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Title: Outrage: The Five Reasons Why O. J. Simpson Got Away With Murder by Vincent Bugliosi, Joseph Campanella ISBN: 0-7871-1131-7 Publisher: Audio Literature Pub. Date: 01 June, 1996 Format: Audio Cassette Volumes: 4 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.14 (94 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Bugliosi Re-prosecutes Simpson and More in "Outrage"
Comment: Crime prosecutor-turned-true-crime author Vincent Bugliosi slams the door on any debate of O.J. Simpson's guilt or innocence with this detailed critique of recent history's most celebrated trial and its participants. Writing with avenging anger, surgical precision, and evangelistic zeal(from a self-described agnostic, no less), Bugliosi describes the defense manipulation, proscution ineptitude, jury ignorance, media malice, and general hypnotism to celebrity collectively allowing a man Bugliosi saw as guilty man to walk free from a grisly murder.
Amidst unbending, unending criticism of lead prosecutors Marcia Clark and Chris Darden, Bugliosi shows with Monday morning quarterback clarity how he might have handled the case's key issues: opening and closing statements with their objections; evidence including the infamous suicide note, disguise and cash, blood found throughout Simpson's and his wife's car and home, the finger cut, the ill-fitting glove (which Bugliosi describes as a key turning point and one of Darden's errors, and how Bugliosi would have handled it), testimony from police scientists and detectives (including a lengthy semi-defense of the criminologists and the villified Mark Fuhrmann), and finally, racial and political tensions which to many underlined the jury's final, quickly-reached decision.
Also amidst the criticism, Bugliosi details the intense preparation going into preparing criminal prosecution. He discusses a closing statement needing constant revision, witness interviews needing review (criticizing both sides there) addressing potential weaknesses before the opposition exploits them and that, but for time spent outside with children, a lawyer preparing a case should stay time only at office, courtroom, and home. This flies against Darden, Clark, and most notably Judge Lance Ito becoming media celebrities.
Bugliosi also uses the Simpson trial and verdict to comment on larger societal issues, from a chasm on racial matters (even among those supporting civil rights) to dealing with police brutality to, finally, questioning of God's role in human tragedies such as the Simpson murders.
Bugliosi's spiritual questions, somewhat disjointed from the book's otherwise hard-hitting style - are intriguing. You might understand his agnoticism: a man whose fame came proving guilt beyond reasonable doubt might have difficulty believing on faith alone. But his questioning of God's laws does not weigh equally with his full understanding of man's. His remark that "No one, not even the tyrants of history, bad-mouths God" ignores Church persecution throughout the last 1000 years, even Hitler's remark that "you cannot be a Nazi and a Christian." As Stevie Wonder so eloquently sung: "Where is your God, that's what my friends ask me/And I say it's taken him so long, 'cause we've got so far to come."
Nonetheless, "Outrage," despite needing a new chapter regarding what the prosecution did correctly in the wrongful death lawsuit a year later, represents the most authoritative, compelling retelling yet of the O.J. Simpson criminal trial story by an already proven master prosecutor and storyteller. Recommended, even amidst the myriad of Simpson trial books still on bookshelves.
Rating: 5
Summary: Justice By Proxy
Comment: At last, there is a sense of "relief" for the travesty of justice that was the O.J. Simpson circus of 1994-1995. This book had me saying "Yes, Yes! I knew it!" I latched onto the words in this book with full attention. I completely agree with the author, and wondered why he was not in the courtroom instead of the prosecuters who tried the O. J. Simpson case.
Mr. Bugliosi did not let a single detail of the much publicized trial escape his attention. He makes it clear that if a guilty person will not confess of his crime, for whatever reason, then everyone else who is aware will do it for him. The author's wit is razor sharp in each chapter, especially the Final Summation. I ate up every word in this book like pancakes and syrup on Saturday morning!
Why did the judge allow the race card to be played? Is it a coincidence that money buys a verdict of "not guilty?" How can blood at the crime scene from one out of 233 people not be convincing? If we cannot obtain testimony--which the author, a lawyer, indicates is something that an innocent person is inclined to do after being falsely charged with a crime--then there is satisfaction, at least, from having possession of the printed words written by someone with genuine knowledgeability.
The highlight of "Outrage..." is the transcripted interrogation of the LAPD with O.J. Simpson, word for word. It allowed me to understand how guilt has a way of making a story trip all over itself. There is no such thing as the perfect crime. After reading this book I feel like a lawyer instead of a spectator.
Wherever you see this book, buy it, buy it, buy it. Don't think--get it! There's more in this text than the trial of one man. "Outrage..." makes a solid case for revamping the entire American judicial system.
