What is the "Simpson case" in America?

Simpson was born in a poor black family. With his talent and unremitting efforts, he finally became the most outstanding American football player in the 1960s and 1970s. His rise is a typical representation of the "American Dream", and Simpson has become a hero and idol in the eyes of the general public, especially black youth. After bidding farewell to the stadium, Xin became a famous TV sports program host, shining brilliantly in advertisements, TV dramas and movies. Simpson is a black police officer in the famous film Cassandra Bridge.

Charging time:

1994 June 17

Reason for being accused:

Simpson was accused of murdering his ex-wife and her ex-boyfriend

The whole story of Simpson's case:

Murder that shocked America

1June, 994 17, when more than one billion fans around the world were watching the live TV broadcast of Chicago 15 World Cup in the United States, the major TV networks in the United States were conducting another live broadcast at the same time. The attention of tens of millions of American TV viewers was attracted by a "police chase" on the Los Angeles Expressway. The hunt lasted for nearly seven hours and ended in the surrender of the expelled suspect. The protagonist of the incident and the suspect pursued by the police are the successful idols worshipped by many Americans, the black sports and video star O.J. Simpson.

Here's the thing. Five days ago, the police found Simpson's former white wife Nicole and one of her white boyfriends assassinated in front of her house. The scene was bloody and terrible. The first murder suspect identified by the police was Nicole's ex-husband Simpson. From 1989, Simpson often abused and beat Nicole and threatened to kill her. Nicole and Simpson divorced in March. 1992. But since then Simpson's harassment of Nicole has never stopped. The police found blood with the same blood type as Simpson at the crime scene, and then found blood in the search of Simpson's residence, and found physical evidence such as gloves and sports shoes that matched the traces left at the scene of the accident. Therefore, LAPD decided to arrest Simpson. Unexpectedly, Xin suddenly fled by car, so there was the thrilling chase scene mentioned above.

Simpson was born in a poor black family. With talent and unremitting efforts, he finally became a 60-year-old man. The most outstanding American football player in the 1970s, whose rise is a typical representation of the "American Dream", made Simpson a hero and idol in the eyes of the general public, especially the black youth. After bidding farewell to the stadium, Xin became a famous TV sports program host, shining brilliantly in advertisements, TV dramas and movies. Simpson is a black police officer in the famous film Cassandra Bridge.

The prosecution's allegations

1 From August to October, 1994, the Los Angeles High Court selected 9 blacks, 2 whites and1Latinos from the local public to form the Simpson jury. The prosecution's team of lawyers is headed by Clark, a white female lawyer who has made few mistakes in criminal proceedings in the past 10 years. Simpson's chief defense lawyer is kirkland, a 53-year-old black lawyer. He has formed a team of lawyers called "Dream Team".

1995 1 month, the Simpson case was formally heard.

The procuratorate opened fire on Simpson from several aspects.

Number one: Simpson has motive. 1977, Simpson met Nicole, a white girl aged 18. The following year, Xin divorced his ex-wife and married Nicole. In the next ten years, Xin and Ni separated and became entangled. Xin often calls names Nepal, adding fists and feet. 1988 In the winter, Nicole was pregnant, and drunk Simpson pointed at Nicole, laughing at her as a "fat pig" and trying to drive her out of the house. Xin also said that she had a gun in her hand, so what should she do? Nicole had to leave home with her daughter. Since 1989, Nicole has been beaten many times and taken to the hospital. The police also received many calls for help from Nepal. The prosecution showed a distress recording and a photo of Zhang Nike's black face in court. Many witnesses also confirmed Nepal's humiliation in this marriage. The prosecution believes that Xin and Ni have been pestering her many times after their divorce. Nicole was killed when she was found to have another lover who stopped listening to him. In fact, Xin also said many times that she wanted to kill Nicole.

Second: Simpson has time to commit crimes. On the day of the murder-1June, 1994 12, at 9: 37 pm, Xin and her boyfriend came home after dinner, and their friends stayed in their rooms to make phone calls, and they never saw Xin again. 10: 40, the taxi driver Parker came to Xin's house (should have arrived 1 1) and rang the doorbell several times, but no one answered. 10 minutes later, Xin told Parker through the door answering machine that he had overslept and was taking a bath. Ten minutes later, Xin left home, took a taxi to the airport and flew to Chicago at 1 1: 40. Where is Simpson for over an hour from 9: 37 to 10: 50? The prosecution believes that Xin committed a crime in front of Nicole's house at 10, 15 (because Nicole's neighbor said Nicole's dog was whining at 10, 15), and then drove his Ford home to climb the wall. Xin's housekeeper Cato said that he heard a thump outside the room. Taxi driver Parker said that he saw a black man enter the house from the driveway around 10: 40.

