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From: Kate
T1:
Category 3: Category 1
Date: 11 Aug 1999
Time: 23:52:55
Remote Name: pm413.isomedia.com
Parts of the story:
The verdict's aftermath....
Fuhrman's future. The L.A. chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has won assurances that there are ongoing probes of Fuhrman by the LAPD and the U.S. Justice Department. In a letter to them, the group said it wanted investigation of Fuhrman' s assertions about the alleged beating and torturing of suspects after a Nov. 18, 1978, incident involving the shooting of two police officers in Boyle Heights; tampering with evidence; manufacturing of probable cause to make arrests; singling out of blacks for arrests without probable cause, and lying about the misconduct.
The Boyle Heights incident was the subject of Fuhrman's most horrific comments--that suspects were tortured to the point that "we broke 'em. ... Their faces were just mush." Andrea Ordin, who was the regional U.S. attorney then, says she forwarded complaints about treatment of the suspects to the Justice Department at the end of 1978 and that FBI agents were assigned to the case. The department released records indicating the matter was closed because the alleged victims declined to be interviewed--a contention disputed by Antonio Rodriguez, an attorney for some of the alleged victims, who claims there was no timely follow-up by Justice officials.
The problem is that the federal statute of limitations on civil rights complaints lasts only five years and most of what Fuhrman related occurred before 1990. However, California's statute of limitations for police brutality favors investigators more: It doesn't kick in until the transgression is discovered. (The LAPD probe of the murders of Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman is a closed case.)
Still, there is likely to be fallout throughout the criminal justice system from the trial. Although the changes are not likely to be revolutionary, some judges will attempt to crack down on showboating lawyers and will manage trials better to conserve jurors' time. Some states may further restrict lawyers' power to eliminate prospective jurors.
Finally, there is the issue of Simpson's public rehabilitation. Los Angeles African-American activist Celes King is demanding that Simpson focus on the problems of blacks or risk becoming "the No. 1 ingrate in America." Simpson's associates, however, say that he's likely to concentrate at the moment on a pay-per-view TV special. Yet none of the pay-per-view powerhouses--CNN, HBO, Request Television, Showtime Event Television and Viewer's Choice--has expressed an interest in participating in such a show. "We've had preliminary consumer surveys, and our audience feels it's not appropriate to pay to hear O.J.'s story," says Jim Heyworth, president of Viewer's Choice, which claims to serve 60 percent of the 25 million homes in the country wired to receive pay-per-view.
But distributors' reluctance hasn't stopped Hollywood producers in search of a big deal. Eddie Kritzer, a producer of exercise videos and radio programs, says he offered Johnnie Cochran a deal guaranteeing Simpson at least $15 million and is awaiting a response. "It was a horrible thing that happened to those two people, but America still wants to know what he has to say," says Kritzer. He wants to call the program "O.J. Talks."
Whatever Simpson says and however he says it, talk will probably not salve the wounds that his trial has opened for both races. In 1975, a profile in the New York Times Magazine argued that at the height of his football career, "O.J. Simpson, wherever he goes in the years ahead, win or lose, can count on adulation." Now, it's a much better bet that for the rest of his life, even after his court victory, those who celebrate him will forever confront those who can never forgive.
U.S. News polls conducted by Celinda Lake of Lake Research and Ed Goeas of the Tarrance Group. October 3 to 5 poll was of 910 registered voters, including an oversample of 60 African-Americans, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percent; September 30 to October 2 and July 25 to 27 surveys were of 1,045 registered voters, including an oversample of 45 African-Americans, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percent. Percentages may not add up to 100 because some respondents answered "Don't know."
Copyright © 1996, by U.S. News & World Report, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Betsy Streisand, Jim Impoco, Mike Tharp, Gordon Witkin, Katia Hetter, Dana Hawkins, The verdict's aftermath. , U.S. News & World Report, 10-16-1995, pp pp. 34-40.