The parole of Orenthal James Simpson
In case you have been sound asleep since Wednesday night, the biggest story on the planet is the parole hearing of O.J. Simpson. The parole board voted to grant parole to Mr. Simpson and he will be released this October. He has been in jail since December of 2008 when he was sentenced to 33 years behind bars.
A lot of people are upset that he will be released after serving such a short sentence. They are upset because they feel he should be imprisoned for the rest of his natural life for the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. The problem with that belief is that the jury in that case found him not guilty. He wasn't being tried a third time for those murders in Nevada, he was being tried on charges of kidnapping, robbery, assault, conspiracy and coercion. Not murder.
A legal analyst was on talk-radio yesterday and he pointed out that Nevada is the only state in the union where you can be charged and convicted for kidnapping without taking the victim to a different location. The kidnapping charge stemmed from O.J. instructing his thugs to not allow anyone to leave the Palace Station Hotel room where these crimes took place.
Whatever the reason or reasons the jury in the murder trial chose to vote non guilty, that trial ended and he was NOT convicted of the murder. The civil trial where he was found responsible has nothing to do with prison time. Was O.J. Simpson a wife-batterer? Almost certainly. Was he ever charged with domestic violence? No. That is one of the big problems with our system of justice. When victims of domestic violence find the courage to report being abused, arrests aren't made nearly as often as they should be. An overwhelmed judicial system plea-bargains and diverts those who engage in this horrific crime to "counseling." But in the end, just as Mr. Simpson wasn't convicted of murder, he also wasn't convicted of domestic violence.
Bear in mind that the judge in the Nevada trial that resulted in Mr. Simpson being imprisoned spoke out for the first time last year, saying that if he had simply taken the plea deal offered, he would have spent only two to three years in jail.
Like it or not, our system of justice does not give judges a chance to impose sentences based on trials or allegations where the accused was not convicted. This was not a "make-up" or "do-over" sentence.
During the murder trial of O.J., I put a sign up on the door to my office. "This is a Simpson free zone. No O.J. or Bart either."
What will Mr. Simpson do now? Don't know and don't care. He is addicted to being a celebrity but given the severe restrictions parole impose on his behavior, he'd be smart to just keep the lowest possible profile.
Rather than be angry that he is being released, I'd prefer to see that energy channeled into improving the system of justice. It is underfunded and overwhelmed.
A lot of people are upset that he will be released after serving such a short sentence. They are upset because they feel he should be imprisoned for the rest of his natural life for the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. The problem with that belief is that the jury in that case found him not guilty. He wasn't being tried a third time for those murders in Nevada, he was being tried on charges of kidnapping, robbery, assault, conspiracy and coercion. Not murder.
A legal analyst was on talk-radio yesterday and he pointed out that Nevada is the only state in the union where you can be charged and convicted for kidnapping without taking the victim to a different location. The kidnapping charge stemmed from O.J. instructing his thugs to not allow anyone to leave the Palace Station Hotel room where these crimes took place.
Whatever the reason or reasons the jury in the murder trial chose to vote non guilty, that trial ended and he was NOT convicted of the murder. The civil trial where he was found responsible has nothing to do with prison time. Was O.J. Simpson a wife-batterer? Almost certainly. Was he ever charged with domestic violence? No. That is one of the big problems with our system of justice. When victims of domestic violence find the courage to report being abused, arrests aren't made nearly as often as they should be. An overwhelmed judicial system plea-bargains and diverts those who engage in this horrific crime to "counseling." But in the end, just as Mr. Simpson wasn't convicted of murder, he also wasn't convicted of domestic violence.
Bear in mind that the judge in the Nevada trial that resulted in Mr. Simpson being imprisoned spoke out for the first time last year, saying that if he had simply taken the plea deal offered, he would have spent only two to three years in jail.
Like it or not, our system of justice does not give judges a chance to impose sentences based on trials or allegations where the accused was not convicted. This was not a "make-up" or "do-over" sentence.
During the murder trial of O.J., I put a sign up on the door to my office. "This is a Simpson free zone. No O.J. or Bart either."
What will Mr. Simpson do now? Don't know and don't care. He is addicted to being a celebrity but given the severe restrictions parole impose on his behavior, he'd be smart to just keep the lowest possible profile.
Rather than be angry that he is being released, I'd prefer to see that energy channeled into improving the system of justice. It is underfunded and overwhelmed.
posted by me at 7:20 AM
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