THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 6, 1995 TAG: 9510050172
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
SOURCE: Beth Barber
LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
If not O.J., who?
Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman didn't kill themselves.
After eight months of evidence and three hours of deliberation, a Los Angeles jury decided it wasn't O. J. Simpson. So what does the criminal-justice system do now?
Tempers are hot, but the trail is cold. The heap of circumstantial evidence presented by the prosecution, disputed by the defense and scrutinized by the families involved, the media, the talking-head attorneys, the psychics, men and women on the street, point to no other suspect.
Simpson says he'll make finding the killer(s) his ``primary goal in life.'' If that's a sincere wish, it's also a way to deflect those who still doubt his innocence. But it'll take money, and time. O.J.'s ``Dream Team'' of lawyers reportedly has gobbled most of his millions. As for time, O.J. will have plenty.
The system worked for O. J. Simpson.
It has not yet worked for the Browns, or the Goldmans.
They have no Nicole, no Ron, no convicted killer and no suspect. If these cases aren't dropped, it will be because these families keep them active.
Whether the media will continue their pursuit is another matter. We journalists, local and national, constantly contend that popular demand has forced us to overindulge on this subject (and others). But I wonder. Not a soul I've come across considered Simpson a hero or devoured every word about this case, and not just because they'd made up their minds as to guilt or innocence before the white Bronco pulled into Brentwood two summers ago.
At the beginning of this trial I didn't know whether O.J. killed his ex-wife and her friend. Two months into this trial, it was obvious: Whether he killed her or not didn't matter. Two hours after the verdict, I still didn't know.
All I know is that the prosecution didn't prove to the jury that he did. The ``Dream Team'' defense didn't prove that he didn't. But then no defense has to prove diddly; it needs only to raise more doubts about guilt than prosecutors could raise certainties. The ``Dream Team'' had prejudices to play to, too. For millions of Americans, O.J. will be remembered not as the man who beat his wife but celebrated as the black who beat the white system.
Is that justice? In a narrow legal sense, yes. What the state can't prove happened might as well not have happened, at least until a screenwriter for TV movies finishes his script.
But in a larger sense, at least to layfolks, justice is about truth and lies, right and wrong beyond the judge's bench, the sidebar, the jury room, the headline. For us, there are questions beyond whether Marcia Clark et al. proved that O.J. did it: Did O.J. do it? If he did not, who did?
Our criminal-justice system has provided its answer to the first question. Is it up to tackling the second? by CNB