Praise for Vincent Bugliosis
#1 New York Times Bestseller,
OUTRAGE
Bugliosi puts the blame where it belongsHis well-informed analysis is in welcome contrast to much of the insipid or pointless commentary about the Simpson trial.
The New York Times Book Review
The best book that there will ever be on the case of People vs. Orenthal James Simpson. The best murder trial book I have ever read. A classic treatise on legal incompetence.
Jim Agnew, Real Crime Book Digest
Provocative and entertainingA powerful, damning diatribe on Simpsons acquittalThe books high point is the rafter-rattling summation Bugliosi would have delivered had he prosecuted the case himself.
People
Persuasive and brilliantAn astonishingly bitter and sensational book Outrage should become an important textbook in every law school in America.
Newsday (N.Y.)
Bugliosis book is the most compelling of the dozen or so [Simpson books] I have read.
Los Angeles Daily News
When it comes to the Simpson murder trial, Bugliosi establishes himself as the expert. He throws back the shabby curtain of the trial of the century.Bugliosi offers us his own summation. This alone is worth the price of the book. No one who reads this book will ever again believe that the most publicized acquittal in the history of the American jurisprudence was solely the result of juror prejudice or the machinations of unscrupulous defense attorneys. The D.A. and the prosecutors have been called before the bar of justice.
Los Angeles Times
Blistering criticismBugliosi minces no words.
San Francisco Chronicle
A mountain of books and articles has been written about the Simpson case. Because of Bugliosis experience and the compelling issues he raises, Outrage may well be the one to readBoth convincing and seething with anger.
The Kansas City Star
No other criminal trial lawyer in the nation could provide such a compelling account of the O. J. Simpson murder trial. This is the definitive work on the Simpson case.
Ed Nowicki, American Crime Line
Seriously damningthe outspoken legal eagle pulls no punches.
New York Post
A searing, exploding indictment of both the defense and the prosecutionthe most forceful and encompassing account yet.
The Neshoba Democrat (Philadelphia, Miss.)
Clarity and powerful marshaling of argument vault [ Outrage ] to the top of the Simpson stack [of books].
The Wall Street Journal
Outrage is coolly and unflappably brilliant in its comprehensive sweep. The book is the best of its kind Ive ever read.
The News-Commercial (Collins, Miss.)
Compelling and interesting. Youll have trouble putting it down. The chapter on the final summation is worth the books price itself. a page-turnerthrillingmemorable.
The Calgary Sun
Overwhelmingly convincingone can be sure, this is the best book that will ever be written on the O. J. Simpson murder trial.
American Bar Association, Section of Litigation, Appellate Practice Journal
Bugliosi brilliantly makes a powerful case against O. J. Simpson.
Alan Dershowitz, debate with Bugliosi on Larry King Live
OTHER NONFICTION BOOKS BY VINCENT BUGLIOSI
Helter Skelter (with Curt Gentry)
Till Death Us Do Part (with Ken Hurwitz)
And the Sea Will Tell (with Bruce Henderson)
The Phoenix Solution: Getting Serious About Winning
Americas Drug War
Reclaiming History: The Assassination of
President John F. Kennedy
OUTRAGE
The Five Reasons Why O. J. Simpson Got Away with Murder
VINCENT BUGLIOSI
W. W. Norton & Company
New York London
Copyright 1996 by Vincent Bugliosi
All rights reserved
Excerpt from Co-Workers Paint Different Portrait of Mark Fuhrman by Greg Krikorian from the Los Angeles Times (November 8, 1995).
Copyright 1995, Los Angeles Times . Reprinted by permission.
A portion of this book has previously appeared in Playboy magazine.
Production manager: Devon Zahn
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bugliosi, Vincent.
Outrage: the five reasons why O. J. Simpson got away with murder
/ Vincent Bugliosi
p. cm.
ISBN: 978-0-393-07570-0
1. MurderCaliforniaLos AngelesCase studies. 2. Simpson, O. J., 1947Trials, litigation, etc. 3. Trials (Murder)CaliforniaLos AngelesCase studies. 4. Criminal justice, Administration ofCaliforniaLos AngelesCase studies.
I. Title.
HV6534.L7B84 1996
364.1'532'0979494dc 20 967936
CIP
W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10110
www.wwnorton.com
W. W. Norton & Company Ltd.
Castle House, 75/76 Wells Street, London W1T 3QT
TO THE MEMORY OF
NICOLE BROWN SIMPSON AND RONALD GOLDMAN
AND THEIR SURVIVING LOVED ONES
CONTENTS
I. IN THE AIR
WHAT THE JURORS PROBABLY KNEW
II. THE CHANGE OF VENUE
GARCETTI TRANSFERS THE CASE DOWNTOWN
III. A JUDICIAL ERROR
JUDGE ITO ALLOWS THE DEFENSE TO PLAY THE RACE CARD
IV. THE TRIAL
THE INCREDIBLE INCOMPETENCE OF THE PROSECUTION
V. FINAL SUMMATION
THE WEAK VOICE OF THE PEOPLE
EPILOGUE
BOOK ENDS
APPENDIX A
COMPLETE LAPD INTERROGATION OF O. J. SIMPSON
APPENDIX B
FAREWELL LETTER OF O. J. SIMPSON
APPENDIX C
BLOOD EVIDENCE
EDITORS NOTE
It may be useful to the reader, as background or context for the uncomfortable truths contained in this book, to know why I felt so strongly that Vincent Bugliosi was the only author in America who could write a truly meaningful account of the Simpson murder trial, and why I persisted until I finally persuaded him to write it, if not against his will, at least against his natural inclination.
Vincent Bugliosi should be on any knowledgeable persons short list of the great lawyers in America, but as a prosecutor he stands alone, in a class by himself: His record in the Los Angeles District Attorneys office speaks for itself: 105 convictions out of 106 felony jury trials; more importantly, 21 murder convictions without a single loss, including the prosecution of Charles Manson in the Tate-LaBianca murder case, which was to be the basis of his true-crime classic, Helter Skelter , the book that established him as the most celebrated true-crime author in America.
But perhaps a more substantive measure of Bugliosis stature is the judgment of his peers, and here again the weight of evidence is overwhelming. Alan Dershowitz says simply, Bugliosi is as good a prosecutor as there ever was. Harry Weiss, a veteran criminal defense attorney who has gone up against Bugliosi in court, makes this comparison: Ive seen all the great trial lawyers of the past thirty years and none of them are in Vinces class. Robert Tannenbaum, for years the top prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorneys office, says, There is only one Vince Bugliosi. Hes the best. Perhaps most telling of all is the comment by Gerry Spence, who squared off against Bugliosi in a televised, scriptless docu-trial of Lee Harvey Oswald, in which the original key witnesses to the Kennedy assassination testified and were cross-examined. After the jury returned a guilty verdict, in Bugliosis favor, Spence said, No other lawyer in America could have done what Vince did in this case.
The question I asked myself at the outset was this: What would the nations foremost prosecutor have done with the evidence in the Trial of the Century? I think you will find the answers in this book as surprising and as compelling as I have. Bear in mind that while Bugliosis analysis is unsparing, it is also objective, for he owes nothing to the myth of Simpsons innocence and has no need, unlike many other writers on this subject, to protect his own tarnished performance in the case.