Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1609 Reasonable Suspicion Behind the Simpson Case

Outside the court, many black people gathered, and after the verdict was announced, they cheered and applauded.

Opposite the black people was a group of white people. After hearing the verdict, there was only astonishing silence except for some boos.

The three major TV stations, plus cable TV networks such as CNN, were all reporting on this century's judgment. The TV stations cited ratings data, saying that more than 57 million people watched the TV broadcast that night, equivalent to % of the country's population...

One of the two people was watching the verdict, which made Dutchman Van Hoeven marvel at the entertainment spirit of Americans. Even the trial of a violent murderer can be regarded as a reality show.

"Will anyone adapt this case? Hmm? With so many viewers, if it's adapted into a movie or TV series, it will definitely do well at the box office." Van Hoeven was also surprised by the number of viewers. As a director, it was natural for him to take advantage of it.

"Too fast, too fast. I think we have to wait at least 20 years." Ronald was talking about a creative rule in Hollywood: if an event with a great social impact is to be adapted into a movie, it usually takes some time, and the parties involved or the public will not be involved at such a sensitive time.

……

On that day, small-scale protests took place in the streets of Los Angeles. Many white people took to the streets holding signs that read "Justice is Dead", while the black community sang and danced to celebrate the victory.

The TV station refused to miss this super hot spot and randomly interviewed passers-by on the streets of Los Angeles and across the country.

The divide in public opinion was quite clear. Most black people supported that Simpson was innocent, while most white people believed that the jury had made a wrong verdict.

A black man was so happy during an interview that he couldn't stop grinning. He might have let himself go and let something slip. Why are there so many murder cases where the suspects who use reasonable suspicion to get away with it are all white people? Even if Simpson really did it, so what? Finally, the first black man got away with it. Well done.

Of course, the next day, this interview was deleted from the rebroadcast. Most TV stations began to conduct public opinion polls. More than 60% of white people believed that the verdict was wrong, while about 70% of black people supported the result.

The most eye-catching member of Simpson's legal team was Cochrane, who was responsible for the closing argument. He issued a statement claiming that the verdict was a "victory of justice" and called on society to pay attention to racial equality.

Prosecutor Martha Clark expressed disappointment, saying the verdict did not do justice for the victim.

The TV stations filmed a lot of street protests, which reminded Ronald of the riots a few years ago. He was wondering if he should go to another place to avoid the limelight. Would it be the turn of the white people to cause riots this time?

"The prosecutors have no way to eliminate reasonable doubts. Our country's legal system is to eliminate all reasonable doubts and confirm that the defendant is guilty before convicting him. There are many reasonable doubts in this case. The LAPD did not fulfill their investigative responsibilities..."

CNN invited Alan Dershowitz, a professor of criminal law and one of Simpson's lawyers, to appear on the Larry King show to defend the verdict.

"The jury ignored so much obvious evidence. This is a failure of justice. The prosecutors did not do their job. The judge should declare an invalidation of this case and retry it..." The guest on the other side was former prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi, who angrily criticized the jury and prosecutors.

The host, Larry King, remained neutral and took many calls from outside the venue. The guests invited by the TV station also used a lot of legal terms, which Ronald could not understand at all. He had to ask his private lawyer, Lindsay Doll, for advice.

It took Attorney Dole only ten minutes to make Ronald understand the key to the trial.

There is actually a lot of peripheral evidence in the Simpson case, such as someone saw Simpson taking off his clothes and throwing them into a trash can at the Los Angeles airport. Someone else saw Simpson driving fast after the incident that night and almost hit a street lamp on the side of the road.

But Chief Prosecutor Martha Clark abandoned all these evidences and only focused on the DNA blood evidence found by LAPD Mark Foreman. As long as the chain of evidence is formed by direct evidence, a conviction can be achieved without peripheral evidence. Too much evidence will confuse the jury, and coupled with the nitpicking of the defense lawyer, these indirect evidences were not submitted to the court.

