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Opinion
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A
Trial Account
by Douglas O. Linder
Although the 1995 criminal trial of O. J. Simpson for the murders of Nicole
Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman has been called a "a great trash novel
come to life," no one can deny the pull it had on the American public.
If the early reports of the murder of the wife of the ex-football-star-turned-sports-announcer
hadn't caught people's full attention, Simpson's surreal Bronco ride on
the day of his arrest certainly did--ninety-five million television viewers
witnessed the slow police chase live. The 133 days of televised courtroom
testimony turned countless viewers into Simpson trial junkies. Even
foreign leaders such as Margaret Thatcher and Boris Yeltsin eagerly gossiped
about the trial. When Yeltsin stepped off his plane to meet President
Clinton, the first question he asked was, "Do you think O. J. did it?"
When, at 10 A.M. PST on October 3, Judge Ito's clerk read the jury's verdict
of "Not Guilty," 91% of all persons viewing television were glued to the
unfolding scene in the Los Angeles courtroom. (CONT.->)
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