Rating: 4
Summary: Justifiable "Outrage" .....Gratuitous Criticism
Comment: In the first week of October 1995, only one person on the planet was angrier than I was - and that person was none other than Vincent Bugliosi - star prosecutor of the Manson gang. Thus, I was drawn to his account of the debacle known as the O.J. trial as if it contained the secrets of Tutankhamen. There are many attributes to this seething indictment of our legal system, the brain-dead jury who rendered the laughable verdict, and the bunglings of the prosecutors (and the eunuch-like judge) involved in this case. However......
Bugliosi gives an "F" grade to Marcia Clark, Chris Darden, et. al. A failing grade? Really now, Mr. Bugliosi. The same evidence that convinced you, me and millions of other non-retarded individuals was presented by the very prosecutors you excoriate in this book. Yes, they were clumsy. Yes, they made critical errors. But let's face some salient facts here. Forrest Gump could have presented the overwhelming (and irrefutable) evidence in this case - merely by calling in the DNA experts, who proved beyond ANY doubt that Simpson's blood was dropped at the crime scene. Virginia Woolf, in the midst of a lithium overdose, could have been convinced of the disgraced NFL star's guilt.
Mr. Bugliosi states, with the supreme confidence of someone supremely confident, that "he could have convinced the O.J. juty to convict O.J." Come again? Let's be reasonable here. The genius prosecutor of Manson and his trogledyte terrorists did not have a jury inflamed by Rodney King, nor were Manson and his co-defendants sports icons. The Manson jurors were reasonable, compassionate people who listened to the evidence, maintained a healthy respect for justice, and saw through the sophomoric antics of the defense team. (Anyone remember Irving Kanarek? If you don't, count your lucky stars.)
"Outrage" marked the first and only time I've ever been somewhat annoyed with Vince Bugliosi. He can't expect every prosecutor, especially someone with a mountain-sized chip on their shoulder (C. Darden) to perform to his standards. Lightning doesn't strike twice - and neither will Bugliosi's genius of the early seventies.
Bugliosi is absolutely correct in disdaining the woeful verdict that exonerated O.J. for his despicable behavior. His meticulous examination of the mistakes that pervaded the trial is beyond reproach. However, I believe he fails to recognize another irrefutable fact: His own staggering brilliance would not have swayed O.J.'s jury; rather, it would have worked against him. It's fairly obvious that this jury would not have convicted the wife-battering O.J. - not even if they had witnessed the crime first-hand. (Two words: "Brenda" and "Moran" come to mind. As Dominick Dunne so succinctly said, "Never underestimate the power of stupidity.")
Yes, there was plenty of blame to go around in one of the bleakest events in the history of American justice. Bugliosi is justifiably bitter; I too shall be saddened until the day I leave this earth. Like Bugliosi, I cannot regard the lives of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman as any less sacred than those of Emmett Till or Medgar Evers. I regret that I was not old enough to vote on those juries so many years ago, because I despise the mockery of justice and virulent racism that pervaded those proceedings. Like O.J.'s jury, those panels were populated by ignorant persons possessed of personal animus, limited intelligence and misdirected rage.
"We've got to protect our own," Carrie Bess allegedly belched to one her fellow jurors. Let's put the blame where it belongs, Mr. Bugliosi: on a defense attorney whose insipid blatherings shouldn't have scared a two-year-old; on a jury who refused to see the truth - and who deliberated for an appallingly short time - and a flaccidly foolish judge who couldn't control his own courtroom. It is Bugliosi's heavy-handed condemnation of the prosecution that detracts from an otherwise excellent presentation. Yet, I shall always admire and respect Mr. Bugliosi for his years of dedication to the cause of justice, and my loyalty is unwavering - now and for always.
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Title: Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi, Curt Gentry ISBN: 0393322238 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: December, 2001 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: And the Sea Will Tell by Vincent Bugliosi ISBN: 0804109176 Publisher: Ivy Books Pub. Date: 01 February, 1992 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: American Tragedy by Lawrence Schiller, James Willwerth ISBN: 0380730596 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 01 July, 1997 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: EVIDENCE DISMISSED by Tom Lange, Philip Vannatter, Philip Vanatter ISBN: 0671009591 Publisher: Atria Pub. Date: 01 February, 1997 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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Title: REASONABLE DOUBTS : THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM AND THE O. J. SIMPSON CASE by Alan M. Dershowitz ISBN: 068483264X Publisher: Touchstone Pub. Date: 19 February, 1997 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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