Joseph Bosco and 10 Myths About the O.J. Simpson Case
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Joseph Bosco and 10 Myths About the O.J. Simpson Case Michael T. Griffith 2017 @All Rights Reserved Joseph Bosco's book A Problem of Evidence: How the Prosecution Freed O.J. Simpson (New York: William Morrow and Company, 1996) is one of the best books ever written on the criminal trial of O.J. Simpson in 1995, the “Trial of the Century,” in which O.J. was accused of brutally stabbing his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman on June 12, 1994, on the front patio of Nicole's house. Bosco's book debunks many common myths about the O.J. Simpson case, myths that continue to be repeated on TV, in newspapers and magazines, and on the Internet. We shall consider what Bosco's book says about 10 of these myths. Bosco was an investigative journalist who was granted a seat at the murder trial. Unlike most journalists who have written about the trial, Bosco sat through all the testimony and all the proceedings that occurred when the jury was not in the courtroom. Bosco lived in Los Angeles and had good sources in the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). In doing the research for his book, Bosco interviewed several of the key players in the trial, including prosecutors with the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office, LAPD police officers and detectives, and members of the defense team. Here are the 10 myths that we will examine: 1. O.J. was acquitted because he could afford to hire an army of high-powered lawyers and investigators who had far more resources than the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office (LADA) had available. 2. The jurors were ignorant and racist and either ignored or did not understand the overwhelming evidence that pointed to O.J.'s guilt. 3. O.J. put his murder clothes in a bag that was seen but never found. He either disposed of the bag at the Los Angeles airport or his good friend Robert Kardashian disposed of the bag for him. 4. A credible witness named Jill Shively saw O.J. driving a few blocks from the murder scene with his car's headlights turned off just after the murders, but the prosecution decided not to call her as a witness when they learned that she had sold her story to a tabloid TV show. The prosecution threw away their star witness. 5. There was no opportunity for any police officer or detective to plant evidence against O.J., and there is no evidence that any of the evidence or that there was more than one killer. 1 6. O.J. looked like he was in a dark mood at the dance recital a few hours before the murders, and his anger grew and grew that night until he reached the point of a murderous rage. 7. O.J. was madly jealous and furious over losing Nicole. He stalked her for months before the murders. When he felt he was going to lose her and could no longer control and abuse her, he killed her. 8. O.J. could not explain the cuts on his fingers when he was interviewed by LAPD detectives the day after the murders. 9. O.J. made his guilt obvious when he fled in the Bronco and caused the famous “Bronco chase.” He was going to leave the country or kill himself. 10. When O.J. famously tried on the gloves from the crime scenes during the trial, they would have fit him if he had not been wearing latex gloves. Myth #1: O.J. was acquitted because he could afford to hire an army of high-powered lawyers and investigators who had far more resources than the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office (LADA) had available. Bosco: While it became a self-serving hymn of faith that poor little Marcia and Chris [prosecutors Marcia Clark and Chris Darden] were outmanned by a nefarious gang of silk- stocking guns for hire, the truth is that the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office has some 925 deputy district attorneys with the kind of open-ended financing behind them that is available only to very big government in a cause where the taxpayers are in solid support. While only about a dozen were ever seen in court, some 25 deputy DAs worked in some fashion on the Simpson case. They had the logistical support of dozens of investigators and hundreds of police officers; they also had the support the California Department of Justice and, in this case, the FBI. Also, large private firms donated goods and services to the prosecution effort. It is complete myth that O.J. Simpson outspent the State and therefore bought injustice. (pp. 24-25) Myth #2: The jurors were ignorant and racist and either ignored or did not understand the overwhelming evidence that O.J. was guilty. 2 Bosco: Seriously, what did folks expect the jury to think about hanky-panky with evidence when John Meraz, the tow-truck driver who was all over the Bronco at Viertels Two Yard [where the Bronco was impounded], said with emphasis: “I didn't see any blood”? He didn't hesitate. He said it definitively, and he was never shaken away from it during a buzzsaw attack by Marcia [Clark]. (p. 163) “This was a punching bag that punched back!” exclaims Peter Bozanich, one of the most experienced and respected prosecutors in the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office. “I think in the end,” Bozanich continues, “the jury found us to be wanting so many times they could no longer trust the evidence. I mean, a three-hour acquittal is not a reasonable-doubt case. It's 'Get this thing out of here!' “This was a debacle. It couldn't have gone any worse. Could not have gone any worse. And it still amazes me that the country holds the jury responsible for what I think was a reasonable verdict given what the prosecution looked like.” Yes, it was a total, humiliating defeat. Not a soul did the prosecution convince enough even to hang the jury [i.e., to get a hung jury and thus a new trial]—and it must never be overlooked that there were three non-African Americans on the jury, two of them white upper-middle- class females, perfect prosecution jurors. (pp. 26-27) COMMENT: Meraz was not the only person who got inside the Bronco just days after the murders and saw no blood in the vehicle. William Blasini was a car-parts buyer who got inside the Bronco to look for blood while it was at the impound lot. Based on news reports, he expected to find lots of blood, but he saw none. Myth #3: O.J. put his murder clothes in a bag that was seen but never found. He either disposed of the bag at the Los Angeles airport or his good friend Robert Kardashian disposed of the bag for him. Bosco: Pat McKenna [an experienced private investigator who worked for the defense team] on the luggage, the limo, and the airport: 3 “When [limo driver Allan] Park rings the buzzer—this was always the signal from Dale Saint John [the owner of the Town and Country limo service and O.J.'s regular driver—O.J. figures it's Dale at the gate, because that's who's always driving him. What Dale always did is, once he rang the buzzer, he knew he was notifying O.J. I interviewed Dale, and this is what he told us early in the case: . 'I'd ring the buzzer; that lets O.J. know I'm there, and then I'd let myself in the gate,' which anybody can do. It's not a secure compound there. You can just push the button and let yourself in. You can even push the gate open with your hand. “Then Saint John would drive up and load the [golf] clubs and stuff in. He'd always load the car. Now, the clubs are down on the little two benches that sit by his front door. There's one bag there, too, the Louis Vuittron bag; it's gonna be checked luggage. What he's still got upstairs is his suit bag and his leather over-the-shoulder thing. “So O.J.'s assuming Dale's already come in, so he starts to get ready. He comes down—O.J. always said early on, 'I was waving to the guy.' You know, Park said there was a dark figure going into the house? That's O.J. in a bathrobe! “O.J. thought it was Dale out there, and he thought the guy heard him when he said, 'Hey, Dale, come on in.' He went back into the house. O.J. never until the last minute decided what clothes he was going to wear at the golf tournament for Hertz. He is either wearing all black or all yellow, you know, because of the Hertz colors. So he was undecided what he was going to wear. “When he decides on the all-black outfit, he realizes his black golf shoes are in the Bentley. Remember he'd played golf that morning and had driven the Bentley. He goes out to get them and he figures it's Dale—he's still in his robe; he's not even dressed yet. He gets his shoes out of the car and goes back into the house. He puts his shoes –which is actually this so-called 'other bag' that they all thought was missing, which never was 'missing' and they knew it—he puts his shoes and some tees and some balls in that little black bag, which he just throws there.