Court of Public Opinion Harsh on Simpson

Sept. 17, 2007 — -- Scour the Internet blogs and it's hard to find an O.J. Simpson supporter these days.

The former NFL player -- best known for his acquittal in the murders of his ex-wife and another man -- now faces up to a 30-year sentence after his arrest Sunday in a Las Vegas hotel.

Prosecutors in Las Vegas told reporters that Simpson "is facing a lot of time." The high-profile athlete turned minor actor turned author ("If I Did It") is also having a rough time in the court of public opinion.

"My people are glad he got arrested," New York City radio talk show host Ron Kuby told ABCNEWS.com. "It's a second chance to put him behind bars. He got away with murder."

Kuby, a left-leaning civil rights lawyer, believed Simpson was guilty then and now. "I sided with my white friends on this," he said.

In 1995, after 134 days of televised testimony, Simpson was acquitted of the double murder of ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman. The criminal trial mesmerized the world with a "dream team" of lawyers, witnesses out of central casting (such as serial guest Cato Kalin) and dramatic one-liners: "If the glove doesn't fit, you must acquit."

"I wonder if he can get out of this charge using Johnnie Cochran and the dreaded Chewbacca defense?" wrote Ariel Zellman on simplydumb.com. The blogger was referring to the lawyer who successfully represented O.J. Simpson during his murder trial, and a fictional legal strategy used in television's "South Park" episode -- an argument deliberately used to confuse the jury.

One Parker, Colo., blogger echoed Simpson's final pledge after he was set free -- that he would find his wife's killer.

"Well," he writes on Topix.net, "he has checked out every resort and golf course in the country for the killers. He might as well conduct another 'sting operation' in jail. Maybe the killers are hiding there."

News reports said Simpson's defended entering the hotel room as part of a covert operation to recover sports memorabilia.

"A decade and change later, no one's buying it," said another blogger on Topix.net. "Now when O.J. incredulously asks, 'Why would I do that? Do you think I'm that stupid?' The answer is an emphatic, 'Yes.'"