Why You Should Care

Council for Wisconsin Writers Honorable Mention Book

Anatomy of a Trial does more than sort out truth from perception in the country’s most notorious and visible trial. It shows how perception, much of it skewed, emerged and, over the decades, has prevailed over reality. This book should be exhibit #1 for why people shouldn’t believe everything they see, or what others say they are seeing, on TV.

Anyone old enough to remember and who read or watched anything about the 1995 Simpson criminal trial, aka The People vs. Orenthal James Simpson, thinks they know everything about it. The case, from Simpson's infamous pre-arrest slow-speed Bronco chase through trial verdict, held the country captive for more than a year.

Simpson has remained in the news since his 1995 acquittal, mostly because of a string of legal scrapes. The last one involved a Las Vegas hotel stickup in which he claimed he was trying to recover some sports memorabilia. He was found guilty and sentenced to 33 years in prison.

Dozens of books, documentaries and TV dramas, the most recent nominated for several awards, have been produced about the case. TV depictions, in particular, turned losers into heroes and mocked some who did the right thing.

Like most productions geared to entertain, so did the punditry and video snippets during the trial, and the subsequent made-for-broadcast efforts. Most had specific agendas and relied on faulty memories, second-hand information and fabricated details.

I was in the courtroom and behind the scenes every day the case was in court. My agenda was to serve the court and accommodate the media. Anatomy of a Trial is based on my written and audio journals, court documents and the trial transcript, and includes the perspectives of legal and journalism participants and experts. The book concludes with a blueprint for how the courts and media can better meet their responsibilities to the public.