Vegas Buzz

 by

 

 James B. Wilson

 Featured Columnist

 Vegas Buzz News

 

The O.J. Simpson Trial courtroom was a study in contrasts. That is, if you compared it to that infamous trial 13 years to the very date of Simpson's acquittal in the Brentwood Murders trial.  Ah, poetic justice.

 

You know, where the students that managed to escape death by not getting on an ill-fated jetliner that exploded minutes after take-off at the behest of a psychic friend,  are stalked one-by-one and terminated by Death. It was as if justice unserved, were stalking Simpson all these 13 unlucky years.

 

To be sure,  it seemed he had all the luck in the world, and made all the right moves to protect his ill-gotten gains from the Goldmans and ensure himself a high-flying life of women, golf and continuing (sort of) celebrity status with his many pals and admirers.

 

For the first time, that famous countenance was devoid of the winsome smile, shock and a growing sense of defeat slowly moving across it like roiling storm clouds gradually intruding on blue skies.

 

While those interviewed on CNN and TruTV reported shock in the courtroom, local Las Vegans weren't shocked at all.  Many were elated.

 

"That --- finally got what he deserved," said Tony Serrano, a local Las Vegas writer.

 

"I'm glad he got convicted," said Wendy Holmes, another Las Vegas resident.

 

All in all, not a single person interviewed had anything complimentary to say, mostly expressing jubilation over the verdict.

 

Sure the pundits, including Riccio, who more or less set O. J. up to start with, expressed shock - mock shock or real? - at the severity of the charges and the ultimate outcome. Say what?  Wasn't Riccio the one that set it all up? He let O.J. into Room #1203, then secretly recorded the proceedings with a hidden audio recorder, pocketing a cool $200 grand.  The 'system' was unfair to O. J.? Don't make us laugh.

 

Some legal experts like LA attorney Darren Kavinoky went toe-to-toe with former prosecutor and TruTV host Lisa Bloom on the Dr. Phil show in arguing justice wasn't served in the O.J. case. Multitudes disagreed.

 

But after all, this ain't Brentwood, or Hollywood, O. J.  It's Vegas.  Vegas style justice is served here. Meaning justice, pure and simple, unadulterated, no way out for the guilty.  Despite the glitter and the glamor, the sense of justice here is quite real, palpably removed from the fantasy palaces down the road, or even right around the corner downtown. And certainly a reality diametrically opposed to the fantasy world in which Simpson lived up until a few days ago.

 

In the courtroom dotted with empty seats for most of the trial, we saw the 'Final Destination of Justice' for one Orenthal James Simpson.  We saw a bigger-than-life man brought down by stupidity, and an attachment to things that no longer rightfully belonged to him.  More than anything else, O. J. was brought down by his own cavalier attitude.  Maybe someone will write the next book, "No Longer Above the Law: The Rise and Fall of O. J. Simpson."

 
The Media Circus That Never Was.

The most telling fact of all: No crowds outside, no carnival types barking or mulling around except for the first few days, and only a handful of media producers covering the event.  No 'Free the Juice' protestors or hecklers. Inside, the Justice Center, the overflow room intended for a huge media onslaught remained quiet as a sepulchre.

 

Workmen quietly dismantled the Room #1203 mock-up set-up in the basement of the Justice Center.

(Jurors instead opted to go visit the actual room at the Palace Station).

 

What a museum piece it would have made! Even a scene for Madam Tussaud's Wax Museum! But I digress...

 

But judging from the interest in the trial, it might not have been worth that much even from the standpoint of pure tabloid value.

 
No 'Juice.'

The 'juice' didn't have 'juice' in this town.  He certainly no longer had it with Lady Justice, who'd been stalking him for 13 years, toying with him, letting him get away with murder and other varied and sundry crimes, waiting for the grand slip-up ... "You can't cheat Death," said the morbidly morose undertaker in "Final Destination."  Neither can you cheat Lady Justice. She caught up with Simpson in Vegas.

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