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O.J. Tossed From Steakhouse on Derby Eve

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout' started by famicom, May 9, 2007.

  1. pgabriel

    pgabriel Educated Negro

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    and just as much as you are upset about black people cheering this verdict, there are rich people who "beat the system" everyday that no one cares about. but people are still upset about o.j.'s case 12 years after the fact. the argument goes both ways.

    and as I wrote in the above post, there is a timeline issue that causes reasonable doubt in the case. so as an intelligent person, I do have some doubt as to his guilt. I don't think its unreasonable to question how one man can slice two people's throats, one of those being another man his size and at least ten years younger, get himself cleaned and ready to board an airplane in an hour.

    do you realize how much blood you would have to clean off of yourself after slicing two throats?

    and lets be clear, its beating the system. i believe a trial is a debate. its a game.
     
    #101 pgabriel, May 15, 2007
    Last edited: May 15, 2007
  2. AroundTheWorld

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    I was more puzzled than upset.

    That is true, but I don't really see a specific group of people cheering for them either. No doubt, it is a sad state of affairs that being rich evidently improves your chances to get off with a disproportionately high probability.

    Not really, because while people might be indifferent toward some people getting off, I can't really remember a larger group of people cheering something like that. From the top of my head, I cannot remember a more clear-cut case of a rich murderer getting off like that, regardless of the color of his skin.

    Even if you disregard motive and escape - just one abbreviation - DNA?

    It shouldn't be a game, rather, it should be a vehicle to bring out the truth. I understand what you are saying, though.
     
  3. AroundTheWorld

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    Blood Trails, DNA and O.J.


    Since 1985, with Alec Jeffrey's discovery of the uniqueness of portions of the DNA structure of certain genes, investigations involving blood have taken an entirely new turn. While the ultimate goal of the analysis of proteins and enzymes was to individualize blood, that's pretty much established with DNA technology. Within a year of the discovery, DNA typing was being put to the test in criminal cases. It not only cleared one man who had confessed to a crime, but also led to the conviction of the actual killer in the same crime.

    DNA can narrow down suspects in a hurry, but it's not fool-proof. It can be challenged in court on the basis of sloppy evidence collection and the corruption of samples during testing. That was the tactic that O. J. Simpson's defense team used to win for him an acquittal in his double murder trial. Just how did they manage to accomplish this? To trace their strategy, let's look at the case.

    On the night of July 12, 1994, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were slaughtered outside her Brentwood, California home. Nicole was the former wife of football celebrity O. J. Simpson, and he was called in from out of town for questioning. Going to his home on the night of the murder, detectives had noted a bloodstain on the door of his white Ford Bronco and a trail of blood leading up to the house. That was suspicious enough to start asking questions.

    When Simpson returned to Los Angeles, investigators noticed a cut on a finger of his left hand. He told several conflicting stories about how he had gotten it, which boxed him in later when blood at the crime scene indicated that the killer had been cut on his left hand and had trailed blood outside the gates. That hardly seemed coincidental.

    Then when several droplets of blood at the scene failed to show a match with either of the victim's blood types, Simpson's blood was drawn for testing (after the droplets had already been collected). Comparison between his DNA and that of the blood at the scene showed strong similarities. The tests indicated that the drops had three factors in common with Simpson's blood and only one person in 57 billion could produce an equivalent match. In addition, the blood was found near footprints made by a rare and expensive type of shoe—shoes that O. J. wore and that proved to be his size.

    Next to the bodies was a bloodstained black leather glove that bore traces of fiber from Goldman's jeans. The glove's mate, stained with blood that matched Simpson's, was found on his property. There were also traces of the blood of both victims lifted from inside Simpson's car and house, along with blood that contained his DNA. In fact, his blood and Goldman's were found together on the car's console.

    Forensic serologists at the California Department of Justice, along with a private contractor, did the DNA testing. Then other evidence emerged, such as the testimony of the limousine driver who came to pick Simpson up for the ride to the airport: On the night of the murder, while he waited for Simpson, he had seen a black man cross the driveway and go into the house. Then Simpson claimed that the driver had been unable to get him on the intercom because he had "overslept." So then who was the black man who had entered the house?

    When arraigned, Simpson pleaded Not Guilty and hired a defense team of celebrity lawyers. Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld from New York were the DNA experts, renowned for their work on the Innocence Project, which used DNA analysis to defend the falsely accused. Scheck felt confident that they could produce challenges before the jury that would both educate and persuade them.

    The reliability of this evidence came to be called the "DNA Wars," and three different crime labs performed the analysis. All three determined that the DNA in the drops of blood at the scene matched Simpson's. It was a 1 in 170 million match, using one type of analysis known as RFLP, and 1 in 240 million match using the PCR test.

    Nevertheless, criminologist Dr. Henry Lee testified that there appeared to be something wrong with the way the blood was packaged, leading the defense to propose that the multiple samples had been switched. They also claimed that the blood had been severely degraded by being stored in a lab truck, but the prosecution's DNA expert, Harlan Levy, said that the degradation would not have been sufficient to prevent accurate DNA analysis. He also pointed out that control samples were used that would have shown any such contamination, but Scheck suggested that the control samples had been mishandled by the lab—all five of them---and the jury bought it.

    The evidence was damning, but the defense team managed to refocus the jury's attention on the corruption in the Los Angeles Police Department. They then disputed the good reputation of the forensics labs, insisting that the evidence had been carelessly handled. Deliberating less than four hours, the jury freed Simpson with a Not Guilty verdict. They simply failed to understand how damning the DNA evidence really was and how ill-fitting was the defense's logic about certain aspects of the blood at the crime scene.

    http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/forensics/serology/5.html
     
  4. StupidMoniker

    StupidMoniker I lost a bet

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    White people didn't cheer when Robert Blake got off.
     
  5. Invisible Fan

    Invisible Fan Member

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    The cheering does not make any sense at all. Black people didn't win anything with OJ's acquittal. 10+ years later, black people still get incarcerated with harsher penalties than any other race.

    OJ won and no one else.
     
  6. pgabriel

    pgabriel Educated Negro

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    because white males clearly have a history of being discriminated against by the justice system. I see the similarities, you're right. its the same exact thing.
     
  7. pgabriel

    pgabriel Educated Negro

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    you guys are ignoring the total picture. lets not forget o.j.'s trial happened just a couple of years after the whole rodney king incedent, and in people's minds he beat the lapd more than he got away with murder.
     
  8. professorjay

    professorjay Member

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    Back to the topic, if OJ sued and actually won money, wouldn't he have to immediately give it to the Goldman's? Maybe that's why he didn't bother?
     
  9. Mr. Brightside

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    You must not be familiar with the Los Angeles Police Dept. who a few years later were embroiled in a corruption scandal where officers admitted planting evidence such as drugs and weapons on the suspects, and shooting unarmed and innocent people.

    When you add this to a situation where the cops hold racist views of the suspects, it is not beyond imagine that there might be more to the story.

    I'm just saying its not a "slam dunk" as most people like to believe.
     
  10. AroundTheWorld

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    And this is also why he escaped on the highway before there was even any talk about "evidence being planted"? Look at the whole picture - his whole behavior before the trial, during the trial and after the trial screams GUILTY.

    I understand that the LAPD had done bad things, but if any defendant can just get off based on the mere abstract possibility that the police might have planted evidence - then the system is broken.
     
  11. Lil Pun

    Lil Pun Member

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    Anybody know what his daughter looks like now? She should be in her early 20s.
     
  12. bnb

    bnb Member

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    You really want to mess with her daughter????

    Her daddy has a temper!!
     

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