Third: there is evidence that Simpson killed someone. A glove was found outside Simpson's house and next to the victim. According to DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) test, there are two victims' blood, hair and clothing fibers on it, as well as fibers on the blanket in Simford's car. This pair of gloves is exactly the same as the one Nicole gave Xin in 1990. In addition, Xin's car, the navy hat next to Goldman and a pair of socks in Xin's bedroom all have the blood of the victim and Xin. The joint injury of Xin's left finger was probably cut during the crime. And in May 1994, Xin bought a sharp knife and a fake beard.

The defense's rebuttal

The prosecution took the lead and described the tragic story of a tortured woman to the public and the jury, winning a point. But kirkland, with his gentle uncle image, meticulous logical reasoning and amazing memory, seized the flaw of the prosecution and quickly offset the advantage of the prosecution.

First: Simpson did something wrong to Nicole, but it can't be inferred that Simone killed someone. Criminologists point out that such inferences rarely hold water. Nicole herself is not innocent. She evades taxes and takes drugs. This murder is probably a drug-related murder. Besides, Shane still loves Nicole, and Shane has expressed regret for beating Tony several times. I was very sad when I heard the news that Tony was killed. The motive pointed out by the prosecution is not valid.

Second: the time of committing the crime. Judging from the scene of the bloody case, the murderer and the victim had a long struggle. You can't kill two people in less than 1 hour, so go home and wash your blood. A pair of passers-by proved that there was nothing unusual in front of Ni Zhai's house at 10: 25, that is, 10 minutes after the time when the prosecution decided to commit the crime. In addition, I also saw Xin's white Ford car parked in front of Xin's house at the time of the incident. What Parker saw at night was inconsistent. These proofs show that Xin was not at the scene when the crime was committed. A waiter at Los Angeles airport proved that Xin was very calm before boarding the plane, without any panic. In court, Xin revealed the scar on his left knee when he played ball that year, indicating that he was incapable of killing two young and strong people. Third: the evidence presented by the prosecution is doubtful. Blood samples used for testing may be contaminated. The only drop of blood collected by the police at the scene is said to be Xin's blood, which was left to dry overnight and wrapped in a piece of paper. When the defense re-examined, there was a drop of blood on this paper, and it seemed that someone had tampered with it. In addition, the video of the police entering Xinzhai shows that there are no socks with blood in the bedroom bed, but they were recorded later. Detective Furman Warner must have done something ulterior. Even the bloodstained gloves-the prosecution's strongest evidence-took Simpson a long time to wear in public. This also means that it is very likely that Detective Furman put it at the scene and Simpson's house himself. The defense believes that the prosecution ignored a series of footprints at the scene, which were neither the victim's nor Simpson's, and were probably the murderer's.

Reasons for the prosecution's losing the case

Simpson's murder of his ex-wife aroused great interest in the American public and the press. After more than a year of experiments. The jury reached a verdict after analyzing 1 13 testimonies of105 witnesses. 654381on the morning of October 3, 500 million people in America/kloc-0 stopped their work and stared at the TV screen. There are also many TV stations in Europe participating in the live sentencing process. 10: 07, the court officially announced. Simpson is not guilty. Simpson, who was imprisoned for more than nine months, took a deep breath and hugged his lawyer with a big smile. When Nicole and Goldman's relatives burst into tears, Clark and other prosecution lawyers just sat there. Outside the Los Angeles courtroom, Simpson's supporters cheered loudly, and most white people were surprised by the verdict. Even President Clinton personally asked everyone to respect the jury's decision. For many people who proved that Xin was guilty, the failure of the prosecution was incomprehensible. However, American lawyers and criminologists believe that the prosecution lost the case for several reasons.

First of all, the prosecution lacked witnesses for the murder from beginning to end and failed to find the murder weapon. Other proofs are mostly inferential and indirect.

Secondly, the schedule of crimes cited by the prosecution is unconvincing and many problems are difficult to explain. This is a "card" that the defense has been firmly grasping.

But most importantly, there is something wrong with the blood evidence that the prosecution relies on. On the one hand, Detective Furman, who provides criminal evidence, is a racist. Since the Xin case, the defense has pointed this out many times and looked around for evidence. Finally, in August this year, a female writer named McKinney provided a tape of Furman exposing her racial hatred. For example, Furman tore off a black driver's license, accused him of driving without a license, abused black suspects, fabricated false testimony and planted it. Furman even said that he would pile up "niggers" and burn them. Furman's actions provided Cochrane with a powerful weapon. He believes that the evidence provided by the police is deliberately planted and is a manifestation of hatred and racism. On the other hand, since 1987 used DNA in litigation, people have been arguing about the methods and effects of DNA sampling. Both sides moved out of the first-class experts in DNA method detection, but reached different conclusions. Moreover, due to the lack of supervision by the police when sampling and inspecting the site, the procedures are not strict enough, which greatly reduces the reliability of sampling. So the prosecution's most powerful criminal evidence base collapsed.

