Was the O.J. verdict payback?
Was the O.J. Simpson guilty verdict payback for the acquittal in his murder case. According to CNN, 5 jurors believed he was guilty of the murder charge. Most of the jurors had heard about the murder case, and a few agreed with the verdict.
The fact that so many jurors knew about the previous case might surprise some people. Many believe you are not qualified to be a juror if you know something about the defendant, or their case. Knowledge does not disqualify a potential juror; the critical question is whether the juror has already made up their mind, or whether the knowledge would influence their decision. You have to rely on the juror to make that determination, and unfortunately there is no way to determine whether they are being honest No doubt some jurors lie to get on juries, but I have to believe the vast majority honestly answer the questions.
According to one of O.J.'s attorneys, the guilty verdict was payback for the previous acquittal. Of course, we will never know whether there were other motives involved; I'm sure no one would ever to admit to that, even if were true. I think the facts suggest this wasn't the case though. The most telling fact is that the jurors deliberated for 13 hours. That is a long time for a criminal jury to deliberate; many cases are decided in a few hours or less. The fact that they deliberated so long suggests they carefully considered the evidence; if they already had their minds made up, you would expect the decision to be fairly quick. Another factor is the quality of the evidence. You didn't have scientific evidence, and more importantly, you had witnesses who were there when it happened. The question for the jury was whether they were telling the truth, which they obviously decided he did.
It will be interesting to see what happens at sentencing. I doubt few people will feel sorry for him if he gets a substantial amount of time.
