In the latest The People vs. OJ Simpson recap, Chris Darden runs up against an impossible witness, Johnnie Cochran redecorates and the prosecution loses a team member…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer @DamonMartin
The latest episode of American Crime Story: The People vs. OJ Simpson not only gives an intimate look at all the different ways that race really did become the central issue of this trial, but also a real clue into the constant blunders made by the prosecution while believing they had an airtight case for double murder.
When the evidence started piling up on the night Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman were found butchered, the LA District Attorney’s office believed they had a slam dunk case against OJ Simpson for the murders. Blood trails that led from Nicole’s house back to OJ’s, enough domestic violence history to truly showcase Simpson’s rage and an overwhelming amount of physical evidence that no one on the defense could account for during the trial. Add to that Simpson’s Bronco chase that made it onto virtually every television set in America and it seemed clear to the prosecution that a conviction was more a formality than anything else.
Unfortunately, that hubris not only led to a lot of bad decisions — not the least of which was being dumb enough to Nazi metal collecting racist Mark Fuhrman on the stand — but just an over abundance of missteps from the visit to the crime scenes with the jury to the insistence that the ‘N’ word never be heard during the trial.
Meanwhile, the defense had one chance to get OJ free of all charges as Cochran put it so eloquently — “we’re here to tell a story — our job is to tell that story better than the other side tells theirs”.
Judging by the latest episode, the defense is already winning.
With that said, let’s recap the latest American Crime Story: The People vs. OJ Simpson titled ‘The Race Card’….
Stating the Case
Following an opening scene that showed Johnnie Cochran’s long history dealing with bad cops — particularly those who have a habit of stopping African Americans for the grievous crime of DWB (driving while black), it’s understandable why he’s easily untrusting of the officers responsible for gathering and collecting evidence for a prominent black client. Whether Johnnie believes OJ did it or not is irrelevant because he knows this case goes much deeper than just a double murder. It goes to the heart of racial prejudice and he’s going to dig into that as much as possible while trying to discredit every piece of evidence the prosecution can submit.
On the other side of the aisle, Marcia Clark sees all the physical evidence and believes this is an open and shut case. No one can explain how OJ’s blood would end up at the murder scene any more than they could explain while Nicole and Ron’s blood was found back at OJ’s house. That alone seems like enough to convict him, but Clark has even more — according to her the most physical evidence of any murder trial she’s ever been part of — and that will get the job done to put OJ behind bars for life.
As both prosecution and defense get ready for the pre-motion hearing, Chris Darden is also dealing with a different kind of attack against him in the press as Cochran claims that he’s only being brought onto the case because he’s black. It harkens back to a time when he was in college where affirmative action was a very controversial subject and no matter how much he deserved to be at the college he attended, the prying eyes of other students made him feel like he somehow got there by taking somebody else’s place in line just because he was black.
Darden’s hardships only continue with he launches a pre-emptive strike to prevent the ‘N’ word from being used at the trial at all. His argument is that the nasty, vile word will only force the jury to pick sides rather than listen to the truth and the entire argument being made. Cochran fires back and says that the jury will be smart enough to handle the use of that word because that word is relevant to the case they are making. Cochran paints Darden as an ‘Uncle Tom’, who has turned against his own people, and his attacks only continue from there.
The cherry on top for poor Chris Darden this week comes from Marcia Clark assigning him to depose and prepare Mark Fuhrman for trial. He was a key part of the discovery of evidence at the crime scene, but he’s got a very sketchy past in regards to race and racism so Darden is skeptical at best about using him. Clark insists upon it, which only plays back into the defense’s hand as F. Lee Bailey notes — if they put Furhman on the stand, they will rip him apart.
Casualty of War
The latest episode of The People vs. OJ Simpson also showcased the opening statements by both the prosecution and the defense. Now these were very truncated versions considering how long each attorney spoke to the jury in this trial but a few key things happened in these moments.