Of course, it is still unknown whether the jury dominated by blacks will take the discrimination suffered by blacks in the United States for many years and the bad behavior of police in many cities and cities in the United States as the background of their verdict.

Racial relations have become tense again.

However, the most serious social problem exposed by the Xin case is the renewed tension in ethnic relations. Because the case involves black stars, black and white relations and other factors, it has a high degree of racial sensitivity. White and black people have always held different views on Simpson's guilt or innocence. Nearly half of the whites were found guilty, while the vast majority of blacks thought Sin was innocent. Most blacks believe that if Simpson is convicted, it will show that the long-term injustice of the American judicial system to blacks continues. Many white people think that if Xin is acquitted, it is because of his dark skin that he is taken care of. Simpson's lawyers have been profiting from this unfortunate racial competition. On the one hand, they attacked the white policeman who was in charge of searching Xin's house as a racist, on the other hand, they deliberately selected jury members, deliberately making blacks the overwhelming majority. It is reported that there is a serious black-and-white opposition in the jury of the Xin case, and the situation is very favorable to Simpson.

To be fair, racial relations in the United States have improved since this century. By the 1970s, legal discrimination against blacks had been basically eliminated. Of course, this is mainly the result of the long-term struggle of blacks. However, with the revival of conservatism in the early 1980s, especially after the end of the Cold War, racial relations in the United States became tense again. This was particularly evident in the Simpson trial.

At present, the situation of racial relations in the United States is roughly as follows: First, legal discrimination against ethnic minorities dominated by blacks has been basically eliminated, but widespread social racial discrimination with more complicated reasons still exists. A large number of statistics show that there is still a big gap between the overall economic and social status of blacks and the mainstream white society. Second, ethnic relations are "extreme". The lower class blacks are increasingly dissatisfied with the status quo, while the white right wing thinks that the government cares too much for blacks. Third, ethnic relations are becoming increasingly complex. In addition to the contradiction between whites and blacks, with the increase of Hispanic and Asian population, the contradiction between blacks, Hispanics and Asians has become increasingly prominent. In California public schools, hooliganism mainly occurs between black teenagers and Hispanic teenagers. Asians, regarded as model minorities by the white-dominated society, are often attacked by other minorities because of their success in business, culture and education.

At present, there are many reasons for the resurgence of racial problems in the United States, such as the slow growth of people's income in recent years and the rise of mutual resentment. But the deeper reason is:

First, the black civil rights movement has stagnated. Compared with legal and political discrimination, the discriminatory factors in economic, educational, cultural and other social life are more complicated, including institutional and historical reasons, as well as physiological and psychological factors. The black society itself has also been divided, and some blacks have been brought into the mainstream life and entered the middle or even upper class of society, accounting for about 1/3 of the total number of blacks. They have great differences with the middle and lower black groups on the next step to promote the black civil rights movement. The latter focuses on continuing to demand social care, while the former emphasizes self-help and black self-reliance. When President Bush appointed Thomas, a black judge, to the Supreme Court a few years ago, the strongest opposition was several black civil rights organizations, who regarded Thomas as a traitor of their own race. Moreover, the social goals pursued by the civil rights movement at the beginning were very extensive and were widely supported by white society. However, as the goal of the movement gradually focused on fighting for the rights and interests of blacks, many whites gradually withdrew from the movement, and their social foundation was naturally greatly reduced.

Second, after the passage of the 1965 immigration law, immigrants from Latin America and Asia increased greatly, and the racial composition of the United States changed greatly, which is the basic reason for the complexity of racial relations. The tense racial relationship is a daily problem faced by American social clubs.

It is often said that the future of America depends on the solution of its social problems. Race is one of the biggest social problems in America. The Simpson case, which was originally an extremely ordinary criminal case, was "fired" into a "major case of the century" precisely because its trial process was closely intertwined with racial issues in American society.

Simpson's case is over. Moreover, according to California law, even if there is new evidence in the future, he can no longer be accused of murder. But who killed Nicole and Goldman? This is still a suspense.

If the Simpson case happened in China, the court would make the opposite judgment.

Lawyers can only collect evidence by themselves, even the evidence provided by the police is unreliable.

The right to silence is a bad system, and the protection of criminal suspects should be reduced.

Allen dershowitz, a well-known professor at Harvard Law School, told the author bluntly. On March 20th, at the Sino-American advanced seminar on criminal trial practice held in Beijing, the professor who was a defense lawyer in Simpson case was the keynote speaker and accepted an exclusive interview with the author after the meeting.

