
The day after a Las Vegas jury convicted O.J.
Simpson of armed robbery and kidnapping, reaction was largely muted in
Los Angeles neighborhoods that 13 years ago were riveted by the
not-guilty verdict in his double murder "trial of the century." With the Miami-based Simpson no longer a presence in Los Angeles and many of the murder trial's old landmarks erased from the landscape,
Los Angeles residents said the new case failed to resonate with them as
they are consumed by more pressing issues such as the economy and
presidential election. "There are way more important things going on in the world right now,"
said Lauren Lyster, 26, who was eating a muffin with friends at Peet's
Coffee in Brentwood -- the spot that once housed Mezzaluna Restaurant,
where victim Ronald Goldman worked. "Who cares about people committing
stupid crimes?" Thirteen years ago to the day Friday, a Los Angeles jury acquitted
Simpson of murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Goldman. At
the time, the trial stoked racially charged emotions, with many in the
black community supporting Simpson. Two years later, Simpson was found civilly liable for the deaths and ordered to pay the victims' families $33.5 million. When he is sentenced in December in the Las Vegas case, Simpson, 61, faces a minimum of 15 years in prison. In his armed robbery trial,
prosecutors contended that Simpson masterminded the alleged robbery of
two sports memorabilia dealers in a casino hotel room last year. Earl Ofari Hutchinson, president of the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable, said that local reaction to Friday's verdict was relatively
subdued because the former football star's public image has changed. "In the 13 years, a lot has happened . . . The case polarized America
along racial lines. With the passing of time, it's not as deep and not
as passionate," Hutchinson said. "He represented a symbol: racial division. And it was questioning the
fairness of the system," he said. "He was a symbol of that division 15
years ago -- he's not now." Nonetheless, Hutchinson said that because of the landmark case in 1995
and now his new conviction, "I don't think OJ Simpson will ever go
away."While Hutchinson said that race did not enter into Friday's guilty
verdict, some blacks saw racial politics at work in the fact that
Simpson faced an all-white jury in Las Vegas. (Two of the six
alternates were black.) Outside McDonald's on Crenshaw Boulevard, Hank Myles said Simpson never had a shot at a fair trial. "If they would have had some blacks, he would have won, or at least it
would have been deadlocked," said Myles, 78, a retired post office
worker. "With all the black people in Las Vegas, they could have gotten
some of them [on the jury]." Andy Brown, 32, a travel industry manager, said he had mixed feelings about Friday's verdict."I just couldn't believe they actually got him on this as opposed to a
double murder," said Brown who lives in Brentwood within five minutes
of Nicole Brown Simpson's former condo. "I saw the look in his eyes,
the way he was nodding his head, and I sensed that he was thinking,
'They finally got me.' " On the other side of town, at the farmers market in Leimert Park, DJ
Ron "Rhythm" Gantt said he had not been following the trial closely
because it was in Las Vegas. A Los Angeles resident, Gantt noted the
difference between this trial and the cultural spectacle that played
out in the downtown courthouse 13 years ago. "This time he didn't kill anybody, and he wasn't chased halfway through
Los Angeles," said Gantt, 66, referring to the police pursuit of
Simpson in his white Bronco televised live to TV viewers.
Gantt said he wasn't sure if justice was served with Friday's verdict,
but he did believe that Simpson was guilty the first time around. So
his past finally caught up to him, Gantt said. "He was going to get his sooner or later," Gantt said of Simpson. "I believe in retribution." Walking down Degnan Boulevard, Ray West said he had been following the
trial periodically. He said he believed Simpson wasn't guilty of murder
in the first trial and he wasn't sure if the former football star was
guilty in the Las Vegas case.Nonetheless, West said, Simpson put himself in the situation that
landed him in trouble at the Vegas hotel room and should have known
better."He might have been innocent, but didn't learn his lesson the first time," said West, 33, an aircraft mechanic. Frank Snowden, 23, reflected on the fascination the Hall of Fame player continues to elicit. "I think he's a cool guy, misunderstood possibly," Snowden said.
"I don't know enough about him to really say. He was a good running
back."
SOURCE:LAT.COM
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