Did OJ’s Arrogance Get Him 33 Years?

The Juice is no longer loose. But if he’d taken a last minute deal offered by prosecutors, he would have been loose a lot sooner. OJ’s friend Thomas Scotto is talking to reporters, telling them that OJ was adamant that he would not serve time and refused a variety of deals. According to OJ’s lawyers, none of the offers “were very palatable to us or OJ.” According to a public defender however, OJ turned down a plea deal towards the end of the trial that would have given him only 3 years instead of the 33 he now faces.

Oops.

Why the hell was OJ so confident? The judge crucified him during sentencing, calling him “ignorant and arrogant.” This is the same case where OJ was caught on tape holding up people in a hotel room at gunpoint. The crimes he was charged with had possible sentences of life in prison, and the entire robbery and kidnapping was on tape. I don’t know how many times I can highlight that fact. And the plea deal came towards the end of the trial when the damning evidence had survived evidentiary challenges and was already admitted. And his attorneys did not find 3 years palatable?

OJ pleaded with the judge that he didn’t know what he was doing was wrong, because it was “his stuff” and he was just trying to “confront friends.” Right, just like that time my friend and I had a disagreement, and in order to solve things I broke into his hotel room with a loaded handgun and demanded that he give me all of his personal belongings. That sure solved that dilemma!

His attorneys also downplayed things, claiming this was not your usual kidnapping. “This isn’t one of those kidnappings where you have people egregiously detained, tied up, pushed into a safe,” said his attorney Gabe Grasso. Of course, I mean this was just your standard hotel room robbery where you are ordering someone around with a loaded gun in their face. Just one of those kidnappings. Ho hum.

Of course, all attorneys sometimes have to make statements that make outside observers raise an objective eyebrow. And factoring in parole, OJ’s actual time in jail could amount to only 9 years. But where was the zealous advocacy when OJ was offered a seemingly sweetheart plea deal in the face of a potential life sentence?

Even though taking the deal is the defendant’s ultimate decision, sometimes as an attorney you need to be a little realistic with your client. Was that the case here? Or was OJ really that cocky? I just cannot truly believe that an attorney in this case would be very confident in securing a not guilty verdict, or even a light sentence. This is OJ Simpson on trial for an armed robbery and kidnapping that is on tape. I am therefore assuming that OJ’s arrogance was the real determining factor. Maybe because OJ got away with murder, he thought that he could get away with anything?