewers were also feeling in the sense of pity, in both sadness and disappointment. The acts that O.J Simpson was accused of caused the audience to feel disappointed in his actions, as well as sadness towards his family. The accusations developed about O.J left people who didn’t even personally know him in tears. People were so sad about his downfall. The accusation led to the fact that O.J left his family with no mother and technically no father, as he’d be spending time in prison. Furthermore, since he was found not guilty, there was a large part of the audience that felt a sense of release and emotion, and some felt bad that he was ever accused of this, but rather he just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Due to the fact that O.J and Nicole were separated for a couple years before she died, Nicole had made new friendships, and there was no proof that someone new that she met could have caused this crime and tried to frame Simpson, due to his past accused abuse
The film, O.J. Made in America, heavily focused its point of view on the racial aspects that influenced the trial (Edelman, 2016). Instead of painting Simpson as a possible murder suspect on trial for the death of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Lyle Goldman, they depict him as a black man being framed for murder (Edelman, 2016). During the duration of the film, the subjects being interviewed used an inconceivable amount of crude and racially insensitive language. Racial epithets like the word, “nigger,” were spoken immensely throughout the film (Edelman, 2016). This language was used to fuel the racially charged nuances that covered the duration of the Simpson trial. The Los Angeles Police department and Detective Mark Fuhrman played a large
Fairchild, H. & Cowan, G (1997). Journal of Social Issues. The O.J. Simpson Trial: Challenges to Science and Society.