Guilty!

It was a story with glamorous characters who hid nasty secrets. The red herrings were plentiful, but unbelievable. And it was only in the epilogue that you found a satisfying resolution.

Thirteen years to the day after he was found not guilty of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, “The Juice,” Orenthal James Simpson, finally heard a succession of guilty verdicts from a jury of his peers.

Most of us over 30 can remember with embarrassment the circus that masqueraded as a murder trial, that long summer of 1995. It was as if Warner Brothers had cast a remake of Judicial Animal House, featuring the wacky Judge Ito, the rhyming Johnnie Cochran, the frizzy-haired Marcia Clark, the freeloading houseguest Kato Kaelin, and starring as the romantic lead, but without a speaking part at this televised trial, the handsome football hero who couldn’t possibly have committed such heinous crimes.

And in the end, O.J. walked free, moving to Florida to escape paying millions of dollars in penalties when he was found guilty of these same murders in a civil trial a few years later. Over the last decade, we’ve seen OJ primarily on the front pages of the tabloids, as he continued his overindulged, entitled lifestyle, getting into brawls with new girlfriends and pirating satellite television to his mansion in Miami.

Like Al Capone who was finally convicted on tax charges, Simpson will spend time behind bars, not for the real crimes that most of us believe he committed, but for acting like a tough guy in Las Vegas. Like an Elvis impersonator who pretends to be the real thing, “The Juice” has fooled no one since that day 13 years ago in a California courtroom. He was a thug then; he is finally a convicted thug now.

May Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman rest in peace.

Evelyn David
http://www.evelyndavid.com/