The 30 for 30 special on OJ has been very interesting and very accurate, in my opinion. I have an different perspective on the topic from most people since I lived in LA at the time of the Rodney King verdict, LA riots, and the OJ trial. I lived in west LA, but worked in inner city LA as a General Surgery resident at USC. Also, I spent 2 years performing research using PCR, the technology that was the basis for the scientific evidence against OJ.
I will begin by providing my insight on what it was like to live in LA during that era. I moved to LA from Denver in 1989 and left LA for Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1996. I was born in OKC, but grew up in suburban Denver. I attended a high school in suburban Denver that was as lily white as any in the city. Moving to LA was a huge education in urban culture and sociology. As portrayed by the 30 for 30 special, the gang warfare in LA and the inner city violence was rampant at the time. Inner city LA was a war zone, plain and simple. At the city/county hospital, LA/USC Medical Center, we admitted 25-30 gunshot patients per day, and that number occasionally burgeoned to 50 patients a night. I learned a lot about surgery, but I also learned a lot about the sad realities of life in inner city LA. There were about 2,000 murders per year in LA. "Drive by" shootings were commonplace in inner city neighborhoods. Violent crime was out of control, and the LAPD was equally out of control. The 30 for 30 special did a good job of capturing the spirit of the issues within the LAPD at the time. I was also in the middle of the LA riots that followed the Rodney King verdict. I was a 3rd-year General Surgery resident at USC when Rodney King was assaulted. I knew residents in ENT who treated Rodney King. They confirmed that the guy was beaten to a pulp, suffering over 20 facial fractures, including several fractures that required operative repair. Months later at the time of the Rodney King trial, most of us in LA thought that the cops who delivered the beating were about to receive their just reward in the way of prison time. On the day of the verdict, a Thursday, I was at work (in clinic that afternoon) and completely oblivious to the riots that were starting that afternoon in south central LA. Late in the afternoon we were informed that riots were underway and building to a fever pitch. The hospital closed all clinics and cancelled all elective surgeries. We were told to finish evening rounds and go home early. Normally I wouldn't leave the hospital until 8 or 9pm, but that day we finished rounds around 5 pm. I lived across town in west LA. Even as late as 9pm, the drive would typically take 30 minutes in typical LA traffic. At 5pm, the drive would have taken 90 minutes, although leaving that early was really, really rare for me. But that day the drive home was surreal. First, there was no traffic. Virtually every business had closed and sent their employees home early, so the freeways were empty...a truly surreal image to see. Second, there were fires and smoke visible from the freeways along the drive home. Rioters were breaking into businesses, looting them, and then torching the businesses. I could see huge fires, left and right along the freeways, as businesses burned without any firefighters to be seen. Firefighters were not allowed to respond to the fires because they were being shot at by the looters. There was so much smoke I had to turn on my headlights. When I exited the Santa Monica freeway and drove north to my apartment, I stopped at one intersection where there were over 20 young males who were milling around. When I got to my apartment 10 minutes later, I turned on the TV to see that the grocery market at the corner where I had stopped minutes earlier was now in flames, probably at the hands of the crowd I saw milling around at that corner. About 30 minutes after I got to my apartment, I was looking out of my 10th story apartment window, speaking on the phone to my mother in Denver, when I saw a landmark business (Sammy's Camera store) a mile northeast of my apartment explode in flames. A few minutes later there was an announcement on the news that "all hospital emergency personnel should report for duty." We had been warned by the hospital administration that phone communications might be disrupted, so we should watch TV and plan to return to work if instructed by public service announcements on TV. I dutifully headed to my car to return to work. I was concerned about driving my usual route to work because the riots had started to creep north along my route to the freeway from my apartment. I decided that the safest route to the hospital was to go west--the opposite direction from the hospital--through Beverly Hills and Westwood to the the 405 freeway and then circle back to LA County/USC. The drive was much longer that way, but kept me out of harms way. When I finally arrived at the hospital, I saw a war zone unlike anything that I had seen before (or since). We had 6 to 9 operating rooms going simultaneously with trauma cases. In fact, we had three retro-hepatic IVC injuries--very rare and highly lethal injuries--going on simultaneously. All three patients died. Finally about 5 or 6 AM things started to slow down to a more manageable level. Throughout the day Friday, we saw a steady stream of trauma cases. By Friday night, though, martial law was declared, a strict curfew was set, and the National Guard was called into LA. There was an order for National Guard soldiers to shoot on sight if there were curfew violations. Needless to say, Friday night was one of the slowest nights of trauma call that I ever had at USC. The next morning (Saturday), I finally got to leave the hospital. Driving through the same neighborhood between the freeway and my apartment where the grocery had been burned to the ground, I saw soldiers on the street corners, wearing full riot gear and carrying M-16s. I have never been so happy to see soldiers on US soil! It took several weeks for most of us to fully absorb the extent of the damage to LA, both physically and emotionally. There were entire city blocks that were in rubble because building after building was torched. And the racism towards white people (like me) was rampant. For the next 2 years, it was commonplace to be on the receiving end of racist comments--reverse racism since I am white. I learned a lot about racism from that experience.
