OJ Simpson - Deja vu all over again!

The question to me from A.J. Hammer, host of CNN Headline News SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, “Why is it we love to hate OJ Simpson so much, Diane?”

“Because we feel he got away with it” was my simple answer. I covered the original O.J. Simpson criminal case back in 1994 and even today I’m often tapped to help put into perspective this man’s continuing legal troubles.

It’s safe to say a majority of Americans do beleive Simpson got away with slitting the throats of his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman and many hate him for it. They are waiting to see if he will ever have to pay the price. For goodness sakes, he even outlined how he would have done it in a recently published book! Naturally, O.J. later claimed a ghost writer made up the most damning chapter of the book entitled, “If I Did It.” I didn’t buy his explaination.

The California civil court later ruled Simpson was guilty of the murders of Nicole and Ron and ordered him to pay millions of dollars to the families of the dead - but he never paid. O.J. Simpson went on living his charmed life, protected by crafty lawyers and landowner and pension laws in his adopted state of Florida.

Two trials - two different outcomes - and no final resolution. Enter now the third major trial in this troika which may some day deliver us all a conclusive official answer about this man’s character.

Over the the years OJ has maintained that he was the victim. Nicole ran with the wrong crowd, she was the unstable one, she invited trouble into her life. O.J. has always said that everyone simply misunderstands him: about the murders, the civil award, the road rage incident he found himself embroiled in several years ago, the charge that he was stealing cable-tv service, his girlfriend’s calls to police after domestic disputes, even his daughter’s frantic call to 911 pleading for protection from her infamous father. Everybody always gets it wrong, he says - it’s the media’s fault for twisting the truth of the matter.

But this time around, as I told my friend A.J. Hammer on the air, there is no ambiguity for O.J. to hide behind. The court in Las Vegas has already heard sworn testimony from six eye-witnesses to the events inside that Nevada hotel room last month. The court heard six men say Simpson ordered up the guns - the “heat” as they quoted O.J. as calling it - that they toted into the room that day. One of the gunman said he was even asked by Simpson to “look menacing” as they stormed into the room full of sports memorabilia.

And, don’t forget there is an audio tape of the events too! O.J. Simpson’s voice is clearly heard saying, “No body leaves this room.” There’s no dodging and weaving from a talented defense attorney that can escape that unmistakable voice issuing its threat with drawn guns behind him to back up the threat.

And you know what? I didn’t get to mention this on Showbiz Tonight the other evening because we ran out of time … but this time around Team O.J. has no race card to play. There is no Mark Furhman character to siphon away the attention. This time around some of those pointing the finger at O.J. are black, just like him. He can’t claim this is some sort of racist plot against him.

So, to re-cap: It’s 6 against 1, his own words can be used against him, there is not one whiff of racism to fall back on this time.

Gee, what will the defense team do then? They’ll likely claim that everyone on the Prosecution’s witness list is borderline criminal. Well, guess what? When it comes to finding out about criminal activities cops don’t get the truth from talking to choir boys.