Marcia Clark was succinct and to the point, noting the mountains of evidence against Simpson although it seemed a bit emotionless considering the brutal nature of the crimes. Her argument looked somewhat robotic in delivery. As for Cochran, he was polished and precise with his statement while also sacrificing one of his own lawyers when some key witnesses weren’t presented to the court — which means the prosecution had no way to depose them or discredit them ahead of this ambush — and the mere mention of these names much less the excuse about how it accidentally happened sends Bill Hodgman into a full blown heart attack out of frustration.
Now in reality, Hodgman didn’t actually collapse during the trial although he did suffer from heart palpitations that forced him to drop out of the proceedings, which whittled down the prosecution’s overall power doing into the trial. Hodgman was in charge of discovery — a key part of the proceedings but his loss opened up the opportunity for Clark to make Darden her direct co-counsel in the case.
Chris Darden was overjoyed at the prospect, but with the weight of responsibility also comes the weight of expectation. Now the entire case — good or bad — will fall on the shoulders of Clark and Darden.
The Cochran Collection
One of the most shocking yet true parts of the show thus far was the walk through that the jurors encountered at both the scene of the murder (Nicole Brown Simpson’s house) and at the defendant’s home where so much of the physical evidence was found (OJ Simpson’s estate).
Before the jurors could make it onto Simpson’s property, Cochran took it upon himself to make the home a little more friendly and sympathetic to his client. So he made sure the naked photos of OJ’s girlfriend disappeared and were replaced by gigantic portraits of the former football great alongside his paralyzed mother. The pictures of OJ next to his white golfing buddies were taken out and in their place were African antiques and paintings — all provided by the Cochran collection.
When Cochran explains this “makeover” to OJ, he’s not ready to play along. OJ isn’t ashamed of who he is but as Cochran explains how he’s referred as ‘the Mayor of Brentwood’, their jury that’s comprised mostly of African-Americans may not exactly appreciate his rather notorious moniker.
The juror trip the crime scenes end in disaster for the prosecution thanks to Nicole’s house being completely wiped clean — no personal effects left whatsoever as the house was up for sale at the time — and then when they arrived at OJ’s house it was like a completely different place than the one where he actually resided when the murders took place.
The only positive moment for the prosecution happened outside after the jurors admired Simpson’s Heisman trophy and gigantic bronze statue when Darden sat down on a bench for just a moment and OJ approached him with an angry tone and demanded that he get up from off his property. Cochran quickly intervened but not before the jurors saw Simpson go from calm, cool and collected to seething angry in a split second — just like he might have been on the night his ex-wife and her friend were murdered.
There’s no clear indication on whether or not this altercation actually happened, but it was definitely compelling TV.
Der Fuhrman
Against his better judgment, Chris Darden gets put in charge of prepping Mark Fuhrman for trial but from his very first conversation with the controversial police officer he can tell that this guy is going to be trouble. He’s got the kind of polite tone that just screams underlying racism and he’ll melt under cross examination from the defense.
Darden pleads with Marcia Clark not to put Fuhrman on the stand but she believes his testimony is key to the jury hearing about the discovery of all this crucial evidence.
So Darden takes another stab at it while digging into Fuhrman’s past and even asking about his hobbies — which just happens to be collecting World War II memorabilia. Darden’s two interactions with Fuhrman make him know for certain that this guy is not only going to crumble on the stand but he’s likely going to end up as a major blow to the prosecution’s case. Even Johnnie Cochran tells Darden as one point to jettison Fuhrman and hand him over to one of the white people.
Finally, Darden puts his foot down and demands to be taken off Fuhrman’s deposition and so Clark takes over, while sheepishly glossing over the fact that this guy is a train wreck just waiting to happen.
In the final scene of the episode, Fuhrman is seen at home polishing the glass case that holds all of his precious World War II memorabilia. He likes to collect medals from that time period but what Fuhrman fails to mention at the time was that his favorite trinkets were decorated with swastikas that belonged to the Third Reich.
Darden’s instincts were right all along and it’s going to cost Clark dearly for being wrong.