Fast forward 2 years and I was returning from my honeymoon in the British Virgin Islands. As my wife and I disembarked from our boat in St. Thomas in the USVI, we saw people at the bar in the marina gathered at a TV. We were curious and approached the bar to see what was going on. We asked others who were watching and were quickly informed that OJ Simpson was suspected of killing his wife and Ron Goldman and was now in a "low speed chase" in a white Bronco. By the time we got back to LA 36 hours later, OJ was in jail. Several months later the trial began. Most people watched out of morbid fascination. I watched the reruns of the court drama late at night out of scientific curiosity. This was the first trial that I remember using DNA evidence. During the two years between the LA riots and the OJ trial, I had taken a research sabbatical in a basic science lab in the Department of Molecular Biology at USC. Among other things, I learned and used PCR (polymerase chain reaction) nearly every day. PCR is a very powerful tool that can be used to amplify either DNA or RNA to create larger concentrations for more accurate testing. PCR is the basis for the DNA testing that was featured so prominently in the OJ trial. DNA testing with PCR linked OJ to the murders. From a scientific perspective, the evidence against OJ was compelling and incontrovertible. OJ's lawyers argued that OJ could be wrongly linked to the murders via contamination of the crime scene samples used for DNA testing with PCR. The sad reality is that argument is completely wrong...actually impossible. Contamination would create a mixture of DNA that would have exonerated OJ, not convicted him. OJ's lawyers managed to manipulate the relatively uneducated group of jurors. As someone who is familiar with PCR testing and the consequences of contamination, the evidence against OJ was very, very clear--OJ was the killer. He was guilty beyond any shadow of a doubt. Although I cannot argue with the 30 for 30 special's theory that the OJ verdict was a form of "pay back" or "victory" for the African-American committee, I see the verdict as more a consequence of a relatively uneducated jury being manipulated by skilled defense lawyers on OJ's "dream team" defense team. It was the first time in my life I realized that justice was not the goal of a trial; winning is the goal. In the OJ trial, everyone on OJ's defense team knew OJ was guilty...they had to know based on the quality and volume of evidence against him. Yet they argued and manipulated and distorted everything that they could to get him off. I remember being incredibly angy. I wasn't angy because of anything having to do with race. I was angry because smart, educated people manipulated less educated people to make certain that justice was not the focus. I remember thinking that there must be a special place in Hell for OJ's team of lawyers because I saw them as co-conspirators in the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.
Anyway, the 30 for 30 special is excellent. If you haven't watched it, I would highly advise doing so. I just wanted to add my perspective...
I will begin by providing my insight on what it was like to live in LA during that era. I moved to LA from Denver in 1989 and left LA for Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1996. I was born in OKC, but grew up in suburban Denver. I attended a high school in suburban Denver that was as lily white as any in the city. Moving to LA was a huge education in urban culture and sociology. As portrayed by the 30 for 30 special, the gang warfare in LA and the inner city violence was rampant at the time. Inner city LA was a war zone, plain and simple. At the city/county hospital, LA/USC Medical Center, we admitted 25-30 gunshot patients per day, and that number occasionally burgeoned to 50 patients a night. I learned a lot about surgery, but I also learned a lot about the sad realities of life in inner city LA. There were about 2,000 murders per year in LA. "Drive by" shootings were commonplace in inner city neighborhoods. Violent crime was out of control, and the LAPD was equally out of control. The 30 for 30 special did a good job of capturing the spirit of the issues within the LAPD at the time. I was also in the middle of the LA riots that followed the Rodney King verdict. I was a 3rd-year General Surgery resident at USC when Rodney King was assaulted. I knew residents in ENT who treated Rodney King. They confirmed that the guy was beaten to a pulp, suffering over 20 facial fractures, including several fractures that required operative repair. Months later at the time of the Rodney King trial, most of us in LA thought that the cops who delivered the beating were about to receive their just reward in the way of prison time. On the day of the verdict, a Thursday, I was at work (in clinic that afternoon) and completely oblivious to the riots that were starting that afternoon in south central LA. Late in the afternoon we were informed that riots were underway and building to a fever pitch. The hospital closed all clinics and cancelled all elective surgeries. We were told to finish evening rounds and go home early. Normally I wouldn't leave the hospital until 8 or 9pm, but that day we finished rounds around 5 pm. I lived across town in west LA. Even as late as 9pm, the drive would typically take 30 minutes in typical LA traffic. At 5pm, the drive would have taken 90 minutes, although leaving that early was really, really rare for me. But that day the drive home was surreal. First, there was no traffic. Virtually every business had closed and sent their employees home early, so the freeways were empty...a truly surreal image to see. Second, there were fires and smoke visible from the freeways along the drive home. Rioters were breaking into businesses, looting them, and then torching the businesses. I could see huge fires, left and right along the freeways, as businesses burned without any firefighters to be seen. Firefighters were not allowed to respond to the fires because they were being shot at by the looters. There was so much smoke I had to