But the problem is, this blood evidence was almost denied in court!
Mark Foreman is a racist who has used insulting words like "nigger" to describe black people when chatting with many people.

Moreover, the evidence he collected also had problems. Some of the evidence he found in Simpson's home was proven to be flawed by the defense lawyer. For example, he said that a pair of socks were found on Simpson's feet and had the victim's blood on them.

But the bloodstain can also be found on the other side of the sock, which makes people wonder how the blood passed through Simpson's feet and seeped to the other side?

The defense felt that there was something fishy about this guy, and by offering a $100,000 reward, they found Foreman's past recorded phone calls, in which he repeatedly cursed as a nigger.

This tape was used as evidence to question Fuhrman and was played in court. After Fuhrman swore that he would not lie, the tape was played in court. When the lawyer asked him if he was discriminating against black people and would frame Simpson, Fuhrman cited the Fifth Amendment and remained silent.

Now, all the evidence he collected had no credibility in the eyes of the jury. In order to avoid losing the case, the young black prosecutor Darden made Simpson wear one of his blood-stained gloves.

The glove was found at the scene and had nothing to do with Foreman, but Simpson showed difficulty putting it on in court, so the jury believed that he might not be the murderer and acquitted him.

"Then why did the jury reach a conclusion in just two hours? Didn't they say they would discuss it for a long time?" Ronald had another new question.

"The trial was originally supposed to last three months, but it's already been nine months. Most of the jurors are black, and even if two or three white people disagree, it can't change anything. Everyone wants to go home and be with their families."

"Oh..." Ronald thought, this happened to give Simpson an advantage.

But he thought more deeply, it seems that the selection of this jury is the result of the prosecutor's agreement to move the trial to downtown Los Angeles. If the trial is held there, black people will definitely make up the majority of the jury.

In addition, for the first time ever, television was allowed into the courtroom to broadcast the trial, as if to allow the public to see all the evidence of the trial.

By the way, the person who agreed to the television broadcast into the courtroom must be Judge Ito, right? There are very few Asian judges in Los Angeles, how did he happen to be chosen in the lottery?

"If we change the suspect in this case, would he be guilty with a high probability?" Ronald suddenly asked.

"Well, you can put it that way. I've also read a lot of interracial murders in Los Angeles recently. Many of them had much less evidence than OJ, but they were also sentenced to death in the end."

After hearing what Attorney Dole said, Ronald understood the whole story of the case. He gave up his original plan to go to another place to hide. This was obviously to prevent the recurrence of riots like the one in 1992. The Los Angeles authorities were deliberately letting it slide.

All conditions were in favor of Simpson. The elected prosecutor in Los Angeles even specially selected Martha Clark, an assistant prosecutor who liked to imitate female stars, and Darden, a newcomer with no experience at all, to prosecute such a big case.

The final blow to the jury came when Dutton asked Simpson to wear gloves in court, but he couldn't put them on.

It seems that everyone has a tacit understanding that blacks have won the victory they wanted, and whites are not so oppressed that they have to take to the streets to riot. Lawyers make a lot of money, prosecutors can make money by publishing books, and even those poor jurors who were locked up in a hotel like a prison for nine months and could not watch TV or read newspapers have received new book contracts.

After this farce, the TV station gained super high ratings and the media gained a topic for long-term hype.

Only the poor family members of the victims got nothing, and their expectations were raised by the prosecutor. In the end, after OJ was acquitted, the sister of one of the victims, Goodman, fainted in the courtroom from crying.

"Hello, this is Linda from Miami..." Larry King answered the outbound hotline in his usual crisp tone. The characteristic of his talk show on CNN is that he would connect with audiences across the country live.

"Ah, sorry, my colleague told me that the following call is from a very special audience."

Larry King revised his words and carefully turned on the speaker button. "Hello, OJ, what do you want to say to us?"

