Freshly Squeezed OJ

It appears that they have finally gotten the Juice. They have waited patiently for Mr. Simpson to self-destruct and true to his nature he has obliged. According to news reports two of Mr. Simpson’s accomplices have agreed to turn States evidence and testify against Mr. Simpson. By the time their stories are heard, Mr. Simpson will take the brunt of this prosecution. In what many have seen as a set-up from the beginning to prosecute the Juice for the murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown-Simpson and Ron Goldman, the cards are lining up against him. Many people wonder what could possibly have motivated OJ to get caught up in this whole scenario anyway and what could he have hoped to gain.

Mesereau said the move by co-defendants to plead out and testify to save themselves shows the prosecution's motive is to get Simpson.

"This might feed into the idea of a setup," he said. "They set him up in the hotel room and tape recorded it and now they're setting him up in court."[1]

My question is this, if you know you are the most watched and most despised man in the country how could you ever hope to walk into a hotel room full of shady characters to retrieve merchandise with guns and expect to get away with it? What must he have been thinking? The problem with OJ and many men like him is that their arrogance always trumps their good sense. Mr. Simpson has been untouchable for most of his life; once he picked up that football and outran every other kid on that field he became impervious to reality. He grew up in the pampered life of a gifted athlete; he had people waiting on him hand and foot. He grew accustomed to getting away with whatever he wanted and if he got caught it was quietly brushed under the rug. It’s the same thing with a beautiful woman she goes through life unchallenged and develops a narcissism that few can fathom and understand.

When many of us would have faded from the scene following a murder trial, which the majority population felt he was guilty and got away with murder, he chose to remain in the limelight. He got away not with any murder but the murder of a beautiful blond white woman, who he wasn’t supposed to be married to anyway. Mr. Simpson on the other hand continued to want to be in the limelight, he continued to flaunt his freedom having the false belief that people would forget and once again welcome the Juice back with open arms like they did so many times in the past. His arrogance got that the better of him; there are many things a black man in America can be. He can be a role model, a hero, and maybe one day President, but what he cannot be is arrogant. Arrogance was a virtue OJ could no longer afford. It is one thing to win the Heisman, to run for 2,000 yards, and to be accepted into the Hall of Fame with those you can afford some arrogance, it is another to kill two white people and get away with it in the minds of many and still be arrogant.

The clock has been ticking on OJ and he couldn’t hear it. His ego wouldn’t let him. He kicked into the room still believing that he was the old OJ and the country had forgotten about the past. He believed that people would understand and support him, because he was right. He couldn’t have been more mistaken. These people don’t care if he is right, they want their own brand of justice and by God they intend to get it. If that meant they had to wait, they would wait. OJ got comfortable, he started believing that he was the Juice again, so being fueled by the people who would eventually set him up he took the bait and the rest as they say will be history.

Two of Simpson's co-defendants, one a former friend, agreed to testify against him Monday in return for drastically reduced charges.

"It's always a prosecutor's strategy to go after the little fish to get to the big fish," said lawyer Edward Miley, who represents defendant Charles Cashmore. "In this, it seems to be that O.J. Simpson is the big fish."

"All the others are getting a good deal and Simpson, the one without a conviction, doesn't? It's all about who he is," said Thomas Mesereau Jr., who represented acquitted defendants Michael Jackson and Robert Blake in cases that turned on witness credibility. "They probably wouldn't have brought charges if it wasn't for who he was."[2]

Before this is all over, everyone will walk but OJ. The whole goal was to get OJ and they got him. I guarantee you there will be no acquittal this time. There will be no “Dream Team”, no Johnnie Cochran; there will be no public outrage. As this case proceeds it will become fairly obvious to all that it was a setup, but no one will care. The characters will all have had some involvement with the criminal justice system in some way or another. They will all have seedy pasts and were it not for OJ would not even be noteworthy to the public. The pressure is mounting and the Juice is about to get the final squeeze.

[1] http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-10-15-2690514155_x.htm
[2] Ibid.