turn on my headlights. When I exited the Santa Monica freeway and drove north to my apartment, I stopped at one intersection where there were over 20 young males who were milling around. When I got to my apartment 10 minutes later, I turned on the TV to see that the grocery market at the corner where I had stopped minutes earlier was now in flames, probably at the hands of the crowd I saw milling around at that corner. About 30 minutes after I got to my apartment, I was looking out of my 10th story apartment window, speaking on the phone to my mother in Denver, when I saw a landmark business (Sammy's Camera store) a mile northeast of my apartment explode in flames. A few minutes later there was an announcement on the news that "all hospital emergency personnel should report for duty." We had been warned by the hospital administration that phone communications might be disrupted, so we should watch TV and plan to return to work if instructed by public service announcements on TV. I dutifully headed to my car to return to work. I was concerned about driving my usual route to work because the riots had started to creep north along my route to the freeway from my apartment. I decided that the safest route to the hospital was to go west--the opposite direction from the hospital--through Beverly Hills and Westwood to the the 405 freeway and then circle back to LA County/USC. The drive was much longer that way, but kept me out of harms way. When I finally arrived at the hospital, I saw a war zone unlike anything that I had seen before (or since). We had 6 to 9 operating rooms going simultaneously with trauma cases. In fact, we had three retro-hepatic IVC injuries--very rare and highly lethal injuries--going on simultaneously. All three patients died. Finally about 5 or 6 AM things started to slow down to a more manageable level. Throughout the day Friday, we saw a steady stream of trauma cases. By Friday night, though, martial law was declared, a strict curfew was set, and the National Guard was called into LA. There was an order for National Guard soldiers to shoot on sight if there were curfew violations. Needless to say, Friday night was one of the slowest nights of trauma call that I ever had at USC. The next morning (Saturday), I finally got to leave the hospital. Driving through the same neighborhood between the freeway and my apartment where the grocery had been burned to the ground, I saw soldiers on the street corners, wearing full riot gear and carrying M-16s. I have never been so happy to see soldiers on US soil! It took several weeks for most of us to fully absorb the extent of the damage to LA, both physically and emotionally. There were entire city blocks that were in rubble because building after building was torched. And the racism towards white people (like me) was rampant. For the next 2 years, it was commonplace to be on the receiving end of racist comments--reverse racism since I am white. I learned a lot about racism from that experience.
Fast forward 2 years and I was returning from my honeymoon in the British Virgin Islands. As my wife and I disembarked from our boat in St. Thomas in the USVI, we saw people at the bar in the marina gathered at a TV. We were curious and approached the bar to see what was going on. We asked others who were watching and were quickly informed that OJ Simpson was suspected of killing his wife and Ron Goldman and was now in a "low speed chase" in a white Bronco. By the time we got back to LA 36 hours later, OJ was in jail. Several months later the trial began. Most people watched out of morbid fascination. I watched the reruns of the court drama late at night out of scientific curiosity. This was the first trial that I remember using DNA evidence. During the two years between the LA riots and the OJ trial, I had taken a research sabbatical in a basic science lab in the Department of Molecular Biology at USC. Among other things, I learned and used PCR (polymerase chain reaction) nearly every day. PCR is a very powerful tool that can be used to amplify either DNA or RNA to create larger concentrations for more accurate testing. PCR is the basis for the DNA testing that was featured so prominently in the OJ trial. DNA testing with PCR linked OJ to the murders. From a scientific perspective, the evidence against OJ was compelling and incontrovertible. OJ's lawyers argued that OJ could be wrongly linked to the murders via contamination of the crime scene samples used for DNA testing with PCR. The sad reality is that argument is completely wrong...actually impossible. Contamination would create a mixture of DNA that would have exonerated OJ, not convicted him. OJ's lawyers managed to manipulate the relatively uneducated group of jurors. As someone who is familiar with PCR testing and the consequences of contamination, the evidence against OJ was very, very clear--OJ was the killer. He was guilty beyond any shadow of a doubt. Although I cannot argue with the 30 for 30 special's theory that the OJ verdict was a form of "pay back" or "victory" for the African-American committee, I see the verdict as more a consequence of a relatively uneducated jury being manipulated by skilled defense lawyers on OJ's "dream team" defense team. It was the first time in my life I realized that justice was not the goal of a trial; winning is the goal. In the OJ trial, everyone on OJ's defense team knew OJ was guilty...they had to know based on the quality and volume of evidence against him. Yet they argued and manipulated and distorted everything that they could to get him off. I remember being incredibly angy. I wasn't angy because of anything having to do with race. I was angry because smart, educated people manipulated less educated people to make certain that justice was not the focus. I remember thinking that there must be a special place in Hell for OJ's team of lawyers because I saw them as co-conspirators in the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.
Anyway, the 30 for 30 special is excellent. If you haven't watched it, I would highly advise doing so. I just wanted to add my perspective...
