MEDIA EFFECT ON THE SIMPSON CASE

Fiery disputes arose due to the not-guilty decision that was issued by the jury, including the significance of the racial composition of the panel. Attention was turned towards the formation of the panel noting that it was dominantly composed of black women. This trial was an interesting one as commentators cited perjury, incompetence, as well as conspiratorial actions by the Los Angeles detectives, racism, legal inadequacies on the part of the prosecution lawyers, and questionable tactics employed by the defense lawyers. Moreover, there were concerns about whether or not television ought to be allowed in the courtroom, a sequestered jury, and whether unanimous verdicts should be used when convicting a criminal. O. Simpson for a murder he did not do. Also, the guilt would be left at the hands of a predominantly female black panel.

All in all, the overriding issue was that news reporting had evolved and matured compared to previous years (Philips et al. More than one news station covered every incident of the nine-month hearing. Almost all television stations, newspaper, as well as magazine reported about the case on a daily basis. According to police reports, Simpson was beyond doubt brutal to Nicole as the police were telephoned at least nine times to stop their domestic fights (McKay et al. On the 25th of February 1992, Nicole filed for divorce. Shortly after 10 p. m. on the 12th of July 1994, Nicole and her male friend were brutally killed just outside her home on Bundy Drive in the posh estate of Los Angeles. The cops discovered five drops of blood at the crime scene that disappeared away from the victims.

These drops of blood were located on the left side of shoe prints. These prints were size 12 which indicated that the attacker had an injury on his or her left body side. Interestingly, Simpson’s wore size 12 shoes. The following day, the authorities had noted that he was putting on a dressing over a serious injury on his middle finger on his left arm (Philips et al. Still, it was an unwarranted miscalculation on the side of the prosecution who were too convinced of Simpson’s guilt that they took up the opportunity to demonstrate without being entirely confident that the gloves would fit. This tactic proved to be a disaster as Simpson struggled to put them on. He then laid it open for the jurors that the gloves did not fit.

This was a significant hitch from which the prosecution team never recovered. Applying the Rational choice theory According to this hypothesis, individuals act according to their personal interests and decide to commit crime after carefully assessing the possible risks versus rewards. Such people felt that the coverage of the case was an obliteration of the legal system of the country. The fact that the media chose to make the trial an issue about race gave them the impetus to push more stories and as such affect the hearing. It is worth noting that the members of the jury were exposed continuously to the extensive media coverage accorded to this case (Kellner, 2008). It would be quite unfortunate not to admit that this might have affected them in one way or another.

For instance the fact that a juror would go home and watch a station air a piece about the public’s perception on the trial, he or she would probably make his or her decision according to the news coverage (Kellner, 2008). ” In this case, the term glove was included to make the statement a better headline. When the final decision for the case was finally read out, more than half of the population in America was watching. This demonstrates the amount of public interest in the trial, including the consequence of permitting cameras into the courtroom (Kellner, 2008). I must admit that the option to allow cameras into the courtroom was debatable in every sense. Critics have argued that the decision to permit cameras, in this case, had a significant influence on the subsequent ruling not to permit cameras in the trial for the suspects who were accused of the September 11 terror attacks.