Peter N. Herndon
This relates to a concern by a majority of black Americans that the police not only are incompetent, but tend to be out and out corrupt, especially when a black person is a suspect. Consider the fact that one in every three young black men is in prison or may be sent there if they lose their probation or parole. In 1996, over three-quarters of a million black men are incarcerated. Consider that O.J. had reached the top by playing by the rules. Many blacks believe that if a black man or woman rises too high, moves may be made to bring him or her down. Witness the recent troubles of people like Mike Tyson, Darrell Strawberry, Marion Berry, Lani Cuinier and Jocelyn Elders. Was the arrest of O.J. Simpson a bit too hasty? In some people’s minds, real doubts arose from the beginning that the police were hard at work trying to blame O.J. Simpson.
To illustrate the police incompetence, recall that a detective brought a vial of crime-scene blood back to his home overnight. A police pathologist got rid of the contents of Nicole Brown Simpson’s stomach by mistake, which would have given police a much more accurate time of death. Finally, the Ford Bronco was parked in an insecure area, which allowed at least one person to tamper with it. Recall the lies, particularly Mark Furhman, who found the bloody glove behind Simpson’s house, after scaling the wall of his home without a proper warrant. Would a man who would lie under oath about using the “N-word” forty-one times also lie about how pieces of evidence were gathered?
Other questions raised by the defense were concerning the fact that after such a brutal double murder, there were no traces of blood found on O.J., on the carpet in his home, and only tiny drops in the Bronco. How could he have had time to clean himself and the car and the house before departing for the airport? And what about the bloody clothing he would have had to dispose of? And the murder weapon? They were never found.