The Search for Justice Read Online Free PDF Page A

about his whereabouts the previous twenty-four hours was exculpatory—that is, he accounted
     for his whereabouts—and after they taped it, they told him he was allowed to go back home.
    After I went over all of this with Taft and Kardashian, I said I wished to talk with Simpson alone. When they left the room,
     I explained the attorney-client privilege of confidentiality to O.J. “I ’m not here to judge you,” I said. “You can tell Taft
     one thing, Kardashian another, but if you want my help, what you need to tell me is the truth.” I stopped a moment, preparing
     to ask the question that would decide where we went from here. “O.J., did you do this?”
    Although his face was haggard, his eyes were steady when he looked directly at me and responded in a strong voice. “I did
     not do this,” he said firmly. “Nicole and I were together for a long time, Bob. We had our problems, sure, but we shared two
     beautiful children together, and she was a great mother.” He paused, and then said, “Besides, I have such a good life. Four
     great kids. Fame, fortune, and wonderful friends. Howcould anyone think I would destroy all of it? I wouldn ’t. I couldn ’t do this. I didn ’t do this.” It struck me then that
     this man had, until this week, led a charmed life, repeatedly overcoming obstacles that would have daunted others—and he was
     completely able, he believed, to overcome this one as well.
    It was time to get down to serious business. Once suspicion is focused on someone, a client must prepare for the prosecution
     to come at him with everything they ’ve got. And the hardest thing to come to grips with is that once the system locks in,
     a client ’s innocence will have nothing to do with the outcome of a case.
    Even as we spoke, the district attorney ’s office was gearing for battle as if it were mounting a military invasion, complete
     with heavy artillery. I knew that they would have the best lawyers, the best investigators. Indeed, what we later learned
     was that it was the largest effort ever expended by a prosecuting agency. There ’s been a lot of talk about the “Dream Team”—how
     many lawyers there were on it, how much it cost. Given what was coming at O.J. from the prosecution, we might ’ve been forgiven
     for believing that we were outgunned. There are eight to nine thousand members of the Los Angeles Police Department and nine
     hundred deputy district attorneys. It is the largest prosecutorial agency in the world. In an ordinary murder case, two deputy
     district attorneys would ’ve been assigned; in this case, there would be forty-five working full-time, not to mention the
     rest of the L.A.P.D. resources, as well as the assistance of the Chicago police department, the FBI, and Interpol.
    Reaching for a sports analogy, I thought about my own experience and training as an amateur boxer. Boxing and trial law have
     a great deal in common. The contest is not about mass or weight; it ’s about speed, agility, quick thought, and footwork.
     You have to think on your feet, and can never show any fear, no matter how badly you ’ve been slowed or hurt by the opposition.
     Not only must you know what the other side is thinking, you must think it before them, and think quicker. There is an axiom
     in boxing: A good big man will beat a goodsmall man. We had to be better than good. In short, we had to start thinking like the prosecution—how they were building their
     case and how we were to counter it. It was ironic to discover later that while we began to think like the prosecution, the
     district attorney ’s office hadn ’t yet started thinking strategically at all, and the police, in their rush to judgment,
     their “sure thing,” were running around making mistakes.
    To find out exactly what the police knew and what evidence, or lack of it, they had would require getting expert witnesses
     of our own, putting together a parallel investigation of our own, and moving quickly