O.J. Simpson appears to have dug his own grave by freely speaking to the police and to the press about the details of his "sting operation," which we all know was an armed robbery. When a person speaks to the police or to the press without the assistance of an attorney, he or she will normally hurt whatever defenses may apply to a case. But I, for one, will not underestimate O.J.'s ability to dodge, duck, and run ram shod over law enforcement agencies. It was O.J., after all, who was found not guilty of a brutal double murder in a case where there was ten times the amount of evidence that is normally required to convict.
Let us not forget it was O.J. who Johnny Cochran once characterized as the smartest criminal defendant he ever represented. And it is O.J. who was a criminal long before he ever stepped on a football field, i.e., he has a lifetime of experience beating the police at their own game.
Has theLas Vegas Police Department finally tackled O.J., when no other law enforcement agency within the country has been able to do so? Again, I am not that confident. In my mind this case is less provable than the double homicide, given that the victims in this case have shady backgrounds and at least one of them appears to have second thoughts about cooperating with the prosecution of O.J.. The media has also had a feeding frenzy on some of the key witnesses to the case which always causes problems for the prosecution.
However, there are two things about this case that may lead to a conviction. First, this is a case in which O.J. will have multiple co-defendants. As any prosecutor or criminal defense attorney will tell you, a defendant's chances of beating the rap is diminished where there are co-defendants. The biggest problem O.J.'s attorney will have is contending with other attorneys who may not be on the same page with O.J.'s defense. And there is always the strong possibility that the defendants will point their fingers at one another during the trial.
In addition, O.J. cannot pay for another dream team, Johnny Cochran and Robert Kardashian are dead, and there is a real possibility that he no longer has friends like Al Cowlings who will go to extreme lengths to help O.J. evade justice.
Stand-by, as you are about to observe, once again, a hall of fame football player and perhaps the most cunning criminal defendant in the history of this country, be the star of another trial of the century. Whew!!
Written by Donald P. Schweitzer