A Closer Look at the American Judicial System

By Ron Signore

On October 3rd, 1995, what seemed to be the whole world awaited the verdict of the OJ Simpson trial. The divide in the nation very resembling of what we see today in society amongst us; whether divided by race then or politically attached to race like we are today.

OJ Simpson grabbed the nation by attention with the news of the slayings of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ronald Goldman. The suspect light shined directly at the notably abusive ex-husband of OJ Simpson. When the realization that he was the lone focus of the investigation leading to an arrest warrant, OJ hopped into his now infamous white Ford Bronco and led the police on a chase along the California highways. Time seemed to stop in suspense during this event. Sporting events were paused with the breaking news.

The verdict took the same command of the nation. Pins and needles for many throughout the whole building of suspense until the verdict was read out. The collective exhale, whether relief or anger, was notably felt everywhere. OJ Simpson went from beloved Buffalo Bills running back to nationally adored actor with his legendary Hertz commercials and small supportive roles in movies; all to be erased with the cloud of an alleged brutal double homicide. OJ was found innocent by a jury of his peers. Led by the late Johnny Cochran, his legal representation did a phenomenal job implementing doubt to the jury. Whether the infamous bloody glove that did not fit or the “Chewbaca” defense, simple misdirection, put on by Cochran, OJ was essentially acquitted of all charges with jeopardy attached.

It is easy to sit here and believe OJ was capable and did indeed commit these horrific crimes. It is also easy to sit here and believe there is no way he killed two people based on his higher public stature. Much speculation has come out since the end of the trial on whether he did it or not. While it does not really matter if he did, he can never be criminally prosecuted for it again. Did the system get it wrong? What does justice look like for Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman? None of us were there the night of the brutal killings. Evidence was mainly circumstantial with no eyewitnesses, leaving doubt very present initially. We were just getting mobile phones introduced during the early 90’s at a very slow rate, so there were no random people there recording like we see today, thankfully.

Almost a year ago, the country nearly imploded. There were many reasons, including a horrific and detrimental leader in the White House, a pandemic that had become politicized, but in the span of a few short weeks, we also had the killings of two black males at the hand of whites. Ahmed Arbery was jogging down a road in Georgia when two white males, and a third recording behind them, blasted Arbery to death. Charges were brought but still not closed by the courts. Shortly after the blatant murder of Arbery, the nation was once again brought to a media standstill for over 9 minutes. Officer Derek Chauvin was recorded driving a knee into the neck of George Floyd in Minneapolis for over 9 minutes, ultimately killing Floyd.

Unlike the OJ trial, we had video evidence of the brute force used to handle Floyd and the ultimate conclusion of his life as a result. However, what should be done was not as black and white as common sense would have it. While Chauvin was immediately tried and convicted in the court of public opinion, charges were not officially brought as quickly. As charges were brought, the common argument of race and hate were injected to damn Chauvin as expected, but the conspiracy theorists just could not live with what we all saw and understood.

Conspiracy theorists started taking the unnecessary death of Floyd and politicizing it. They threw outrageous theories out like this was a ploy by the Democrats, or even as extreme as a driven conspiracy by the Clintons to instigate riots and make Trump look bad. It does not take much to make Trump look bad. But the riots did come, and a time of unsettling racial tensions swept the nation. The common republican view of blame the victim was naturally brought into play and the right and left continued dividing the nation. Were the riots caused by Black Lives Matter participants? Hoodlums? Random people who just love chaos? Defenders of the Blue Line Society? Leave it to random people to draw their own conclusions.

Despite all the hoopla, and even the potentially decent doubt the defense may have brought during the trial, on April 20, 2021 Chauvin was found guilty on the three charges brought against him in his accountability to the death of George Floyd. That same OJ like tension was overarching the nation prior to the reading of the verdict. While Chauvin was also now denied bond and remanded to the county, we do still wait for the appeals his attorney may file. The aforementioned conspiracy theorists immediately cried foul. The notion that the only reason Chauvin was found guilty was because the jury was afraid what would happen had he been acquitted, further playing into the race movement Q members are consistently driving at.

Many of us exhaled in relief that people stood with the concept of “if it looks like a duck, if it quacks like a duck, it must be a duck.” Clear evidence by way of witnesses and video of Floyd dying while being knelt on via the neck from Chauvin. The legal hoopla was exactly that. A last ditch effort to find some reason to not find Chauvin legally responsible for the death of Floyd. After all the smoke and mirrors, the jury realized simply that excessive force by Chauvin led to the death of Floyd and he was responsible. Common sense. The tensions from the trial and the impending verdict were breath taking to say the least. I hope we do not have to go through that scenario again anytime soon….

However, shortly after the verdict was brought to the nation’s attention, a Columbus (OH) police officer shot 15 year old Ma’Khia Bryant in broad daylight….lather, rinse, repeat….and round and round we go.

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