Dear Mr. Simpson,
I’m a student at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, a football fanatic, and I love reading about murder mysteries and crimes in my free time. While I think that your athletic prowess was nothing short of amazing (your “run” against UCLA in 1967 was spectacular), the purpose of this letter is not to discuss your incredible talent on the football field. It is to discuss your trial for the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. I would not be surprised if you receive an incredible amount of mail from people who have a hard time wrapping their heads around your tragic fall from grace. I am asking, however, that you take a few minutes to read this letter (and hopefully respond) because I have some burning questions that only you can answer.
Mr. Simpson, since you have been acquitted of this double murder, I would now like to have an open and honest conversation with you. I understand that you might be thinking, “Why in the world would I answer personal questions from someone I don’t even know?” And, my answer is this: to find peace. I would not be surprised to hear that many nights you lie awake for hours, unable to fall asleep. Or, if you do fall asleep, the nightmares never stop. Mr. Simpson, this is an opportunity to come clean - for yourself, for Nicole Brown Simpson’s and Ronald Goldman’s family, and for your children. This is an opportunity to show your children and loved ones that no one is perfect, and you are a man who takes responsibility for a mistake.
I would love to hear your perspective surrounding what I believe to be the main factors for your acquittal. To begin with, it would appear that you assembled the finest legal team in the country - so elite that they were called “the Dream Team.” The strategic mantra that your attorney, Johnnie Cochran, came up with, “If it doesn’t fit you must acquit” seemed to be a pivotal point in the trial as it likely played on the jury’s emotions. However effective it might have been, do you really believe that when leather is drenched in blood and it dries that it won’t shrink? Also, don’t you think that since you were wearing a latex glove when the prosecution asked you to try the leather glove on top, it would be too tight? In your private moments, did you think to yourself, “How in the world did the jury fall for this?”
Secondly, the fact that Gil Garcetti, the District Attorney at the time, who chose to move the trial from the Santa Monica courthouse (which was very close to your home in Brentwood) to Downtown Los Angeles (since that courthouse could better handle the media circus) seems to have sealed your fate as a defendant who would be acquitted of murder. The demographics of Santa Monica, as we both know, are predominately white. By capitalizing on your luck from the venue switch, your legal team was able to influence a predominately African American jury at the Downtown courthouse by putting Mark Fuhrman, a known racist who had been caught on tape using the “N” word on the stand. Would you agree with me that this was a turning point in your trial and the perfect storm? Your attorneys’ main objective was to offer an alternative possibility to the allegation that you murdered two people. Wasn’t it convenient that Mark Fuhrman was the perfect scapegoat for the accusation that he planted a bloody glove? To prove my theory regarding the different courthouses, I’d like to point out that you lost the civil suit, which was tried at the Santa Monica courthouse a year and a half later. The results of this trial ended very differently, with the Goldman and Brown families being awarded $33.5 million against you. Mr. Simpson, have you ever paid this judgment?
Mr. Simpson, how does your conscience justify your acquittal? How could it be possible that you are innocent of these murders if some of the most significant pieces of evidence found at the crime scene and at your house include a mixture of blood from the three of you? And if this wasn’t enough of a smoking gun, how could blood found on your sock at your home and on your car be scientifically linked to Nicole’s and Ron’s blood? Are you going to tell us that you had previously met a waiter at Mezzaluna Trattoria, Ron Goldman, and that he bled on your sock and your car on a different day? Does this sound at all preposterous to you?
I have one final question that has been nagging at me that I would love for you to answer. I have seen extensive video footage of your trial. One of the most striking moments that convinced me of your guilt was your friend and attorney, Robert Kardashian’s reaction when the verdict was read. The look of absolute shock on his face was more powerful than words could ever convey. Mr. Simpson, if your long time attorney and friend truly believed in your innocence, why was he so shocked that you were acquitted?
Mr. Simpson, what I can tell you is if something looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck. If you can provide evidence convincing me that I am wrong about any of my theories, I would love to talk to you. Please understand that I would much prefer to idolize you as a sports hero, rather than to visualize you brutally murdering two people and ruining the lives of two families.
Sincerely,
Cole