THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 4, 1995 TAG: 9510040679
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ANN G. SJOERDSMA
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
You're a black American living in Los Angeles. Through some fluke, some good fortune, you may think, you're selected to serve on the jury hearing the murder trial of O.J. Simpson, an African-American hero.
Maybe you never saw Simpson scamper down a football field or run through airports, but you still know the symbol he is: sports legend extraordinaire, handsome, affable celebrity of wealth and style, and most important, a black man who beat the odds in ``White America.''
From out of a fatherless black California ghetto came a phenomenal success beloved by all, and known to all simply as ``O.J.'' If you serve on a panel that convicts this myth of a man, and sends him to prison for life, can you ever go home again?
The nine black Americans who, with two whites and one Hispanic, rendered the ``not guilty'' verdicts in Simpson's trial, found themselves in this quandary but had a way out: They could acquit the myth, and ignore the man. ``Reasonable doubt,'' inconsistently applied and little understood, could be their saving grace. A foregone conclusion, really. I believe this is what they did.
(But if they played the ``race card'' and retaliated against a racist Los Angeles Police Department or even against this country's shameful history of racist oppression, who's to know?)
The sole black male juror pumped his fist in Simpson's direction as he left the courtroom after the verdicts. Apparently, he felt he had given the former halfback a good hand-off.
At the same time, however, his fist struck a blow against women, 10 of whom sat on the jury and thought so little of the victims' plight that they could not manage at least a day of deliberations - if not for appearances' sake, then for the sake of the Brown and Goldman families. Or for women everywhere.
The prosecution's evidence is overwhelming - the defendant's motive and opportunity, his violent past; the bloody shoe prints, gloves, socks, blood throughout the infamous Ford Bronco; hairs and fibers; and most incriminating, the DNA coding. Physical evidence, unlike people, doesn't lie.
As a deeply disappointed Los Angeles District Attorney Gil Garcetti said in the post-verdict conference: ``This is not the usual case. . . . Jurors do the right thing nearly all of the time.''
This time, however, they appear to have let a man get away with murder, a vicious, jealous wife-beater who never testified under oath, but who reached millions with a best-selling tract of innocence, ``I Want to Tell You.'' This time, they let a man wearing an O.J. Simpson mask buy an acquittal for $6 million.
I have little doubt that an enraged Simpson killed Nicole Brown, the ex-wife he stalked and refused to lose, and Ron Goldman, who happened on her slaying. Abusers sometimes kill those they abuse. This is no big secret. Unfortunately, Nicole Brown did not learn this soon enough. By the time she was telling friends, ``He's going to kill me,'' it was too late.
If there is any useful lesson to come of this trial, it is one for women, both black and white: If you are being physically abused by a man in your life, seek help. If you press criminal charges, follow through on them. Despite yourself. Prosecutors will prosecute batterers if they have victims who will testify. Think of your safety first, but understand that violence escalates. It doesn't simply go away. MEMO: Ann G. Sjoerdsma is a lawyer and book editor for The Virginian-
KEYWORDS: O.J. SIMPSON VERDICT REACTION by CNB