Playing to the Crowd

Lawyers do battle over O.J. and sympathy as the scandal of the year enters the courts

The court of public opinion may be one of America's most maligned institutions. But in every high-profile case, it's still the place where everybody goes to plead. So with the nation largely -- and, for the most part, miserably -- poised between affection for O.J. Simpson and revulsion at the bloody slicing of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman, a public game is in play between O.J.'s accusers and his defenders. The aim is to persuade people that they do not know what they think they know. What they think they know is that O.J. is the world's nicest guy, a smile...

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