Courts

I wondered if I would ever see this day. I’m glad I lived to see it. 13 years after his double murder acquittal and after 13 hours of juror deliberation - GUILTY, GUILTY, GUILTY, GUILTY, GUILTY, GUILTY, GUILTY, GUILTY, GUILTY, GUILTY, GUILTY, GUILTY.
As I recently wrote (see column below: OJ Simpson’s Baggage - Sept 20, 08) I’ve been reporting on the exploits of Orethal James Simpson since that day in June 1994 when I stood in the blood of his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman.
With his trusty, longtime defense attorney Yale Galanter at his side Simpson had maintained to a Las Vegas jury that it was okay for him to burst into a hotel room with a group of goons with guns and take back his memorabilia. And I’m sure deep in his heart he believes that. It was not an act - Simpson truly believes the world is out to get him and that he can operate under a different set of rules. He likely never thought that when he burst in and barked out the command that “No body leaves this room,” that that constitutes kidnapping. Kidnapping was one of the dozen charges Simpson was found guilty of committing.
Part of me says, “Finally! Justice has caught up with him.” What I really mean by that is that he’s finally going to be where he should have been 13 years ago after he murdered Nicole and Ron. But make no mistake about it. OJ Simpson is not going to prison for that. He’s going to prison because his escapade in that Vegas hotel room was caught on both audio and video tape and this time there was just no talking his celebrity way out of it.
I guess it doesn’t matter why he’s in prison. After his December 5th sentencing we may learn he’s in for what amouts to a life sentence. But if I’m the family of Nicole or Ron Goldman I’m not sure I’m feeling satisfied or particularly victorious.
There will be an appeal and as I predicted it will likely be based, in part, on the make-up of the all-white jury.
So be it. For now it feels good to say, “Mr. Simpson, meet Lady Justice…..”
~ DD

This is the time in every outgoing President’s term where they pour over requests seeking Presidential pardons. I’m sure it’s no different for President George W. Bush as he gets set to vacate the White House.Those convicted of federal offenses - everything from white collar crimes to bank robbery - will have filed petitions by now, spelling out exactly why the nation’s Chief Executive should wipe clean their slate and restore to them the full rights of U.S. citizenship.

It is often a controversial and criticized exercise.

Take my on line poll at the end of the column ….

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Nicole Brown Simpson - one of two victims

I had never seen so much blood in my life.

As the coroner’s wagon pulled away - there it was. Puddles of it. Some of it had oozed down the cracks in between the pathway pavers and toward the sidewalk. As I looked closer I could see paw prints from a large dog and patterned traces of wispy blood that its dragging leash had left behind. Up toward the gate of the fancy condo statuesque Agapanthus stood, its purple flower heads dotted with drops of this blood.

It was June 1994, about ten a.m. on a sunny Sunday in Brentwood, California. My cameraman and I, the reporter on duty that weekend, had been assigned to go to the home of Nicole Brown Simpson. Word was O.J.’s ex-wife had been murdered.

My first thoughts that beautiful morning were: Why didn’t someone take a hose and wash away this horror - and - where were the police?

With no one to stop us, and with camera rolling, we gingerly tiptoed to the gate and opened it. Across a shallow courtyard was the plate glass window behind which Nicole had lived. We could see inside the cozy living room with its overhead balcony leading off to the side bedrooms. Candles were still burning, framed photos of a smiling Nicole and her kids were everywhere. Outside, there were bloody footprints and what seemed to be a bloody handprint on the side of the house. Eerie, and to this day I remember it vividly.

Is OJ’s voice on the audio tape evidence enough?
Vote in my online poll after the jump…

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Missing: Caylee Anthony

She missed celebrating her 3rd birthday with her family. No cake, no candles, no presents for little Caylee Marie Anthony of Orlando, Florida. She has been missing since sometime after June 15th . Her birthday was August 9th.

Now, a couple of numbskull bail bondsmen have given Caylee’s secretive, lying mother the gift of freedom - again. For the second time Mom gets bail on child neglect charges and leaves jail to watch from the comfort of home as others try to clean up her horrible mess.

Where is Caylee? Read more and vote in my online poll after the jump…

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When Senator Barack Obama traveled to the Middle East not long ago he had more than presidential politics on his mind. He was also on a secret mission to help an Illinois constituent get back her four kidnapped young daughters. Obama slipped a note to the Palestinian Prime Minister about Colleen Bargouthi whose husband had refused to send their girls home after a visit to his family in Palestine. The Prime Minister said he’d look into it.

Senator Obama should have turned to my pal, Bazzel Baz.

Bazzel Baz moments after rescuing young Lily Snyder from a hut in Costa Rica - circa 2003

He’s got an unusual name and an even more unusual vocation. He clandestinely rescues those missing children that authorities can’t find or have given up trying to reunite with their custodial parent. Baz has long operated in the shadows but now he’s allowing me to publicly reveal his name and tell his story.

Bazzel Baz is a former CIA agent who takes on the most impossible cases. And he doesn’t charge the heartsick family of the missing a penny. With volunteer help from other retired intelligence officers, Baz travels all over America and the world, covertly getting in and out of countries some of us can’t even pronounce. His goal is getting children back to where they belong. So far, Baz and the boys have a 100% success rate. They’ve safely brought home 53 children.

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