“You can’t rob something that is yours,” says O.J. Simpson’s attorney Yale Galanter. Good point. I mean, whenever I retrieve some of my personal belongings, I always try to make sure that I bring along a few armed men with criminal records just in case.
While the judge read the charges against him in court Wednesday, Simpson furrowed his brow in an apparent over-dramatized look of confusion and surprise. The charges were: conspiracy to commit a kidnapping, coercion with a deadly weapon, burglary while in possession of a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit robbery and two counts each of first-degree kidnapping with use of a deadly weapon, robbery with use of a deadly weapon and assault with a deadly weapon. He and his cohorts also face one misdemeanor count of conspiracy to commit a crime. This of course took place moments before the judge set Simpson’s bail at $125,000. (Simpson made bail and was free Wednesday night.)
I am referring to Simpson’s first court appearance this morning as a result of an altercation last week in which Simpson is accused of “stealing” certain items from memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in a Las Vegas hotel.
Proponents of Simpson claim that he was framed . he was simply set up. And at no point did Simpson actually brandish a weapon himself. However, to me, it just seems that Simpson has gotten good at getting around the law.
But I digress. The most upsetting part about this entire case is Simpson’s overall irreverent attitude about the whole thing. This is proof alone of what a joke he finds our entire judicial system to be. It is nothing more than publicity to him.
I only wish that we could print one of the photos circulating all over the TV and the Internet to go along with my article. Simpson smirks at the camera while his wrists are handcuffed behind his back. He even grins for his mug shot as if to say, “I am so enjoying this.” If I was arrested for something that I was not guilty of, I doubt I would be so cheery. I imagine that I would probably be pretty upset. But then again he probably just realized how much coverage he would be getting over the next few weeks and wanted to look good for the camera.
My 5-year-old sister acts up all the time and she gets attention from it, which is exactly what she wants.
You can’t reward a person for doing wrong. And yet, that is exactly what the media is doing for O.J. Simpson.
As I sit here in the newsroom where the complete coverage of Simpson Trial ’07 has been droning on in the background for the past four hours I have already come to grips that my simple editorial won’t even begin to put an end to all of this pointless coverage.
So I guess until then we can just wait for Simpson’s next bestseller to hit the shelves in a few years after all of this has died down and the case itself will be nothing more than a distant memory; “If I Did It, the Sequel.

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