Ito was also bullied and manipulated by the defense when it came to even the smallest of things. When Clark wore the ‘angel’ pin in the memory of Brown, Ito demanded she remove it. Yet, when the defense all wore ‘african’-style print neckties, all he would saty was ‘nice neckties’; even though it was an obvious attempt to influence black jurors. When the defense made statements about Ito’s wife, who was a member of the police department, Ito broke down a bit while on the bench at the trial. It then became so obvious that this man had no business presiding over this trial.

Jury members’ own words demonstrated that they had no intention of looking at the evidence. One female juror said when she looked at Fuhrman, she saw a ‘skinhead’. The defense poisoned the well, and Ito would not take control. Also, when asked about why Nicole would write in her diary about here fears about Simpson’s abuse, the juror said ‘Well, you’ll have to ask her.’.

That sounds like a pretty good airport novel, buddy larsen. For myself, I think that OJ finally got what was coming to him. In the Greek sense: hubris. Yes, his posse helped him skate from the Nicole/Ron Goldman murders, but his internal corruption continued unabated. Do you think any normal soul would have written his stupid teaser book about “If I had done it?” He wanted to destroy himself. Now, at long last, he has succeeded. I hope he spends his time in prison contemplating and atoning for his crimes. But I think he’s simply not capable of it. He has no ability to understand himself. He is a toy of the gods. Which we must confine.

A court system that seems to dispense justice almost at random, but certainly with depressing infrequency; a racial bloc of citizens who are eager to lash out at their perceived oppressors, past and present, along racial lines and without respecting truth or justice; and a general sense of dread and foreboding that some link to one of the presidential candidates.

To that I would add the greedy willingness of lawyers like Barry Scheck and Alan Dershowitz to prostitute themselves in what they knew was the cynical perversion of justice.

If Simpson is being repaid by karma, then it must be that our nation is also getting its comeuppance. I dispute both claims. Simpson is and always was a moral moron, a sociopath barely under control; sooner or later, he would have committed another crime.

And national or cultural karma? No. We can fix what’s broken in the jurisprudential system, if we recognize that every bad aspect of it is the result of bad individuals corrupting the process. From boneheaded judge Ito to the stunningly incompetent prosecution to the bigoted jury and the media feeding frenzy, people were out of line. The lines are there. But individuals ignored them.

Big problem. Not easy to solve, so we should roll our sleeves up and get to work. This calls for better education, showing students what justice is and is not, and why it matters. It calls for innovative, effective imposition of professional ethics; Knifong’s fate provides a glimmer of hope that it can be done.

It’s up to us. Recognizing horrible examples for what they are is the first step.

I was flying to Australia during a portion of the original OJ trial. I changed planes in Aukland, New Zealand. I picked up a paper in the airport and there was a half-page ad for TV coverage of the OJ trial. It seems that perhaps the “moral compass” points globally.

Sweeping the national tv audiences must be costly –the returns must be GREAT.