Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: OJ Simpson Murder Trial

To get a "legal answer", an attorney from California should be answering this. Maybe even someone from the LA County DA's office (http://da.co.la.ca.us/).

I'm a Michigan assistant prosecuting attorney. I'm not licensed to practice in California. So, this is just a personal opinion: I understood at the time that the LA District Attorney (at the time, it was Gil Garcetti) had the authority to file the charge in any of the counties in his district ... and he chose to file it in downtown LA, not in the Brentwood area (where the murders happened) because the courtroom facilities in the downtown building made security easier. Vincent Bugliosi (the LA Assitant DA who prosecuted Charles Manson in the "Helter Skelter" trial), wrote a teriffic book that explained why this was a MAJOR mistake. Why? If the case was filed in Brentwood (as it could ... and should), the jury pool would have been different ... and much less likely to buy into the Dream Team's b.s.

Bugliosi's book is called "Outrage: The Five Reasons Why O.J. Simpson Got Away With Murder" (Dell paperback: approx $7.50, or less.). I recommend it (even tho Vince thinks he's smarter than everyone else, and lets you know). He points out quite a few goofs by the DAs and the Judge, and he makes a lot of sense. The end of the book includes how he'd have done the closing argument, and how he'd have countered Johnny Cochran.