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Nov. 20, 2005 High profile celebrities who have brushes with the legal authorities can hire high-priced lawyers and sometimes escape the legal consequence of their action. They are also vulnerable to civil lawsuits regardless of the outcome of the criminal case. . This is unfair according to Former Football Star, O.J Simpson. He and Retired Film Star Robert Blake were subjected to an unfair system in which a civil jury essentially reversed a criminal jury's finding by using a lesser standard of proof. This is double jeopardy in O.J . Simpson's opinion. Celebrities Blake and Simpson were both acquitted in criminal court for the murder of their wives, Nicole Brown Simpson and Bonny Lee Bakley Blake. O.J. was also acquitted of the murder of his wife's alleged lover, Ronald Goldman. Later the celebrities were successfully sued in a Civil Court by the families of the murder victims. O.J. Simpson was found liable for the death his wife and her alleged lover in a civil court. He was ordered to pay 33 million dollars to the families Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman. The jury in the civil court found Robert Blake responsible for the death of his wife, and awarded his murdered wife's four children 30 million dollars. The families of O.J. Simpson's murdered wife and alleged lovers have yet to see even a portion of the 33,000 Million Dollars. It may also prove to be a challenge for the children of Bonny Lee Bakley to get money from the aging movie star. Blake claims that he's broke and owes more money than he has to the Internal Revenue Service. Bakley's daughter said she didn't care if she ever got paid, but her lawyer, Eric Dubin, who gave up his law practice for three years to pursue the case will go after the money. There are some with the opinion that the wealthy famous criminal defendants have the resources to protect themselves from the criminal justice system and from being behind bars. They are taken to task in the Civil Courts to correct the injustice that takes place in the Criminal Courts. On the other hand, deep pockets will make them vulnerable to Civil Suits regardless of guilt or innocence. Nevertheless, celebrities need a favorable limelight to thrive. The chances that the two stars will make money by capitalizing on their show biz status is effectively nil . They have the prospect of looking forward to a dismal personal and financial future. Is it "Double Jeopardy" when defendants are acquitted of a criminal charge, different criminal charges are filed for the same crimes and the defendants are convicted? On April of 1992, four white police officers were acquitted of assault with a deadly weapon and assault under color of authority charges in the videotaped beating of an African American man, Rodney King. This led to the rioting in the Los Angeles areas. Fifty-four people were killed, 2,383 injured (221 critically), and 13,212 arrested. Property damage was estimated at more than $700 million for Los Angeles County. There were protest in surrounding communities expressing the belief that black Americans Citizens could not get justice, even when the crime seemed apparent on tape. Charges were files for the same crimes except they called it violating Rodney King's civil rights instead of police brutality. Sergeant Stacey Koon and Officer Laurence Powell were convicted of the crimes and sentenced to thirty months' incarceration. Would the Police Officers have skated on the police brutality charges if the riots had not occurred. If it had not been for George Holliday who trying out his new video camcorder and filmed the police beatings, Rodney King would have simply been another drunk driving and resisting arrest win for the district attorney's office. Rodney King would have gone to jail. Instead, the reputation of the Los Angeles Police was tarnished. King was $3.4 million dollars richer from in a civil lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles. His lawyers received an additional $1 million in attorney fees. ------------ About the author: Bonijean Isaacs is a freelance writer and Astrologer in West Virginia. Email: inez4liberty@gmail.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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