THE sensational acquittal yesterday of OJ Simpson has left America herself on trial.

That a jury should take just four fours to dismiss the mountain of evidence amassed during the nine-month trial means the jurors could have had no faith in the system - and gives the system little cause to put its faith in jurors.

Whether or not OJ murdered his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ronald Goldman appeared to be a rather secondary issue for the jury of nine blacks and three whites.

Instead, they convicted the Los Angeles Police Department, whose endemic racism was personified by Mark Fuhrman, the corrupt copper whose lies on oath were ruthlessly exposed by the defence.

Racism has come home to roost with terrible irony when the police cannot secure a conviction against a defendant, regardless of the evidence, because he is black.

OJ's declaration that he would tirelessly pursue the true killers formed a sharp, if incredible counterpoint to his attempts to make his own name a trade mark, thus assuring himself a slice of the massive financial returns the trial will generate.

The discharged jurors refused to talk to attorneys or the press, perhaps because they want to sell their yarns to the highest bidders. We are told that even Judge Lance Ito may write a book. It seems that everyone involved in the OJ trial is a winner - except justice.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.