In the words of jury foreman Armanda Cooley, jurors Marsha Rubin-Jackson and Carrie Bess, and a cast of five other former jurors are the answers to the questions that the nation has been asking since the controversial verdict that freed O.J. Simpson. Ships late November. Simultaneous hardcover release from Dove Books. 2 cassettes.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Jaw-droppingly bad,
By
This review is from: Madam Foreman : A Rush to Judgement? (Hardcover)
An attempt to cash in on the Simpson trial, this book is an embarrassment for all concerned. Just how bad it is cannot be conveyed in a mere 1000 words, so you'll simply have to read it yourself -- but maybe that's too high a price to pay. Read the summary provided by Dove Publishing. It's as though they are trying to expose the jurors as the cerebral cripples they are. Couldn't they find one coherent line in what must have been hours of mind-numbing recordings with the "authors"? While reading the book, keep in mind that this is _their_ side of the story; it is told in a manner most sympathetic to the jurors. Still, they come off as spit-drooling morons. The mind reels at the thought of someone hostile to Cooley, Bess, and Jackson having written this. As for Tom Byrnes (he garners "as told to" credit for this mess) and editor Mike Walker, don't hate them... pity them. Then again, perhaps Byrne and Walker have intended this as an indictment of our judicial system, where the search for impartial jurors has evolved into a quest for those who never read newspapers, news magazines, or even watch television more challenging than "Jackass." If this is the case, their success is complete beyond any possible expectations they might have had.
24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
A Rush To Ignorance,
By Rich Shubert (Ossining N.Y.) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Madam Foreman: A Rush to Judgement? (Audio Cassette)
Upon first hearing the not-guilty verdict in the O.J. Simpson trial, I was sure it was because at least some of the Simpson jurors had some self-serving, self-righteous agenda. However, after reading this pathetic, to the point of being comical attempt, to justify their verdict, I have changed my mind... Not only was their so-called "analysis" of the evidence completely devoid of any truly intelligent thought, it contained leaps of logic so vast, Evil Knevil would have been too scared to jump it. For example, one juror said she had doubts O.J. did it because only a "little" blood from the victims was found in Simpsons bronco.If he was truly innocent, then why is ANY of the victims blood in his car! Throughout the trial Johnny Cochran continuously lied or distorted the truth. During the defence for instance, in an attempt to show police "contaminating" the crime scene, Cochran shows a still picture of a policeman "carelessly" walking through a bloody path. Contamination,right? Well, no. Upon simple cross-examination, we find out that only AFTER the crime scene had been processed and all blood evidence been collected did this officer then walk through this bloody path. Was there any mention of this in this book? Of course not. When Cochran tried to show an attempt by police to "plant" evidence, he showed a videotape of Simpsons bedroom depicting the ABSENCE of bloody socks that the police claimed were there. Planting of evidence you say? Again, upon cross-examination the person who shot the videotape testifies that he was there to videotape the premises for insurance purposes only. And that he was told by police NOT to go into the bedroom until AFTER they collected whatever was in there, including,of course, those bloody socks! Did any of these hapless jurors make note of this?...In fact, rare is it, that you will find consecutive coherent sentences, such is the collective wisdom shown here. So, the question is, would I recommend this book to others? To that question, my answer is surprisingly, a resounding YES!...Because while on one hand, this book was so tedious to read,what with its complete utter lack of knowledge and insight of the subject matter, I still found it facinating to delve into the minds of people who have such little powers of deduction...
21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Wrong-headed rationalization,
By
This review is from: Madam Foreman : A Rush to Judgement? (Hardcover)
Like many Americans I was stunned when after just 3 hours the OJ Simpson jury came back with a verdict of not guilty. There was little gaiety even after the civil court brought back a verdict of guilty and set an award of $33.5 million for the families. I thought I might gain some insight into the jury's thoughts through this book. I most certainly did gain some insight, but it wasn't noble or uplifting - it was banal, small-minded, stupifyingly shallow and completely wrong-headed. This book, while apparently an attempt to save face, falls far short of the mark. During the trial Judge Lance Ito might well have saved his breath when instructing the jury on how to view evidence. These people willfully and deliberately ignored his instructions and based their decisions on how they "felt" about evidence, how a witness "seemed" to them. Facts? Evidence? Pshaw...those pesky things. Appallingly bad writing coupled with poorly reasoned rationalizations show these jurors to be people who had their minds made up long before deliberation began. They were far more concerned about their own comfort than about the victims (alive and dead), segregated themselves from non-black jurors, either ignored or willfully failed to consider evidence that didn't support their position, and refused to deliberate. I'm not sure what they hoped to gain in writing this book, but it confirmed what I had long suspected. Race was always the issue - an opportunity for them to pay back the criminal justice system for years of entrenched injustice to black men. And OJ was their chosen hero. Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown weren't even considered. They were just props. While I understand the sad state of the judicial system and how unfairly it has treated black men over the years, the truth is, these jurors picked the wrong guy to champion for two simple reasons. One, he did it - a civil court had no problems wading through the same evidence presented at the criminal trial and coming to that conclusion. Two, Simpson could quite simply care less about the black "cause" as regards the courts. He just simply isn't interested in anything but himself. He prefers the company of whites, spends his time and money on self-gratification, and has never expressed even the slightest interest in helping improve conditions for blacks in America through word or deed. Then, as now, he was nothing more than an ego-driven wife-beating bully without a shred of interest in black education, black health care, black poverty, black justice. His only interest in racism was what it could do to get him out of the worst jam he had ever gotten himself into. This book appears to be nothing more than a poorly written attempt by these jurors to rationalize their despicable act of jury nullification which resulted in allowing this man to walk free simply because of the color of his skin. Jury nullification laws protect them from prosecution, but in my opinion their actions make them as guilty of the murders as Simpson himself. Disgusting.
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