Simpson's wife murder case Simpson, Simpson's ex-wife, Simpson's ex-wife's boyfriend Simpson's wife murder case
The case of O.J. Simpson, a former American football player, killing his wife before 1994 became the most sensational event in the United States at that time. The trial of the case at that time was full of twists and turns. In the end, Simpson escaped the punishment of the law with sufficient evidence and was found not guilty of killing his ex-wife and her boyfriend with a knife. He was only found responsible for the deaths of two people.
"Simpson's wife killing case" that shocked the world
Case:
1June, 994 12 Late at night, in a luxurious residential area in the west of Los Angeles, a puppy kept barking, which attracted the attention of neighbors. People found two bloody bodies in front of a house. The female victim was later confirmed to be Nicole Brown Simpson, followed by Lang Goldman, a waiter in the restaurant. The two were covered in blood and were cut to death by sharp tools. The time of death is after ten o'clock in the evening.
On the night of the murder, Nico and his children went to Goldman's restaurant for dinner. After he left, he called to say that he had lost a pair of sunglasses. Goldman found it and told his colleagues to return it to Nico after work.
Early in the morning after the incident, four detectives came to the residence of Simpson, the former husband of the deceased and a famous black football star. Outside the door, they found his white Brango car stained with blood, and blood was also found in the driveway. Nobody answered the door and the detectives climbed into the wall. One of them, Foreman, found a bloody glove and other evidence in the back garden.
The main witness of the case was his friend Kitu, who lived in the guest room at that time. He testified that there was an earthquake noise outside the guest room wall. In addition, a driver who was booked by phone to take Simpson to the airport said: At about 10 o'clock, he rang Simpson's doorbell, but no one answered the door. Approaching 1 1 point, he found a tall black man (similar to Simpson) rushing home from the street and ringing the doorbell again. Simpson responded, came out and said that he was asleep, and then went to the airport to go to Chicago by car.
arrest
Early in the morning after the incident, Simpson received a police notice of his ex-wife's death at the Chicago Hotel and rushed back to California early in the morning. After Simpson came back, he was interrogated by the police alone for an hour under the strong opposition of his lawyer. When the police found Simpson injured. He explained that he was too excited to break the mirror after receiving the death of his ex-wife. After several days of investigation, the police decided to list Simpson as the main suspect in the arrest.
On June 17, when Simpson's lawyer was going to accompany Simpson back to the police station, he found that Simpson, who had been resting upstairs, disappeared. Then the national audience saw an unforgettable scene on TV: the helicopter team in the sky and the patrol car on the ground were all out, and Simpson's white car was finally found a few hours later. Dozens of police cars are chasing cars on the Los Angeles freeway. Simpson was finally arrested.
listen to
1995 1 month, Simpson case was presided over by Japanese judge ITO. During the nine-month trial, there were boring blood test evidence that ordinary people could not understand, and there were unexpected progress. The whole trial process of the case is extremely dramatic.
The main police witness in charge of handling the case and searching the evidence in the house is detective foreman, who was accused by the defense lawyer as a racist. When answering questions in court, he claimed that he had never used the word nigger to discriminate against blacks in the past decades, but then the defense lawyer accidentally found a video tape to prove that he used the word nigger dozens of times in a short time. This seriously undermined the credibility of foreman's testimony. The defense lawyer further accused that in addition to him, there were people in the police station who deliberately planted Simpson and fabricated evidence of racial prejudice.
During the trial, the chief prosecutor suddenly asked to wear gloves in court. Therefore, Simpson cannot wear gloves in public. Obviously the gloves are too small. Although the defendant's lawyer found a photo of Simpson wearing similar gloves, and some experts proved that the gloves would shrink after being splashed with blood, the defense lawyer also asked the experts to prove that they would not shrink so much.
Finally, the defendant's lawyer pointed out that Simpson abused his wife violently for many years (with police records) and had overwhelming evidence of blood and gloves, urging the jury never to let Simpson get away with it. Defense lawyers strongly criticized the loopholes in the prosecution's evidence, especially for the defendant's hands not to wear blood gloves, and attacked the witness as a racist to attack the credibility of the evidence. Strong regulators don't have enough evidence to ask the jury to be acquitted.
In everyone's shock, a jury composed of ten blacks, one white man and one Hispanic found Simpson not guilty of two murders after less than four hours of discussion. Simpson was finally released and became a free man.
