Review (PDF) Madam Foreman
For better or worse The People vs. O.J. Simpson served as a mirror of modern America. It was all there - wealth, fame, celebrity, sex, race, adultery, drugs, domestic abuse, and murder - acted out by a cast that cut across all segments of society in a drama that polarized the nation. And to witness it, all anyone had to do was turn on the television.As winter turned to spring and spring to summer, opinions formed and then hardened. Research polls reported deep divisions along racial lines and the opininon pages filled with commentary that tried to explain how so many could look at the same evidence and reach such starkly different conclusions. But what people saw in the trial of the century simply reflected their own backgrounds and beliefs. In the end, that was the most revealing verdict of all.Capturing the experiences of the jurors who decided this trial was not an easy feat. Throughout this book the insight and opinions of the primary narrators, Juror #230, foreperson Armanda Cooley; Juror # 98, Carrie Bess; and Juror #984, Marsha Rubin-Jackson, are expressed in their own words. Only they can, and do, reveal the view from the jury box."Phoenix Books is pleased to offer Madam Foreman in newly created ebook format which has been digitally enhanced to include a fully linked table of contents to ensure an enjoyable reading experience on all portable devices.
File Size: 2971 KB
Print Length: 237 pages
Publisher: Phoenix Books, Inc. (February 27, 2012)
Publication Date: February 27, 2012
Sold by: Digital Services LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B007EHCEZG
Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray: Not Enabled
Word Wise: Enabled
Lending: Not Enabled
Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
Best Sellers Rank: #686,203 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store) #18 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Law > Procedures & Litigation > Jury #46 in Books > Law > Rules & Procedures > Jury #66 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Law > Media & the Law
Upon first hearing the not-guilty verdict in the O.J. Simpson trial, I was sure it was because at least some of the Simpson jurors had some self-serving, self-righteous agenda. However, after reading this pathetic, to the point of being comical attempt, to justify their verdict, I have changed my mind... Not only was their so-called "analysis" of the evidence completely devoid of any truly intelligent thought, it contained leaps of logic so vast, Evil Knevil would have been too scared to jump it. For example, one juror said she had doubts O.J. did it because only a "little" blood from the victims was found in Simpsons bronco.If he was truly innocent, then why is ANY of the victims blood in his car! Throughout the trial Johnny Cochran continuously lied or distorted the truth. During the defence for instance, in an attempt to show police "contaminating" the crime scene, Cochran shows a still picture of a policeman "carelessly" walking through a bloody path. Contamination,right? Well, no. Upon simple cross-examination, we find out that only AFTER the crime scene had been processed and all blood evidence been collected did this officer then walk through this bloody path. Was there any mention of this in this book? Of course not. When Cochran tried to show an attempt by police to "plant" evidence, he showed a videotape of Simpsons bedroom depicting the ABSENCE of bloody socks that the police claimed were there. Planting of evidence you say? Again, upon cross-examination the person who shot the videotape testifies that he was there to videotape the premises for insurance purposes only. And that he was told by police NOT to go into the bedroom until AFTER they collected whatever was in there, including,of course, those bloody socks! Did any of these hapless jurors make note of this?...
Like many Americans I was stunned when after just 3 hours the OJ Simpson jury came back with a verdict of not guilty. There was little gaiety even after the civil court brought back a verdict of guilty and set an award of $33.5 million for the families. I thought I might gain some insight into the jury's thoughts through this book. I most certainly did gain some insight, but it wasn't noble or uplifting - it was banal, small-minded, stupifyingly shallow and completely wrong-headed. This book, while apparently an attempt to save face, falls far short of the mark. During the trial Judge Lance Ito might well have saved his breath when instructing the jury on how to view evidence. These people willfully and deliberately ignored his instructions and based their decisions on how they "felt" about evidence, how a witness "seemed" to them. Facts? Evidence? Pshaw...those pesky things. Appallingly bad writing coupled with poorly reasoned rationalizations show these jurors to be people who had their minds made up long before deliberation began. They were far more concerned about their own comfort than about the victims (alive and dead), segregated themselves from non-black jurors, either ignored or willfully failed to consider evidence that didn't support their position, and refused to deliberate. I'm not sure what they hoped to gain in writing this book, but it confirmed what I had long suspected. Race was always the issue - an opportunity for them to pay back the criminal justice system for years of entrenched injustice to black men. And OJ was their chosen hero. Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown weren't even considered. They were just props.
Madam Foreman
