"When the Public Distrusts Police Officers, Criminal Defendants Benefit"

"Whatever one thinks about Simpson's guilt or innocence in the double murder, it's easy to understand why jurors in the case would have questions—even doubts—about a case investigated by officers whose colleagues had beaten Rodney King and by a detective whose racism was something he bragged about. The LAPD had forfeited its presumption of honesty."

Jim Newton at the Los Angeles Times discusses the most significant aspect of O.J. Simpson's trial during the 1990s.