There are also poor quality state judges in the United States.

Generally speaking, the United States is a country with a sound legal system and a relatively high quality of judges. However, Professor dershowitz told the author that there are also problems in the American judge system, and even people with poor quality become state judges.

In Alabama, there is a judge with poor professional quality. He is also an extreme racist and religious figure. The client nicknamed him "legal blindness".

The judge hung the Ten Commandments of the Bible in a civil court and tried it according to the provisions of the Bible. This violates the constitutional rights of non-Christians, because you can't demand non-Christians with the rules and regulations in the Bible. Before every trial, he would recite the eulogy in the Bible. According to American law, if he does not correct this practice, he will be disqualified as a judge.

And he not only refused to correct it, but also decided to fight for justice in Alabama. Because Alabama is a region with great religious influence, he won the votes of many religious citizens and finally won.

This example illustrates the disadvantages of the public election system of state judges in the United States. Whether the candidate is elected or not is related to the popularity of the candidate in the state. Mr. dershowitz said that such an absurd thing could not happen in China, because the selection of judges in China was not influenced by public will.

If the Simpson case happened in China,

Every reporter in the world who interviewed Professor dershowitz asked him, "As Mr. Simpson's defense lawyer, do you think he is guilty?" Every time, Mr. dershowitz avoided according to the "convention", but he pointed out that if the Simpson case happened in China, the court would make the opposite judgment.

As we all know, in Simpson's case, the police have got enough evidence to prove that Simpson killed his ex-wife and her boyfriend, but in order to make the case more "irrefutable", they foolishly forged a pair of socks stained with Simpson and his ex-wife's blood. It was these socks that were finally proved to be laboratory products by Mr. dershowitz and his hired biochemist, and the jury was in an uproar.

There is a famous evidence rule in American law: "There can only be one bug in noodles". This is an image metaphor: when anyone finds a bug in his noodle bowl, he will never look for the second one again, but will only throw out the whole bowl of noodles. Similarly, even if LAPD obtained a lot of evidence to prove Simpson's guilt, as long as one of them (socks) was illegally obtained, all the evidence would not be accepted by the court. Therefore, the jury found him acquitted.

In China, the rule of evidence is "based on facts and taking the law as the criterion", and the power of people's jurors is far less than that of American juries. On the premise that there is considerable evidence to prove the criminal facts of the suspect, the judge will convict the defendant despite some flaws in the way of obtaining evidence.

"Then my lawsuit will be lost." Mr dershowitz said with a smile.

"Don't trust anyone."

There is a note in Mr. dershowitz's office: "Don't trust anyone", which is his professional creed as a lawyer.

Dershowitz once represented a criminal case in New York State, in which he met a rogue witness. He called dershowitz: "Will you pay me if I present evidence in your favor in court?" Dershowitz flatly refused. The witness went on to say, "Then can you pay for my transportation from home to court?" Dershowitz assured him: "This is allowed by law."

This conversation was recorded by the witness with a tape recorder and edited. The conversation turned into "As long as Mr. dershowitz testifies for the defense, he will pay the witness". Unable to claim the property, the witness angrily handed the videotape to the police station and accused dershowitz of bribing the witness. Fortunately, dershowitz made the recording himself, which avoided going to jail.

Dershowitz firmly believes that lawyers can only obtain evidence by themselves, and anyone's evidence, even the police's, is unreliable.

I have the right to refuse to tell you my name?

China is carrying out judicial reform, and the United States has also proposed reforms in the field of criminal justice. Dershowitz believes that the judicial reforms of the two countries are in opposite directions.

Chinese scholars constantly call for strengthening the litigation rights of criminal suspects and defendants. In the United States, criminals have paid less and less attention to the police and prosecutors, because they have gained a wide range of rights granted by law. The law emphasizes that the price of fully protecting criminals' human rights is the rise of crime rate in the United States today.

For example, on the question of whether a criminal suspect who has caused a heated debate in the legal field in China can enjoy the right to silence, the pros obviously have the upper hand. The United States is a country that clearly stipulates the "right to silence" in its law, but dershowitz said, "This is a bad system." An extreme example is that one of his clients arrogantly reprimanded the prosecutor in court: "I have the right to refuse to tell you my name."

Therefore, Professor dershowitz believes that the direction of judicial reform in the United States is to reduce the legal protection of criminal suspects, while China should gradually increase the legal rights of criminal suspects and defendants in the process of criminal proceedings from the original starting point. "Maybe one day we will come together", he made a gesture of crossing his hands.

"No country in the world has a perfect criminal law system, such as China and the United States. Justice needs to be pursued and pursued, because we can't reach a perfect justice reality, we must pursue it. Justice is not a result, but a process. I congratulate China on its efforts in the right direction. "