O.J. Simpson

Simpson’s sentencing hearing is today, Dec. 5, in Las Vegas. I think the judge is going to give him at least 10 years. I read this morning that the minimum sentence for this crime in Nevada is six years.
For those of us who remember the media circus surrounding the USC and Buffalo Bills’ former football star’s murder trial in Los Angeles that ran from July, 1994 through September, 1995, this is an unbelievably stunning development and final chapter. The jury in that trial delivered its “not guilty” verdicts Oct. 3, 1995, which was Erev Yom Kippur. If the verdicts had been delayed another day, they would have been delivered Oct. 5 because two of Simpson’s attorneys, in addition to the family of one of the murder victims, would not have been able to attend court on Yom Kippur. My entire workplace gathered in the conference room to watch the live broadcast of the jury’s decision.
Thirteen years later, to the day, a jury in Las Vegas convicted Simpson of armed robbery at a Palace Station hotel room. Simpson’s fate rests with the judge, who delivers her sentence today.
I don’t believe there’s any question of Simpson’s guilt in either case. He probably deserved life in prison for the 1994 double murder, and the thinking here (me) is he will leave Las Vegas an old man by the time he serves his sentence there. Justice works in mysterious ways. To the Brown and Goldman families, it comes 13 years late. Nevertheless, he deserves to be behind bars.