O. J. Simpson Crimial Trial - Essay Example

Criminal Trial: Orenthal James Simpson The case of James Simpson was a criminal trial with the defendant being accused of murder. The victims of in this case were the defendant’s ex wife and a man who was a friend of hers. Murder is a crime punishable by life in prison or the death penalty. James Simpson, the defendant, a celebrity, was charged with killing Ronald Goldman and Nicole Brown (Eliot, 1995). After a lengthy trial that spanned more than ten months, the accused person was acquitted on grounds that lab scientists had allegedly mishandled the evidence (blood samples) (Eliot, 1995).

Another ground for James’ acquittal was that some exhibits had been mishandled. Yet another reason for his acquittal related to the fact that DNA evidence, which was relatively new in trials, was doubtable as noted by Eliot (1995). In order for the court to prove that someone has committed murder, four elements must be proved. Harris, Thomas, Fisher and Hirsch (2002) state that the elements of murder in this sense include killing, with malice aforethought, by another human being, unlawfully as noted by).

Yet again, the killing has to be of a human being for murder to apply. Malice in this sense constitutes having the intent to kill, intent to engage in a dangerous felony, intent to harm a person’s body seriously without causing death, or irresponsible indifference to cause to human life risk that is high and that cannot be justified (Harris, Thomas, Fisher and Hirsch, 2002). From the trial, the defense team succeeded in convincing the jury that there was not sufficient evidence to link James to the murder of the two victims.

As a result, the accused was acquitted only later to be convicted for the wrongful death of Goldman.ReferencesEliot, M. (1995). Kato Kaelin: The Whole Truth (The Real Story of O.J., Nicole, and Kato from the Actual Tapes) Harper Prism.Harris, A., Thomas, S., Fisher, G. & Hirsch, D. (2002). "Murder and medicine: the lethality of criminal assault 1960-1999". Homicide studies 6 (2): 128–166.