The news Thursday that the onetime beloved actor and former football star who became America's most famous acquitted murder suspect will soon be out of prison drew a lot of attention.
O.J. Simpson has spent nearly nine years out of a maximum 33 behind bars in Nevada on a slew of convictions, including kidnapping and armed robbery, after he and others tried to forcibly recover some sports memorabilia Simpson claimed to own.
But Simpson's biggest brush with the law had come in 1995, when he was found not guilty in the brutal slayings the year before of his former wife, Nicole, and another man, Ron Goldman. The case captivated the American public and was a staple on TV from the crimes to the verdict. Many believed he was innocent. But just as many thought he got away with a terrible crime. So much so that he was ordered to pay millions in restitution to the victims' families in a 1997 civil case.
And when Simpson was arrested in 2007 for the sports memorabilia caper, there were a lot of folks who thought he got such a stiff sentence as much for the murders as for what the Nevada court convicted him of.
Again, to some that was a miscarriage of justice. Others decided it was justice delayed rather than denied.
Now he will be getting out. A parole hearing went in his favor, and he will be released in October. And yet again there is joy, and there is outrage.
Legal outcomes are beyond our control; other types, not so much. Simpson was acquitted of the double murder. He cannot and should not be punished for those crimes. He was convicted of the Nevada charges. He has served the time required on those charges and was granted parole. End of story. Simpson has been a celebrity for five decades. And he's been infamous for the last 20 years. With any luck he will fade into obscurity when the prison doors swing open. No doubt he will be offered book deals, TV deals, speaking deals-maybe a film deal. Whether any of these comes to fruition depends on whether there is a market. And that will be up to all of us.
