There is no mourning OJ Simpson.
He killed two people — he decapitated his ex wife, the mother of his children. He bought his way out of jail on the murders, but eventually got there thanks to a botched robbery in Las Vegas.
From June 1994 to October 1995 I covered his case and spent a lot of time in the courtroom. I was at New York Magazine. Our editor in chief, Kurt Anderson, thought the case was beneath him, and mocked me on internal emails for my “obsession.” It was fun time.
Of course, Anderson was wrong. The country was obsessed with OJ, and whether he killed Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman. Even when they knew in their hearts he’d done it they watched to see how he’d get out of it. The case launched a thousand media careers. Suddenly there were talking heads on every cable channel, all giving their two cents.
The trial made stars out of two people who didn’t deserve it– Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden. They lost the case by making all the wrong moves. The trial gave us the first Kardashian– Robert, OJ’s loyal friend who covered everything up, and then only voiced his “doubts” right before he died. The other lawyers on the case also didn’t live long — Johnny Cochran died. Before he died, F. Lee Bailey lost everything. Howard Weitzman, who got out on Day 1 because he knew OJ wad guilty, is sadly gone.
Who knows what happened? Kato Kaelin, the houseguest, knows. Cathy Randa, OJ’s loyal secretary she knows. The daughter, Sydney Simpson, she knows. So does Al Cowlings, who drove the famous Ford Bronco in a slow speed chase that was almost more well known than the murders. They all know what happened, how OJ did it, and got away with it. Maybe now we’ll see some books pop up.
As for Simpson himself, he vowed to find “the real killers.” Ha ha. He spent his time playing golf, going to jail for the later robbery, and living it up by moving to Florida where his house was out of reach of the $31 million judgement against him in the civil trial. He laughed at all of us. He’s not laughing anymore.
