TRUE STORY, followed by a QUESTION

Murder as a Tort

I played golf with OJ. Really. I was a 'single' one Summer afternoon at the Hansen Dam course, back when it still ended with a par 3. I'd signed up with the starter, and even though I could have gone off alone, I delivered my patented little speech, "Hey, golf is a social game; I'll wait for someone to come along." I was sitting on a bench around the corner from the starter's window. I heard some conversation coming from the starter's window, and then a couple of seconds later this White dude looks around the corner at me, and then pulls back. And then there's some more conversation and then the loud speaker says, "Bananas, check in with the starter." I get up and ambled around the corner and there was OJ, bigger than life, standing with the White dude. I walked up to the window and the starter tells me I can play with Mr. Simpson if I want to. Blase Laztheist that I am, I say "sure." This was just after the civil trial had found him responsible for his ex-wife's bloody demise. I paid and then went back to my bag and then, still ambling, went to the first tee. OJ had to fight his way through a crowd of one adoring fan who wanted his autograph and to feel the thrill of being so close to him.

One of THOSE golfers, OJ asked me if I wanted to play for something. What I might have said was, "if I win, you have to confess." But what I actually said was, "Uh....." A very long "Uh...." He interrupted by G# "Uh..." and asked me what my handicap was. I, like one of THOSE golfers, said I was around an 11. (I was a 6 then.) His response was that he was a 13, but that he'd play me straight up, and "How about a dollar a hole, birdies are double and dollar, dollar, dollar nassau." I did the math and calculated that I had enough to cover my losses if I was totally skunked. Then I okayed the wager. I lost $3. But had I invoked the rules of golf, I would won. Mr. Simpson routinely broke a rule calling for a two stroke penalty upon each occurrence. He would hit a bad shot and then swear at himself, reach into his golf bag, grab a ball and drop it where the ball he's just hit had lain. He'd wack away and say something like, 'that's the way I should have hit it.' In effect, he'd played the wrong ball during the hole, a two-stroke penalty. I didn't call him on it. It was obvious he felt there was nothing wrong with what he was doing. He finished the hole with the original ball, not the "practice" ball. But he had to know he was breaking a rule. But as so many commentators pointed out, he grew up being told repeatedly that he was above rules. And I think he believes it.

I caught a lot of flack from those of my friends who believe in justice and the American Way. They all said I should have turned down the offer to play with OJ, and maybe even spit on him, for Justice's sake. Others, the more cynical, just yawned and wanted to know what kind of clubs he was playing and if he 'sliced.' (Much laughter about OJ 'slicing.")

And so my question: If someone you don't know is accused of killing someone you don't know, and either there's no trial or the jury acquits the supposed killer, should the supposed killer be forever hated and shunned by people who never knew him or the victim? I mean as a general rule.....