All of this got me watching the "OJ Made in America" ESPN documentary. It was as well done as I remember when it first came out in 2016. And it takes you back to those moments in 1994, 1995. It seems like a different world, barely any internet at the time, E-mail was a weird word for a lot of people. No one had a cell phone, barely anyone.
But watching it makes you remember just how much the defense was relying on race to be the issue. It is really all they had to be honest. OJ never took the stand, he almost committed suicide in the Bronco, he had a trail of his blood from the murder scene to Tahiti! Basically their only hope was to manipulate a predominantly black jury and hit their emotions and dig into the core of how the LAPD had treated black people in the past. I do think Cochran and co. were morally bankrupt, but I have to admit it worked. And if OJ is paying you tons of money for it, you are going to try to put whatever doubt you can in the minds of the jury. To me, the evidence was still clear, even when they attacked the likes of Fuhrman and such and tried to destroy the character of a guy like Ron Shipp, it was obvious they were just clinging to whatever they could because they had nothing. They all knew OJ did it. I think if anything Judge Ito let things slide a little too much in that courtroom. Fuhrman wasn't on trial, there was no possibility of him even being able to plant the glove because there just wasn't the time to do it. But they made it that it didn't matter, and his character was on trial. It's too bad, because OJ got away with it.
But I also remember the division. Once the trial came up and everyone was watching it you had a clear divide. White people nearly unanimously thought he was guilty. Black people - not quite as unanimous but easily predominantly - thought he was innocent. It is hard to believe that life we had back then, because it seems to tame compared to today. Now we could post a picture on the internet of Sidney Crosby petting a new born puppy and it would cause riots and name calling. Back in 1995, yeah sure a case like this pitted people against each other, but man was that ever tame compared to today!