O.J. was originally sentenced to 33 years with parole eligibility in 9 years, which is this year. This means that he has made parole in his first attempt, which is rare in a lot of cases where a weapon was used. So, some will say that he caught a break.
I have attended hundreds of trials in my 37 years as a State Policeman. There have been times where I became disillusioned with the justice system. But, in the end, I had to accept what the lawyers, judges and juries decisions were, or it would drive me to insanity.
I saw instances where I thought those that were guilty walk out the door and other times I thought some were innocent and were found guilty. I also saw sentences that I felt did not match the crime. For one, I never felt that murders that were orchestrated by an individual and that individual would receive more time than the actual killer made sense. Where that nonsense came from, I have no idea.
In one case, a jury convicted a murderer with second degree murder and was later sentenced to 25 years to life. A few weeks later, I saw the same exact outcome by a jury and the murderer was sentenced the same, 25 years to life, with the judge suspending 180 months or 15 years of the sentence because he felt the jury may have misinterpreted the evidence. The DA immediately filed an appeal on the ruling because there is no allowance in Pennsylvania for a judge to be able to do this and for the judge to set a precedence in a murder case in a state court is almost unheard of. The case is pending before a federal appeals court after the PA Superior Court and Supreme Court both upheld the judge's decision, but I am not sure which federal circuit court is hearing the case.My guess would be the third circuit.
