Rodney King And OJ Simpson Trial

Orenthal James Simpson is a NFL Hall of Famer and extremely popular celebrity in the Hollywood scene. Rodney Glen King is an average citizen, a taxi driver even, born and raised in California. What could these two complete opposites possibly have in common? Trials that would cause an uproar in the nation based on the color of their skin. In the 1990s, racial tensions were at a consistent peak, and the trials of Rodney King and OJ Simpson fueled the fire that ravished through California and across the United States. By comparing the Rodney King and OJ Simpson trials, circumstance and the victims are most essential to the cases.
On March 3rd, 1991 the LA cops followed Rodney King in a high speed car chase. When over, the cops relentlessly beat

O.J and Nicole’s marriage had fallen apart due to physical abuse by O.J. Several documents from police reports show that O.J was capable of doing harm. He was also a jealous man, always having a controlling arm behind Nicole’s back. When found, Nicole’s head was nearly decapitated and Ron Goldman was brutally stabbed, convincing the prosecution that whoever committed the slaying of these two young lives, must have been fueled with anger. Along with the double homicide OJ faced, he was charged with resisting arrest. The day of his arrest O.J fled and lead cops into a public televised car chase in his white Bronco in Orange County. For more than 2 hours OJ held the cops on a low-speed chase, holding a gun to his head after leaving a suicide note at home. Finally, at nearly 10 pm, OJ turned himself into the police. OJ Simpson’s trial was one of the first to use DNA evidence which was then used to prove he was at the scene of the murder. However, OJ’s defense team “The Dream Team” had more in store for the prosecution. The trial that had started out as a double homicide had turned into something more, a trial of race and police brutality. OJ’s dream team claimed that Mark Fuhrman had planted evidence because of his ethnicity and after a release of very racist

In Rodney’s case, it was against him, as his jury was a mostly white jury with only one piece of evidence, the video. In O.J’s case, it was in his favor, as his mostly black jury believed the possibility of a racist LAPD detective framing the superstar. Due to the emphasis on the race of the defense or prosecution however, another problem arises. The crimes themselves were blurred in the grand scheme of the trials. People felt as though whether or not one race trumps another was more important than justice