THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 5, 1997 TAG: 9702050480
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A9 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY W. BROWN AND ANGELITA PLEMMER
STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 73 lines
This time the barber shops were closed, the offices long shut down for the day.
People throughout Hampton Roads didn't have as much time to prepare for the O.J. Simpson civil verdict as they did in October 1995, when he was acquitted of criminal charges.
There was no camera in the courtroom, no Judge Lance Ito, no final-minute cliffhanger to build momentum.
Many people in Norfolk were unaware that the jury had returned a verdict Tuesday night.
At Norfolk State University, dozens of students were gathered at the Mills Godwin student center, but they weren't watching the news. While dozens of students sashayed through the lobby of the center for a fashion show rehearsal, two people stayed glued to the television.
Darius Brown and Yolanda Burwell were watching ``America's Funniest Home Videos'' when they saw a news alert flash across the screen announcing the verdict. They then switched to CNN.
The response just showed that many people just were not interested in this verdict, said Burwell, 22.
``I definitely think it's been overplayed,'' Burwell said.
Brown, a freshman at Norfolk State, said he did not think Simpson was guilty before or now.
``I just saw it as being over the first time,'' said Brown, 24.
As a television announcer reported that the crowd around the Los Angeles courthouse had ``quadrupled,'' both Brown and Burwell slipped on their coats and left, leaving the room nearly empty.
But Luther Allen, 28, stayed to see what would happen.
``I don't think a lot of them care about the verdict,'' he said. ``A guilty verdict in this trial won't have nearly the same impact as in the last trial.''
At Old Dominion University, more than a dozen students gathered at Webb Center. But most were there by chance for fraternity or club meetings.
``I don't think any of us really realized it was going to be on tonight,'' said 23-year-old Jeff Ramirez, a member of Sigma Nu fraternity.
Ryan Foxworthy, 19, was meeting with several friends in the Webb Center, hoping to organize a new club, as broadcasts announced the coming verdict.
``I think this is a farce,'' Foxworthy said. ``If a person's found not guilty in a criminal trial, then how can they be judged guilty in a civil trial?''
Alneader Kenner, 18, said she stopped at the ODU student center hoping to catch the verdict before going home but decided the additional 45-minute wait until the announcement was too long.
``I don't really care one way or the other, but he looks guilty,'' said Kenner, a sophomore biology major. ``But now I'm going home.''
Jackie Burnett, a 24-year-old ODU senior, said he hoped the verdict would finally bring the dramatic story to an end.
``Maybe this is some type of closure finally,'' Burnett said. ``After the verdict, (students) have been so polarized . . . We can hopefully learn something from this.''
The scene was a little more attentive at Magnolia's, where a little more than a dozen people chattered at the bar just before the verdict was announced. When the news switched from Clinton to California, they shushed.
One woman said ``Yes!'' when the news came through.
``Oh yeah, he deserved it,'' said 24-year-old Mary Baldwin, a waitress at the restuarant, who was gathered with friends.
Daphne Pardue, 25, of Norfolk, who was sitting at a table with Baldwin, agreed. ``But,'' she added, ``the money's not going to bring her back.'' ILLUSTRATION: BETH BERGMAN
The Virginian-Pilot
It was a lackluster gathering of Old Dominion University students
that watched the Simpson verdict Tuesday night.