The case was full of twists and turns and climaxes. In the Simpson case, the police have enough evidence to prove that Simpson killed his ex-wife and her boyfriend, but in order to make the case more "irrefutable", they foolishly forged a pair of socks stained with Simpson's and his ex-wife's blood. It was this pair of socks that were finally proved by the defendant to be laboratory products, and the jury was in an uproar.
There is a famous evidence rule in American law: "There can only be one bug in noodles". This is an image metaphor: when anyone finds a bug in his noodle bowl, he will never look for the second one again, but will only throw out the whole bowl of noodles. Similarly, even if LAPD obtained a lot of evidence to prove Simpson's guilt, as long as one of them (socks) was illegally obtained, all the evidence would not be accepted by the court. Therefore, although Clark, the female prosecutor of the prosecution, made a generous speech in her concluding speech, which touched a large audience, she did not touch the jury. After nearly 40 hours of discussion, they unanimously ruled that the defendant was not guilty.
After the judgment of black and white opposition was read out, it was obvious that there were two completely different reactions. A white woman was in tears and sighed: America is finished. More people whispered: no! Show a surprised, unbelievable and helpless expression.
Of course, in the black residential area, it is another scene. They cheered, played crowns to celebrate each other, and even sang and danced without scruple to celebrate their victory. They were excited for several days.
The biggest problem reflected in this case is that racial opposition in American society is still obvious. Before and after the verdict, the opposition of different attitudes in the United States was even more surprising. According to the questionnaire survey before the verdict, 74% of white people think that the defendant is guilty, while 77% of black people think that he is innocent. The investigation after the verdict is still similar. According to a sample survey of the whole population, 67% people think the judgment is unfair, 28% people think it is fair (close to the proportion of blacks in the American population), and 5% people are not sure.
Another survey by ABC shows that 37% of whites agree with this judgment and 83% of blacks agree. Many Americans question the rationality and fairness of the jury system. The victim's father sobbed at the press conference after the criminal verdict: The prosecution did not lose the lawsuit, but our country lost and justice was not done. After the verdict, an ABC survey asked the question, what would happen if the jury was changed to half white and half black? 48% of whites and 49% of blacks think the results will be different. Another survey after the verdict also showed that 70% of whites and 18% of blacks still believed that the defendant was guilty. 24% of whites and 64% of blacks think that the police made false certificates.
In fact, most white Americans still insist that the defendant is guilty. After the verdict, prosecutor Clark told CNN: Although liberals are unwilling to admit this, it is impossible for black juries to make a fair verdict in such cases. This remark caused an uproar in the media.
Civil judgment, which is completely different from criminal judgment, has just ended the criminal trial, and the injured party indicated that it would fight a civil lawsuit and seek justice in the civil court.
A year later, the civil division of the California High Court began to hear the case. This time, there were nine whites in the jury, and none was black. After a four-month trial, the jury ruled on February 5 that Simpson should be responsible for the murder of his ex-wife Nicole and her boyfriend Goldman, and ordered Simpson to compensate Goldman's parents for $8.5 million. Five days later, the same jury again awarded Simpson $25 million in punitive damages. In this way, he has to pay a total of $33.5 million in civil liability. Although Simpson's lawyer said that he may not be able to pay this huge sum, he will owe $9.3 million for it. However, the plaintiff believes that Simpson has the potential to pay, and his income from selling names and trademarks can reach 3 million US dollars every year.
The result of civil trial is quite different from that of criminal trial, and the racial composition of the jury has become the key point in the two trials. This report caused a sensation again, so that the coverage and ratings greatly overwhelmed President Clinton's State of the Union address that day. Goldman's father said: after two and a half years, justice has finally been done, and we thank God.
Deep-rooted racial opposition Of course, the fundamental reason for the great gap between the criminal judgment and the civil judgment in this case is the deep-rooted opposition between black and white races in the United States, and this opposition is expected to exist for a long time. The psychology of Americans reflected in this case is quite thought-provoking.
President Lincoln abolished the black slavery in the United States for more than 0/00 years through the civil war, and blacks and whites also attended classes together in public schools for more than 40 years. Blacks have also gained various constitutional rights such as the right to vote and participate in the political power. However, history and traditional habits are really a very heavy burden, which can't be unloaded in a short time, as in any society. After the verdict of this case, whites and blacks in the streets of Los Angeles and other places even parted ways, and even blacks and whites working in the same department also became estranged. Of course, with the passage of time, this gap may gradually disappear, but it will never be eradicated.