procedures and litigation

Without a doubt, Schmalleger's "Trial of the Century: People of the State of California vs. Orenthal James Simpson" is the best book ever written about this trial. Two essential points must be made.

First, the intended audience of this monograph is criminal justice students. Schmalleger thought that students could learn court and legal concepts by employing the Simpson trial. This is a brilliant strategy. For example, students will learn and will not forget concepts such as "evidence," "direct evidence" and "circumstantial evidence."

Second, when one is finished reading this book, one will understand why OJ was found not guilty. The reason is simple, but not obvious. Much of the book includes court transcripts. We actually read the exact words of the lawyers and the judge. This is the real eye-opener. OJ did NOT win because of the "race card." He won because his lawyers (F. Lee Bailey, Johnnie Cochran, Robert Shapiro, Alan Derchowitz, Carl Douglas, Peter Neufeld, Barry Scheck, and Gerald Uelmen) were much more competent than the prosecutors (Gill Garcetti, Marcia Clark, Christopher Darden, and Hank Goldberg).

Reading the transcript is much better than hearing the words. With the written word, the reader has an opportunity to analyze the sentence structure and understand the power of the words being used. Simply stated the defense were better orators than the prosecutors. The defense had command of the English language and the prosecutors did not.

My conclusion from reading this book: If OJ had an all white OBJECTIVE jury, he would have been acquitted. It was not the evidence; it was the manner in which the evidence was presented. Evidence was presented within the context of the spoken word and the prosecutors -- particularly Christopher Darden and Marcia Clark -- were seriously lacking.

There are many other books written about the OJ Trial. These include "Without a Doubt" by Marcia Clark and "In Contempt" by Christopher Darden. The central theme of these publications is "blaming." Neither Clark nor Darden would take responsibility for their incompetence as prosecutors.

Another book by Vincent Bugliosi is entitled "Outrage: The Five Reasons Why O.J. Simpson Got Away With Murder." Bugliosi also includes transcript pieces, but interjects his opinion. Schmalleger has an opinion but does NOT share it with the reader. He forces the reader to come to his or her own conclusion: OJ didn't win, Clark and Darden lost.