Long before the O.J. Simpson trial became a worldwide debate about racism and justice in America, Marcia Clark was a prosecutor called in on yet another murder case among many in Los Angeles.
At the outset of the investigation into the June 1994 slashing deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, Clark recalled hoping Simpson was not her man."Every time we sent the DNA samples away for testing, I prayed, `Make it be anyone else,' " she said Monday in a telephone interview from New York, where she was promoting her memoir of the criminal trial, "Without a Doubt."
"I'd rather try a serial killer any day of the week. They're villains and the jury has no love for them. They're not intrigued with them."
Clark said she knew Simpson - former football star, film actor and ad pitchman - would be tough to try. "It was clear to me that so many people were in love with him - both men and women. The men would come up to me and say, `Not the Juice. No way.' The guy was an icon."
Clark believes Simpson's 1995 acquittal on murder charges had little to do with innocence and a lot to do with his celebrity status.
She blames a race-conscious, star-struck jury for ignoring the evidence presented in the yearlong criminal trial. Most of the jurors were black, and defense lawyers encouraged jurors to free Simpson as a lesson to alleged racist police.
Much of the same evidence was put before a civil trial. That mostly white jury in February found Simpson responsible for the murders and assessed a $33.5 million penalty, spelling a lifetime of debt for a man who has grown used to living as a millionaire.
Clark blames criminal trial Judge Lance Ito for not standing up to defense tactics. She blames Mark Fuhrman, unscrupulous defense lawyers and courtroom cameras - all of which she said had a hand in Simpson's acquittal.
Yet she insists her book is not about blame. "This is not a get-even book. This was my effort to get across the message of here's what we did and why we did it," said Clark, who has since resigned from the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.