Diana Zuluaga

ENG 2150, Dr. Blankenship

March 8, 2016

Paper 1: Rhetorical Analysis of a Cultural Artifact

Dear Dr. Blankenship and Writer’s Group:

“ The Importance of Police Procedures During Criminal Scenes” by Diana Zuluaga is to analyze and go in depth on the new FX series, The people V. O.J Simpson: An American Crime Story. Being the most talked about topic in the early 1990’s this controversial topic has many points of views, making it a great rhetoric analysis.  Due to the magnitude of the bloody knife crime is the main reason why I made this my topic. I’m fascinated by all the conspiracies created after this event. It has been a difficult topic since it can be very contradicting, but observing different approaches and reading various articles on the topic have helped me come to my own conclusion. Is O.J Simpson guilty of double homicide, or was he being framed? O.J Simpson is declared innocent after finding different evidences who question the LAPD allegations against him. Not only there were a few evidences that didn’t add up, but some procedures done by the LAPD weren’t appropriate for this type of crime. A number of evidence weren’t collected on time by the forensic team, causing contamination within the crime scene. I have organized my draft according to each event that happened during the TV show, as well as backups for the thesis created from outside sources. The audience I keep in mind as I wrote my first draft is those who believe O.J Simpson being guilty. Giving different evidences why he must be innocent is a great challenge while writing this paper. As i mentioned earlier, some evidences can be very contradicting and finding the right words to describe the perfect argument can be difficult for me. Is my thesis well understood and backed up correctly? Do you understand my point? Am I convincing and clear enough? Keep these questions in mind as you read my Rhetorical Analysis Paper.

“The Importance of Police Procedures During Criminal Scenes”

by Diana Zuluaga

TV series have gained more popularity in the past few years after the rise of entertainment companies through technology. One of the most controversial topics worldwide is crime with the capacity of gathering a wide audience to entertain. Who wouldn’t like a little bit of action, suspense and mystery to trigger their minds? Crime is a topic that has been around for centuries. It’s unfortunately part of our daily local news. Outrageous criminal cases are shown each day followed by the actions taken by our criminal justice officers. Is everything we see in the media one hundred percent accurate, or are there cases where the media or our own justice system filters certain topics to manipulate a particular purpose for their advantage? Various cases in history have had such powerful story lines leading entertainment companies use these captivating topics to attract its market audience and recreate these real life stories into movies or television shows.

The television series, American Crime Story: The People V. O.J Simpson shown on FX TV, has brought back the biggest criminal trial of the 90’s for entertainment. The cover picture of the series, Cuba Gooding JR who plays the role of Orenthal James Simpson, also known as O.J Simpson or “ The Juice” is mysterious and scruffy. The dark background and shade of orange throughout the picture could be a form of symbolizing jail and it’s orange uniform. While O.J is covering his face with both of his hands, the left hand is covered by a leather glove. This image symbolizes the conflict taken place in the courtroom. Is O.J Simpson guilty of double homicide, or was he framed by someone? “The trial isn’t the whole story. This is”

The FX series depict O.J Simpson getting inside a limousine on his way to the airport, while a curious neighbor approached a brutal crime scene. On June 12, 1994, a tragic bloody crime took place in Brentwood, Los Angeles. The victims were Nicole Brown Simpson, who had been married for seven years and divorced to the well known NFL football player, O.J Simpson. In addition was a waiter from a restaurant Brown use to frequent, Ronald Goldman, also known as her romantic friend. Brown and Goldman were found dead outside her condominium and had been attacked cruelly with a knife, cutting her throat including multiple wounds from stabs in her skull. OJ Simpson had left to Chicago at 11:45pm on June 12, not long after the crime had occurred. He was reached out by Detective Tom Lange and informed of his ex wife’s death. As shown in the FX series Detective Lange had questioned the fact that OJ hadn’t asked “how had Nicole died” drawing attention and making him a primary suspect. Numerous evidence were found in the bloody crime scene as well as in OJ Simpson’s house, pointing out all allegations against the NFL superstar. Was OJ Simpson really guilty of murdering his ex wife while his two children were sleeping upstairs where the crime had taken place, or was the crime scene manipulated to frame Mr.Simpson?

