O. J. STILL DOESN’T GET IT
BACK IN THE SPOTLIGHT, SIMPSON DISPLAYED THE SAME SELF- AGGRANDIZING BEHAVIOR THAT MADE HIM O. J.
It’s a miracle O. J. Simpson was granted parole.
The most infamous celebrity in America is set to walk out of a Nevada prison on Oct. 1 after serving nine years of a 33- year sentence for an armed robbery and kidnapping at a Las Vegas hotel in 2007.
That’s nearly 22 years to the day that he was acquitted of murder in the killings of his ex- wife Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman.
The Nevada Board of Parole Commissioners voted 4- 0 Thursday to release the former NFL star even though Simpson seems to be in denial about the behavior that led him to prison. That’s indeed a miracle. But if Americans were expecting to see a humbled man, they were disappointed.
Back in the spotlight, Simpson displayed the same self- aggrandizing behavior that made him O. J.
“I basically have spent a conflict- free life,” he said during his parole hearing. “You know, I’m not a guy that ever got in fights on the street with the public and everybody.” Say what? Contrary to how Simpson sees it, his life has been full of conflicts.
Worse, his characterization totally dismisses the stormy relationship he had with Brown, so stormy that it got him charged in her murder.
During Simpson’s 1995 doublemurder trial, allegations surfaced that Brown was a victim of domestic violence.
Photographs of her battered face and a 911 audiotape of her pleas for help sparked an increase in calls to domestic violence hotlines nationwide, The New York Times reported at the time.
Even though Brown and Goldman’s unsolved murders have nothing to do with the crimes that sent Simpson to prison, the killings will hang over Simpson’s life forever.
Two decades ago, America was divided racially over whether O. J. committed the heinous double murder. Simpson’s time behind bars has not changed that.
The people who thought Simpson got away with murder now think the Nevada parole board is letting a murderer back on the street.
And the people who supported Simpson during the trial are now making the argument that he shouldn’t have gone to prison for armed robbery in the first place.
But the fact that Simpson escaped a double- murder conviction, only to then get caught up in a ridiculous crime that could have kept him in prison for three decades, showed he was in denial about how far he had fallen.
He didn’t understand he was no longer the “Juice” with the juice that could keep him out of jail.
I have to give the Nevada Board of Parole Commissioners credit for playing by its rules. After hearing Simpson’s delusional point of view, it would have been easy for the parole board to conclude Simpson needed more rehabilitation.
The commissioners also were able to put aside whatever thoughts they might have on Simpson’s guilt or innocence in the Brown and Goldman killings and judge him solely on his conduct in prison.
Apparently, Simpson interacted well with the other prisoners, had no disciplinary problems and even got some religion. Good for him. But America is not ever going to move on from the People vs. O. J. Simpson.
For some, the parole hearing just opened old racial wounds. For others, O. J.’ s early release is proof he was unjustly imprisoned.
Simpson has had a lot of time to reflect on the conflicts that led him to prison.
The fact that he couldn’t acknowledge those conflicts could set him up for trouble down the road.
But having gone from the high life to life behind bars, maybe now he’s ready to make good use of the miracle that kept him out of prison the first time around.