Who would have thought that just when Ronald wanted to turn off the TV, something unexpected happened: OJ Simpson, who had just been acquitted, actually called Larry King to speak on a TV show watched by tens of millions of people.

"I thank my supporters. Without them, there would be no fair judgment. I am finally free. I hope to return to normal life..."

Simpson's voice didn't sound excited at all, and was still as calm as when he was filming B-movies or doing commercials.

When he discussed the case with Larry King, he avoided going directly into the details of the case and instead emphasized his position of innocence.

This makes everyone unhappy. What's the point of repeating the same old things over and over again? Is it just to go on TV to clear yourself? Anyway, you have been acquitted by the law, so what's the point of doing this?

However, the subsequent reports made Ronald understand. Several members of Simpson's dream team of lawyers appeared on TV. Robert Shapiro was the central figure in the case. When he was interviewed, he hinted that the entire legal team's fee exceeded $500 million.

The whole incident of Simpson's phone call has once again made him popular. This guy probably wants to make money by publishing a book.

“Would you like to purchase the rights to adapt his case?”

Unexpectedly, two days later, Ronald's agent Richard received a call from Simpson's agent, asking him if he wanted to adapt the story. Simpson could be interviewed and even participate in the script writing.

"Is this guy crazy for money? Doesn't he know that this case is a public court record and can be changed at will without seeking the consent of the parties involved? Besides, he is a suspect, not a victim. This is really crazy."

"I'll refuse him right away and say you're not interested..." Richard smiled. In theory he should have refused this matter, but the case was so popular that he had to ask.

"No, just reply to him verbatim." Ronald understood that although he was acquitted legally, Hollywood, dominated by whites and Jews, would never give Simpson any chance to show his face again.

The two victims, Nicole Brown, was a German white, and Goldman was Jewish. Black people were a minority in the industry, and they were all rich, so they would not dare to take to the streets like the poor black people in Los Angeles.

……

"Short for Shorty is a really good movie. I feel Travolta's acting is very natural and relaxed, but the story is a bit loose. What new projects does director Barry Sonnenfeld have? Oh, he has already cooperated with Abelin? OK, I would like to meet him if I have a chance, he is a talent..."

The whole society is still discussing Simpson, and when Ronald meets friends in the industry, he is always asked, "Do you think OJ really did it?" This shows the impact of this case. However, Ronald is still fed up, and has been at home these days, discussing film projects with colleagues.

In the new week, in the film market, an unpopular movie, Get Shorty, won the weekend box office championship. This is John Travolta's new work after Pulp Fiction. He plays a gangster debt collector, Chilly, who once went to Los Angeles to collect debts from a producer named Harry. It turned out that Chilly, a senior movie fan, suddenly wanted to make a movie, bringing all kinds of gangster methods to Hollywood, but it was unexpectedly very successful...

The performances of several actors in this movie are all great, but the story is not tight enough. If Ronald was in charge of the production, it might have been a bigger hit.

However, they still beat "Now and Then," which co-starred Demi Moore, Melanie Griffith, Rosie O'Donnell and Rita Wilson.

This is a female version of "Stand by Me", in which the main characters are actually four child stars, telling the story of four good sisters when they were little.

Demi Moore is also a producer, and she wants to use this kind of movie that is aimed at criticism and awards to get herself a chance to make an award-winning movie. She is always criticized for only being able to make commercial films.

But for some reason, the casting of these four children was not based on the appearance of the four female stars. In particular, the actress who played Chris, played by Rita Wilson, was a fat girl, and the actress who played Roberta, played by Rosie O'Donnell, a fat woman, was the thinnest among the four.

Ronald often got confused when watching the movie. It's understandable that such a movie didn't do well at the box office. It gave Diane another reason to "comfort" her friend Demi...

"Hello, it's me." Ronald received another call.

"I am Ron Goldman's father. I heard that you refused to buy the adaptation rights from Simpson instead. On behalf of the families of the two victims, I thank you."