SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) - People across the country and in San Diego were gripped by the O.J. Simpson murder trial.
In light of the possible new evidence, I revisited the case and the local reaction to the verdict. And among those watching in the San Diego County District Attorney’s office was Linda Miller who served as the office spokesperson at the time.
“It's funny to look back and remember that all of us in the DA's conference room where waiting for the verdict and being so surprised and being surprised that was the verdict,” she said.
At a local beauty shop many thought the jury reached the right decision, citing the evidence and its presentation in court.
Now the question is: would the recently turned over knife, if actually part of the crime, have changed anything.
“It could have had a very big value, it might have had no value,” explained criminal defense attorney, Allen Bloom. “So it could have been everything and it could have been nothing, we don't know what's on it now and with 20 years of degradation that occurred here.”
But the court where O.J. sat is very different than the court of public opinion including one high school classroom where a majority of students watching the coverage said they thought O.J was guilty of at least one count of murder.
Still, defense attorney Bloom said the jury's decision then sent a strong message on the evidence:
“No matter what everyone thought or felt in their gut or what emotion there was or speculation there was, jury said we don't believe there's enough hard evidence to prove it.”
It's not clear whether that knife would have been the hard evidence needed since we don't know what it contains, if anything.