(Do you remember where you were?
If you were in school, did your teacher stop class to watch the verdict on TV?
Did you groan when you heard that Simpson was declared not guilty?
Credit: Ray Mickshaw/FX
Did you cheer?)
MORE ONTHE PEOPLE VS. O.J.
My main goal in these 10 recaps will be twofold.
Ray Mickshaw/FX
First, to place the events depicted on the show in their historical context.
So was the catastrophic crucial detective with a penchant for Nazi mementos and the n-word.
Belief that he is guilty has risen by about 20 percent among both white and black Americans since 1995.
Toobin is unambiguous in his book about Simpsons guilt.
The answer, they decided, Toobin continues, was race.
King, a cab driver, had been pulled over after a high-speed car chase.
American Crime Storyisnt the first time a narrative has begun with the Rodney King footage.
Spike Lee used clips of it in the opening credits of his 1992 movieMalcolm X.
Enter into the picture O.J.
A celebrity golf tournament beckons in Chicago.
Or, as it turns out, bodies.
No signs of forced entry or a robbery.
The three men then head to Simpsons house.
Fuhrman, who had been sent to O.J.
once before on a domestic violence call, knows where he lives.
Pay attention to the evidence discovered, but most importantly to the person discovering it.
Inside the main house, Lange calls O.J.
in Chicago to inform him of his ex-wifes death.
Thats true according to the record except for the fact that another detective named Ron Phillips actually notified Simpson.
He finally killed her!
This prosecutor says Go get him, Clark tells Vannatter on the phone after hearing about the blood evidence.
The warrant is signed by a magistrate later that morning, at about the same time that O.J.
is arriving home from his short trip to Chicago.
The episode weaves in that detail with great efficiency.
Hes not so terrific, says prosecutor Bill Hodgman (Christian Clemenson) to Garcetti and Clark.
Simpson has a prior.
Five years ago he pled no contest after he beat up Nicole.
He never even did his community service.
He just got out celebrity style.
is being interviewed by the two detectives Vannatter and Lange, notably without legal counsel present.
In his book, Toobin refers to police behavior which suggested a fear of offending a celebrity.
And to heighten that shuddering hypocrisy, we hear the O.J.
interview as Clark is listening to a tape of it.
What did he say?
she says, flabbergasted by Simpsons evasiveness, for example, about when he parked his Bronco.
Seven, eight, nine, thats not an answer!
And they dont challenge him.
My plate is full!
Im busy with a single mother, been shot nine times by the LAPD.
Tragic, typical, but it aint sexy so they kick it to the back of the newspaper.
This case is a loser.
At 8:30 a.m., Det.
Lange instructed Shapiro to surrender Simpson by 11 a.m. that day and the lawyer agreed.
Because of special circumstances in the charge (i.e.
death penalty potential), O.J.
would not be allowed to post bail.
A psychiatrist was present, just in case we need a diminished capacity defense, Shapiro tells Kardashian.
had a gun with him, which he fitfully waves in his hand and holds to his head.
We can and surely will over the next ten weeks debate whether O.J.
killed other people, but we obviously know he didnt kill himself.
And even a bit meta.
When Kardashian convinces O.J.
Simpson is now officially a fugitive from justice.
And despite that, hes not even suffering the most malnourished reputation of anyone in Los Angeles.
Were going to look like morons.
