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Wednesday, June 12, 2019

Christopher Darden on the Record About OJ Trial

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Christopher Darden still thinks about Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman as June 13 marks the 25th anniversary of their murders.

Darden was among the speakers at Crime Con June 7-9 in New Orleans. He said this is a profoundly sad time of year.

“Twenty-five years is a long time to be dead,” Darden said. “I don’t feel any better about it today than I did 25 years ago. It never leaves you. Her head was attached to her body by a string.”

Darden said he knew the case so well he felt like he was there when it happened.

Darden rolled through names of O.J. Simpson’s defense lawyers he was up against in the trial. “Say what you want to say, Johnnie Cochran was a brilliant lawyer,” adding that he learned from him.

Robert Kardashian left a legacy – “big booties,” Darden said.

Darden said F. Lee Bailey watches everything he does. “We used to call him The Flea,” Darden said. “He’s bitter. I don’t think he could practice law in a kindergarten class.” Darden said Bailey basically called him Marcia Clark’s slave. “We lose Johnnie and Kardashian, and this man keeps on kicking,” Darden said.

He said Bob Shapiro is making money on LegalZoom, and Alan Dershowitz, “in his heart of hearts, he’s in love with me.”

Darden said there is no justice when everybody has a financial interest in the outcome of a case. He flashed a slide of the book "Madam Foreman: A Rush to Judgment." “It was a 10-month trial,” Darden said. “That’s a slow, deliberate walk.” He said Fred and Kim Goldman are the only people who should have gotten to write a book, although he did. “My book sold more copies than yours,” he told Cochran, adding that he would smile if he were here.

It was always assumed Shapiro was trying to be the first author on the case because he was always typing on a laptop. “(Judge) Ito is the only one who didn’t write a book, although when I see him, I encourage him to,” Darden said.

He wishes he had never had Simpson try on the gloves. “I can’t walk it back.” He had seen Simpson wearing Bruno Magli shoes that left a print at the crime scene on the sidelines of NFL games.

Darden said it was hard to win a trial when the lead detective, Mark Fuhrman, who was known to have used racist language, took the Fifth regarding planting or manufacturing evidence.

Race is an issue in every case, Darden said. “I became an object of race hatred,” he said, being accused of being an apologist for Fuhrman. “If you are prosecutor in this room today, thinking about a high-profile case, you better think about race.”

He said he believes black lives matter. “It doesn’t mean white and brown don’t.”

Darden said he has learned that anybody is capable of killing anybody else if they feel properly motivated, even if they are someone like Simpson, who had a Heisman Trophy, was in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and had a family. He showed a slide of Simpson as a football player next to a regular picture of him. “I wonder what advice young O.J. would give to old O.J.”

Darden has also learned that the truth will eventually find its way to the light.

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