The Law Office of DAVID WILTON

The End of OJ

"The verdict was not a shock. We knew it going in, there was a lot of baggage." - Yale Galanter, attorney for OJ Simpson.

I remember well being transfixed by OJ's slow speed highway chase televised in the early 90s as I prepared to go out all those years ago. It delayed my alcohol consumption by at least two hours. That was pre-law school.

I remember the bitter recriminations of the Goldman family over the following years. I don't recall Nicole's family expressing similar feelings so publicly. Well, I suppose today they will celebrate.

It's ironic how such a hokey and ham fisted "criminal" attempt to recover what was his resulted in a conviction when more and better evidence failed in LA. Kidnapping? That's far-fetched. False inprisonment, maybe.

Kidnapping is traditionally characterized by a sense of taking or removing the person, as in to abduct. However, some jurisdictions, Nevada apparently being one of them, essentially define it as false inprisonment.

First reports of OJ's end from Reuters.

Photo slideshow, also from Reuters.

Election Day 2008

Learning the basics of Mexico's crisis or Narco 101

The news from Mexico does not cease to startle, with the latest story seemingly outdoing the previous one. Two dozen execution victims are found slain in a rural field. Grenades are tossed into crowds celebrating the country’s Independence Day in Morelia, Michoacan, a colonial city designated a world heritage site. A long-imprisoned kingpin launches a website with cool photos like any other star.

In the Yucatan, a privately-owned airplane that crashes with more than three tons of cocaine aboard was once connected to the CIA’s “rendition” flights of suspected Middle Eastern terrorists, according to European Union investigators. And just like the plane that dropped from the sky, the story quickly vanishes from the radar screen.

What ties these stories together, of course, is their connection to the murky world of illegal drug trafficking.

As financial markets await a lifeline in the United States, Mexico suffers its own crisis. What would a world with a weakening United States and an essentially failing Mexican state look like?

This story from New Mexico State University's Frontera Norte Sur, reprinted in the Newspaper Tree, gives us a glimpse of the failing Mexican state portion of that equation.

Link: Narco 101 - Newspaper Tree El Paso.

La Familia and Mexico's First Terrorist Attack

"What began as a small group of armed men on the prowl to protect their kids from [meth] has turned into a first-rate criminal outfit ... that is just as well-armed and organized as any top-tier drug smuggling organization in Mexico," said George W. Grayson, a long-time Mexico expert at the College of William & Mary in Virginia.

The migration of drug smuggling routes out of the Caribbean and into the heartland and coastal areas of Mexico has created conditions never before seen in that country. The shifting trends of American drug use from cocaine to methamphetamine and the decimation of the Colombian cartels over the last decade and a half have also created a sea change in social conditions. Locally cooked meth is replacing South American cocaine as a profitable alternative that keeps the money and chain of production under tighter Mexican control. Meanwhile, drug use has increased as well, creating a local market for drugs that was nascent only a few years ago.

As a predictable outgrowth of these developments, the country is becoming embroiled in power struggles between the drug syndicates and their expansionist franchises in kidnapping, extortion, people smuggling, and money laundering. And now a troubling new layer of complexity has entered the fray.

The recent grenade attack in Morelia, Michoacan during the tradiional 16 September "el grito" that killed eight people has been termed Mexico's first terrorist attack. All eyes have turned to the shadowy "La Familia" organized crime group. They adamantly deny involvement.

The News of Mexico City has run a story that peeks into the speculation and facts surrounding this group. It's a fascinating read.

The Mexico City News: Society's saviors or sociopaths?

Another story from The News has come online today that briefly discusses La Familia and Los Zetas as possible suspects in the grenade attack.

The Case of Roxanna Brown, Asian Art Historian

I wanted to begin my return to blogging on my professional website with the case of Roxanna Brown. She was a noted Asian art historian who was arrested in Seattle on charges related to alleged fraudulent appraisals. She died a few days later in custody from a perforated ulcer. She was in poor health at the time of her detention and apparently received no medical attention sufficient to treat her condition.

Here is her brother's account of her life and her death.

The LA Times did a fascinating story on Roxanna as well.

• Roxanna Brown: A Passion for Art, a Perilous Pursuit Part 1 of 3
• Roxanna Brown: Her Career Revived, Scholar Turns Tipster Part 2 of 3
• Roxanna Brown: Once an Aid in a Federal Probe, Antiquities Scholar Becomes a Key Target Part 3 of 3