O. J. Simpson

Former football champion and actor O J Simpson was granted parole in July 2017 and shall be released from Nevada’s Lovelock Correctional Facility in October. Back in 2008 he had been sentenced to 33 years in prison for armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon and kidnapping, with a 9 year minimum period before being eligible for parole. During his time inside he was a model prisoner. This included embracing religion (surprise, surprise) and saw him help create Lovelock’s first ever Baptist service.

O J will be out on parole in October 2017

The NFL will not discuss how much money he stands to gain from the pension fund, but it will be substantial. To the surprise of absolutely nobody he says he intends moving back to Florida. After a 1996 civil court ruled he pay $33 million to the families of murder victims Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, Simpson high-tailed it to Florida where state law forbids the acquisition of property to meet civil court rulings. It has been reported that he also contributed $5 million to the Screen Actors Guild Retirement Fund.

   the murder victims

Nicole Brown Simpson                 Ron Goldman

There has been an interesting argument put forward in recent times in a 2014 book by William C. Dear titled O.J. Is Innocent And I Can Prove It. Dear is a renowned homicide investigator who was inducted into the Police Hall of Fame in 1988. He has no doubt that O J’s son Jason killed his step-mother and Mr. Goldman and the O. J. took the rap for him. And his reasoning is most compelling.

Jason Simpson at his father’s trial

Dear argues that there are thirty viable reasons that led him to this conclusion, but five in particular:

1. Victim Ron Goldman was a third degree black belt and he fought hard for his life. There were defensive wounds on his hands and multiple wounds on his hands and arms, indicative of him striking someone many times. O.J., on the other hand, was well past his prime, his body and knees ravaged by a long NFL career. Dear does not believe he could have gotten into a full-fledged fight with Goldman and won without suffering a lot of bruising, yet when he was stripped naked by police there were no bruises on his body at all. Just a tiny cut on his knuckle.

2. Jason Simpson had experience assaulting people with deadly weapons. He had almost killed an ex-girlfriend with a knife, had assaulted another girlfriend and had gone after his boss with a kitchen knife. At Army and Navy academies he had been taught hand-to-hand combat and field knife training. There was an enormous amount of blood at the murder scene and O.J. was well-known to be squeamish at the sight of even a little blood.

3. Jason had been diagnosed with intermittent rage disorder, commonly known as Jekyll & Hyde syndrome. He was known to black out, hear voices and just go crazy at any time. Committed to hospital several times, he was given medication to keep it under control (Depakote), but had stopped taking it months before the murders.

4. At the crime scene police discovered a black knit cap. On it were hairs from a black American male and a dog. Jason had a dog and wore such caps all the time, while O.J. had no dog and no such caps. In a storage locker Jason had a knife that fit the one used at the scene. O.J.’s knife, by comparison, had a blade that simply did not fit the wounds on the victims. DNA was found under Nicole’s fingertips, but it did not match O.J’s. It was never tested against Jason’s DNA! Incredibly, not one of fifteen unknown fingerprints at the scene matched O.J.’s, yet nobody thought to check Jason’s fingertips, even though his prints were on file.

5. Jason had a love-hate relationship with his step-mother Nicole and was upset because she did not come to his restaurant that day. The automatic clocking-on machine was fully operational at his workplace, yet his attendance was ‘hand-written’ on his time-card. Consequently, no-one can be sure where he was at the time of the killings. And there was something else. Just four days after the murders, when O.J. was still the only suspect, he went and hired a criminal defense lawyer – for Jason.

Jason wearing black beanie and playing with his dog

Dear contends that Jason was obsessed with Nicole and killed her in a fit of jealous rage. He then confessed to his father who took the blame. Jason is now in his forties. Dear’s assessments have been challenged (of course), some say discredited, but his qualifications and past record in criminal investigation do not suggest he is the kind of man to throw around wild accusations. If the DNA found under Nicole’s fingertips is still on file, a simple request for Jason’s DNA could resolve much. Surely, by now, somebody has compared the fingerprints at the scene with Jason’s prints on file? At the time, say investigators, he was never interviewed because he was never considered to be a suspect.

Another investigator, Michael Martin, told Dear that he was working on another case in the area on the murder night when he saw O.J. and Jason at the property. Martin took a polygraph regarding this story and he passed it. Meanwhile, Dear remains convinced that there is enough new evidence pointing towards a second suspect to warrant a grand jury hearing. As of January 2017 he says he is seeking just that, even though it is now nearly 23 years since the killings.

For the record, both Fred Goldman (Ron’s father) and Tanya Brown (Nicole’s sister) are not buying the Jason theory for a minute. They remain steadfast in their belief that O.J. acted alone ‘and without afterthought’. As for even a remote possibility that Jason committed the crimes: ‘No chance’, says Tanya. ‘Nothing actually breaks my heart more than knowing people think that, especially when it comes to Jason. That really breaks my heart because he loved Nicole and she loved him.’

Jason as the ‘not guilty’ verdict is read

A lot has been made of the TV cameras capturing the Simpson family’s response when the judge in O.J.’s trial pronounced the ‘not guilty’ verdict. Everyone in the group erupted with cheers, tears and hugs all around. All except Jason who stood there impassive and seemingly unmoved. O.J. supporters describe his lack of emotion as a sign that he was involved in the killings, but I do not buy that for a moment. If he loved Nicole (as Tanya claims), his stony response may well have been one of disappointment that her killer had escaped justice, father or no father. Then again, he may simply have been stunned by the verdict. A lot of people were, including me. Reading significance into a ‘look’ can be a dangerous and risky business.

It is time to look at the DNA and the fingerprints and clear Jason’s name once and for all. Or not. If he is being accused unjustly, if his reputation is being dragged through the mud, surely he would be eager to offer his DNA and fingertips for comparison to the evidence gathered at the murder scene and crush the speculation once and for all. Has he requested this? Have the police suggested it? Has Mr. Dear suggested it? If none of them have, then why not?