An important factor to consider while making allegations against OJ Simpson is both of his children’s lives. On the night of the homicide, Justin Ryan Simpson and Sydney Brooke Simpson were sleeping upstairs of Nicole Brown’s condominium. As a father, would OJ have taken the chance of letting his children wake up in the middle of the commotion to see their mother brutally laying dead on the floor swimming in blood? A parent has to be out of their mind to want to traumatize their children lives in this form. OJ’s reaction to these accusation were shocking. He was in a non believer stage, when on June 17th he got into his white Ford Bronco, with his best friend, Cowlings as a driver and had an escapade around LA for approximately 2 hours. He carried a gun with him, one who he wanted to use to kill himself with, and a picture frame of his kids and Nicole. The Ford Bronco was the same car found outside his house that was part of the evidence found by the LAPD since it had specks of blood on the door handle as well as the inside of the car. His actions were a factor of insanity. OJ was overwhelmed with the whole situation, leading to almost losing his mind.

Season 1, episode 1 “From the Ashes of Tragedy” opens up with a real video of a violent case of police misconduct taken place in Los Angeles, California. The Los Angeles Police Department had been accused of racism in the 90’s after the chase of Rodney King on March 3rd, 1991. King was brutally kicked and beat by four police officers after refusing to stop his vehicle for the LAPD. Broken bones, skulls, shattered denture and kidney problems were the outcome of the abusive treatment King had received. Mark Furhman, an LAPD detective was the first to find all the key evidence of the Brown and Goldman’s homicide. There were rumors that Fuhrman had history of racial discrimination, and could possibly had falsified police reports. On the actual trial, when Fuhrman was interviewed, he had pleaded to use the fifth amendment and refused to talk about the topic. Fuhrman was also asked if he had “planted or manufactured any evidence in this case” and he again pleaded to utilize his access of the fifth amendment. The simple fact that Fuhrman had pleaded his fifth amendment already grows suspicion on the evidence found by him. OJ Simpson was innocent and had been framed by either the LAPD or someone with the intentions of getting him condemn.

Detective Mark Fuhrman found a black leather glove behind Simpsons back house In Episode 1 “From the Ashes of Tragedy” which ended up being the pair to another black glove found in Brown and Goldman’s crime scene. After doing some DNA test on the glove, a chemical preservative was found to be mixed in with Simpson’s blood, called Ethylene Diamine Triacetic Acid (EDTA). EDTA is a preservative used by forensic scientist to stop blood clotting in test tubes. This evidence is as powerful as all the other evidence detectives have gathered to accuse OJ Simpson of being guilty. If the DNA test had EDTA mixed in the blood, that means someone had to be responsible of falsely placing Simpsons blood on the gloves as well as in other places were his blood was found. To top it of, not only the gloves didn’t fit OJ’s hands but a pair of socks were found in OJ’s bed room filled with Nicole’s blood containing the same preservative (EDTA) found on the gloves.

In the early stages of DNA testing, the case of OJ Simpson research had been unsuccessful. Due to the contamination of the crime scene, the evidences obtained through the procedure of DNA were not clean and clear to make a correct diagnostic. Doctor Henry Lee, the most respected forensic analyst in the world, was astonished by the disregard of the LAPD basic procedure. “Everyone stepping over the blood contaminating the evidence was unacceptable for a case this important.” Not only contamination of the crime scene, but the disregard of important clues weren’t considered. Nicole Brown Simpson had drops of blood on her back that could have possibly been the suspect’s blood, but weren’t gathered as part of the clues. Why weren’t these obvious clues taken into the case? Was the LAPD trying to hide some evidences to not conflict with their main focus, OJ Simpson’s accusations?

On 1994, the NBA finals were completely interrupted giving focus to the most talked about trial in American History, OJ Simpson’s criminal trial. Simpson became the number one person most watch around the entire world. It was such a big hit, that the well known Domino’s pizza had business like that of the super bowl days.(3)

Over 2.5 million viewers, adults of 18 to 49 years of age(4) have been watching American Crime Story: The People V. O.J Simpson none stop, re-living the most horrendous homicide case of the 90‘s.We will never know the real reason of the actions taken by the LAPD. There is still questions about the amount of substantial evidences not being analyzed when the scene had freshly taken place. The wide pattern of police corruption had lead to assumptions on O.J Simpson being framed. Most evidence found on the crime scene could have easily been manipulated by an unknown character, if not the LAPD detective Fuhrman focus in only one suspect. Due to all the pressure by the media and the prosecutors, O.J Simpson had suspicious actions, but at the end of the trial was convicted innocent.