In the latest American Crime Story: The People vs. OJ Simpson recap, Robert Shapiro begins assembling OJ’s high powered defense as the prosecution starts seeing the case slip away….
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
It was only a matter of time before the writers behind American Crime Story: The People vs. OJ Simpson took a dig or two at the famous Kardashian clan long before Kim, Khloe and Kourtney were household names thanks to — OK, I’m still not sure why people know who they are but that’s just a fact of life that we now have to deal with.
Regardless, three episodes into a truly excellent series thus far, the opening scene in tonight’s offering took a clear shot at the Kardashians courtesy of a speech from family patriarch Robert, who sadly passed away in 2003 long before his kids became famous for something other than being OJ Simpson’s god children.
Just as little Rob Kardashian and his daughters are gushing about their family’s new found fame, Robert knocks them all back down to Earth with a harsh dose of reality about what matters most in this world.
“We are Kardashians — and in this family being a good person and a loyal friend is more important than being famous. Fame is fleeting, it’s hollow. It means nothing at all without a virtuous heart.”
~ Robert Kardashian
Of course there’s likely no real merit to this scene much less proof that it ever happened, but the speech was more than just a dig at the Kardashians as we know them today. It was also a statement about how fame played such a major part in the Simpson trial — both good and bad — and the judgments that were made about so many people involved in the case long before a verdict was rendered.
As this latest episode showed, fame and race ended up taking center stage in a number of different ways and that remained the status quo until the trial finally came to an end.
With that said, let’s recap the latest American Crime Story: The People vs. OJ Simpson titled ‘The Dream Team’…
The Winning Team
It’s been stated numerous times throughout the first few episodes of this series that Robert Shapiro — lead counsel for OJ Simpson — is not a trial lawyer as much as he’s a master negotiator. He doesn’t win cases as much as he pleas them down for his clients. It’s a reference made previously, but think of Shapiro as Tom Cruise’s character during the first half of A Few Good Men. He’s never seen a deal he couldn’t make.
But lately Shapiro is getting hammered in the press for all sorts of moves that he made or in some cases didn’t make as he allowed Simpson to escape his custody, make a supposed run for the border and all but give the prosecution a slam dunk case to convict him.
So now Shapiro is on the defensive and he needs help to try this case and it’s going to take more than Robert Kardashian — who the prosecutors joke didn’t even know was a lawyer until this case started — if he’s going to get Simpson acquitted.
The first call Shapiro makes is to F. Lee Bailey — a famous trial attorney who had worked a number of high profile cases over the years and had been friends with Shapiro previously. Next up was Alan Dershowitz, who originally slammed the Simpson case as a loser and declared him guilty until he was brought on board as part of the defense. It was then that he immediately began picking apart the evidence including the addition of a DNA expert, who planned to bring into question the validity of the collection methods used to gather key items like the bloody gloves and the blood stains found at the murder scene as well as Simpson’s home and car.
It appears Simpson’s defense is being assembled with perfect execution but there’s still something missing.
For all these great legal minds, there’s still a ton of evidence working against Simpson that makes the prosecution look like they have an open and shut case so now it’s time for the defense to begin poking holes in the plot to bury their client six feet under a jail cell in California.
So if the evidence seems so strong and there are a lot of facts that simply can’t be disputed — what about chipping away at the man who found the evidence in the first place?
Leaks in the Air Tight Case
Between the bloody trail leading from the murder scene back to OJ’s house along with a Ford Bronco chase that was highly publicized on every television screen in the country, Marcia Clark believes her case to put Simpson behind bars is all but sealed.
She sees a million different ways to convict him and not much in the way of a defense that could save the former football star. She even pokes fun at Robert Shapiro’s half-hearted attempt to assemble a group of lawyers around him that would be willing to defend Simpson rather than plea down the murder charges to keep him from the electric chair.
Clark smiles and touts that all options are on the table for Simpson — including the death penalty. It’s as if she’s already earned the conviction.
But within days, Clark’s case takes on a massive amount of water as the boat beings to spring a few leaks. A key eyewitness goes on television telling her story in a cash ploy that Clark believes destroys her credibility. The 911 tapes that graphically detail the abuse that Nicole suffered from OJ land on television and while they paint a very bad picture of Simpson, this evidence was supposed to drop like a bombshell in the courtroom. Now virtually every potential will have heard them and the defense has a chance to find a way to spin it for damage control.
To make matters even worse, Clark doesn’t buy into the race element of the case because she sees OJ like he seems himself — a privileged rich guy that’s above color. Even OJ scoffs at the race card originally when the name Johnnie Cochran is brought up to him as a potential addition to his legal team.
“You want to make this a black thing. That’s why you want Cochran. Well, I’m not black — I’m OJ.”
~ OJ Simpson
Clark’s only voice of reason in the room comes from Christopher Darden, who cautions her that no matter what evidence has been presented in the public thus far, there’s a growing part of the African-American community that’s ready to stand up and support OJ as a victim of Los Angeles Police Department rail roading. It can’t be stated strongly enough again that this case comes just a few years after an all white jury acquitted a group of cops for viciously beating Rodney King.
Yet Clark doesn’t see how anybody in the black community would stand beside OJ regardless of evidence thanks in large part to a police force that has all but proven to be a racially charged and racially motivated group of “peace keepers”. Still, Clark doesn’t buy it and that’s just one of the mistakes she makes early on in the case.
Unraveling a Key Witness
Robert Shapiro has kind of looked like a goof thus far in the series, but he made one of the most crucial moves to get OJ acquitted with his private investigator uncovering that Detective Mark Furhman — the man who first discovered the crime scene at OJ Simpson’s residence — once sued the city of Los Angeles due to his job allegedly turning him into a racist. These allegations seem wild but Shapiro latches onto it like a dog with a soup bone.
He sees Furhman as a key prosecution witness because he’s the center of all the discovery — the blood, the Bronco, the glove — and if he’s not credible then the fact that he was touching any of this now becomes stained.
Shapiro sharpens his weapon but turning a reporter (Jeffrey Toobin, who actually wrote the book this show is based upon and really was involved in the case with this story) from a foe to a friend by pointing him in the direction of Mark Fuhrman. Up until then, everyone was only focused on Simpson’s innocence or guilt, but no one was questioning the other players in this case, namely a suspected racist cop who found virtually all the evidence against the defendant.
When Toobin publishes his article, which paints Fuhrman in a very unflattering light, the prosecution’s case takes a major hit and the race card not only becomes relevant, it might just be the key to Simpson getting off scot free.
Dreams Do Come True
The final piece of the puzzle in Simpson’s legal team comes together as Johnnie Cochran — who originally claimed to want nothing to do with this case based on his believe that it was simply unwinnable — changed directions in a hurry when he realized that this was a client he could probably get acquitted but if it happened without him, he’d never forgive himself for not getting involved.
So when Robert Shapiro finally makes the call to ask Cochran onto the team, he has one condition — he has to look in OJ’s eyes and know that he didn’t do it.
When Cochran visits Simpson in jail, the two embrace like old friends and a tearful speech from the former football player does the job as the attorney believes that he’s about to defend an innocent man.
The next morning, Marcia Clark goes outside for her morning coffee and cigarette as she looks at the newspaper to see the latest headline. She reads right away that what Christopher Darden predicted is coming true as Cochran has officially joined Simpson’s defense hit squad and nobody understands the delicate balance between race and justice like this man.
“Cochran — motherfucker”
~ Marcia Clark
Clark’s words sum it up pretty well — she realizes in that moment that this case just went from a slam dunk to a half court shot and Simpson’s legal team is mounting a legendary defense.
