The People V. . . . Probable Cause

Legal processes are not always easy to understand.  They seem to be governed by weird rules most people have no idea exist.  

For example, why wasn’t OJ arrested when he got back from Chicago?  The police suspected he did it because murders are usually done by someone close to the victims.  They knew about OJ’s no contest plea in the beating of his wife several years before.  There was blood on his Bronco and on his drive way.  Wasn’t all that enough?

In fact, as Episode One showed, police officers at Rockingham immediately put handcuffs on OJ the minute he was inside the estate walls. The series showed OJ’s lawyers present.  Upon their insistence, the cuffs were removed and no arrest made.  At that moment, except in the eyes of the young officers on the scene, OJ was not declared a suspect by anyone (Detectives Vannatter, Lange, and Fuhrman had not said so though they believed it to be true).  

A warrant for OJ’s arrest was not authorized by a judge until four days later.  The common notion is that OJ was a wealthy and popular figure and so the police held back.  It is usually seen as a matter of the privilege enjoyed by celebrities.

In fact, the LAPD was under fire for all kinds of bad actions toward minority persons, false arrests being one of those bad actions.  While a police officer is allowed to arrest someone on his/her own if the circumstances appear to be serious enough, most arrests are based on “probable cause” determined by a judge.  Such a warrant was finally issued the night before the slow Bronco chase.

BLACK’S LAW DICTIONARY lists several rulings made by various courts about probable cause.  The most helpful for this case is this:

“Probable cause is the existence of circumstances which would lead a reasonably prudent man to believe in guilt of the arrested party; mere suspicion or belief, unsupported by facts or circumstances is insufficient.”

The “circumstances” missing were any direct evidence tying OJ to the scene of the crime, namely the weapon and the bloody clothes worn by the killer.  Despite huge efforts in Chicago and LAX as well as in Brentwood, none was found after days of searching.  The definitive DNA evidence would not be determined until weeks after it had been gathered from Bundy and Rockingham.  After four days, a judge was willing to issue an arrest warrant.  The prosecution had determined a possible motive (OJ’s domestic abuse).  A preliminary blood test showed OJ might have been involved. Finally, OJ lacked an alibi for the hour during which the prosecution said the crime occurred. These things were taken as reasonable grounds for “probable cause.”  Without something plausible, LAPD could be accused of prejudice, something they could ill afford at the time.