The People V. . . . The Other Trial

Those who are firm believers in OJ's guilt argue that he was found guilty in that "other" trial.  So let me offer some information and insight about that other trial.

Actually, there were three, the criminal trial, the civil ("other") trial, and the child custody hearings.  Let me speak about each of the three so that we can put the "other" trial into perspective.

The criminal trial began at the end of January, 1995, seven months after the murders.  The "Not guilty" verdict was read on Oct. 3, 1995.  The trial took place in the city of Los Angeles downtown mainly because the DA's office, resources, and staff were there.  That meant the jury pool was mixed racial, reflecting to some extent the population of that city which was some miles north west of where the murders took place.

The "third" trial was the custody hearing for OJ's and Nicole's two children.  I'm not sure yet where that was held but I presume in some location where the hearing judge had Brentwood within her jurisdiction.  That concluded December 20, 1996.  There was no jury since it was a custody hearing to determine if the children should be in the custody of OJ or of Nicole's parents who had them while OJ was in jail.  Recall he was arrested June 17, 1994.  On October 3, 1995 he was freed by the criminal jury's verdict.  The Browns appealed the hearing judge's decision favoring OJ and on Nov. 10, 1998, the case was remanded back for rehearing by an appeals court with OJ retaining custody until the case was resolved.  -  One recent source indicated the Browns and OJ reached an agreement out of court.

The "other" trial, the civil case brought by the Goldmans (Ron's parents) and the Browns (Nicole's parents) began October 26, 1996, and ended January 17, 1997, with the verdict coming down on February 5, 1997.  It was held in Santa Monica, the nearest large city to Brentwood, because it was a location handier to those bringing the lawsuit against OJ.  The jury was consistent with the population of Santa Monica, 9 white, 2 blacks, and 1 Asian American.

Notice that both the child custody hearing and the civil trial occurred at the same time.  OJ won the custody hearing, for which his children were glad, according to a news report quoting the children's lawyer.  -  In child custody hearings, the court appoints a lawyer to protect the interests of the children.  They were eight and eleven at the time.

Remember that OJ's lawyers were looking ahead from the moment OJ was arrested to not only handle the criminal trial but to protect as much of his income and resources as possible against wrongful death lawsuits and child custody suits.  The first wrongful death suit was brought six weeks after the murders!  OJ needed to have the means to support his family whether or not he won the criminal trial.  The "other" trial had as its main purpose stripping OJ of any wealth he had as punishment for the deaths of Nicole and Ron.  The law provided some protection against complete financial ruin in such cases: money in certain trusts, pension, and residence are usually untouchable so that the one who is sued can survive.  State laws vary and can be changed but usually the one sued is not left completely destitute.

Everyone recalls that there was a great divide in the country over the criminal jury's "Not Guilty" verdict.  The mixed racial jury was called too stupid to understand the DNA evidence, too racially oriented to allow another of their kind to be convicted, too insensitive to spousal abuse, and too attuned to the allegations of police brutality against ethnics to be objective.  The white community believed that with eight African Americans, two Hispanics, and only two white persons on the jury, the prosecution didn't have a chance.

I will address all of that in a post related to the last episode of the AMERICAN CRIME STORY series.

But for now, needless to say, the "other" trial was set up in a place where the outcome was far more likely to be what the white community wanted.  It was far more supportive of the police than any in the city of Los Angeles would have been at the time.  (Detective Fuhrman was not a witness and was not even mentioned during the civil trial!).  The level of proof needed was not "beyond a reasonable doubt" but "preponderance of evidence," which is closer to the level of proof needed for "probable cause." Because the civil case did not involve a possible death penalty or incarceration, the level of proof did not need to be very high.  It was only to settle financial responsibility and provide the respective families for the loss of their loved ones.  

Civil action also did not require a unanimous verdict, just 9 of 12 jurors had to agree.  Remember the jury in the civil case consisted of 9 whites, two blacks, and 1 Asian American.  

The Santa Monica civil trial  became far more, however.  For the white community, it became a setting in which to overturn the criminal trial verdict.  And it succeeded.  The only thing it failed to do was put OJ behind bars.  That would occur another ten years later when OJ was convicted of some nasty stuff related to an ill-conceived effort to retrieve some of his own memorabilia.  He is in jail as of this writing and may be released as early as next year.

How is it that despite being judged not guilty in Los Angeles and getting custody of his children, the Santa Monica trial went against him.  I think there were three things: prejudice, OJ's "issues," and his real goal, keeping his children.

I contend that America's racism, noted by foreign scholars every generation since the mid-nineteenth century, was the dominant reason.  The very thing the Los Angeles jury was accused of motivated the Santa Monica jury.  In the mythos surrounding race in America, there is no way a Black man could be allowed to go free once he is accused.  Deep within our culture is the view that there is only right and wrong, good and evil, black or white,  There are no shades of gray, not alternatives to guilty or innocent.  And, of course, "we" are on the right, the good side.  That leaves no room for anything but evil and wrong on the other.  It must be pretty deep within us because we become irrational trying to sustain this bifurcated view of the world and people around us when it comes to race.  Being an ethnic in America is pretty scary.  Just ask any of your ethnic acquaintances.

Next, I contend that OJ's personality was not that helpful to him.  His desire to protect his family from the invasion of his and Nicole's privacy came across as defensiveness and avoidance rather than as respect for the dead and protection of his children.  The charm with which he had been successful all his athletic career and into his acting/broadcasting careers was seen as shallow and inappropriate.  His impatience with those who did not let him be the center of the universe came across as mean-spirited.  There may even have been the effects of head injuries plus the constant arthritic pain he was in from his football days which were not understood at the time but seen as just plain nastiness.

Finally, the civil trial and the custody hearings were going on at the same time, meaning that he could not be in both places.  His priority was his children and so the jury at the civil trial did not see him every day their trial was going on.  The lawyers had done their job of protecting a lot of OJ's wealth so even losing in Santa Monica was no big deal.  Losing his children would have been something he could not bear.

So OJ lost the civil trial.  The Browns would get something to compensate for their loss and the Goldmans would get nothing, actually, though they would continue trying in other ways.  And OJ got his children.

Yes, even though OJ won two out of three trials, it is the "other" one that is clung to by those who do not want to believe OJ might have actually been innocent.  It may well have been a set up for just that purpose.  And it succeeded, I am convinced,  because OJ was more interested in keeping his family together than playing that game.