On Thursday’s “CNN Newsroom,” CNN Legal Analyst Areva Martin stated that the statement made by O.J. Simpson’s daughter Arnelle at her dad’s parole hearing reminded her of what Senator John McCain’s (R-AZ) daughter Meghan said about her dad.
Martin said that the statement by Simpson’s daughter “reminded me so much of what Senator McCain’s daughter has said about her dad, that he’s her rock, he’s her friend, he’s her confidant. So, you heard this very compelling testimony from O.J. Simpson’s daughter.”
Anchor Brooke Baldwin cut in to say, “Except one of them has brain cancer and the other was convicted of –.”
Martin then stated, “I want to address that, Brooke, too, because as I’m listening to Jeffrey and Mark, for me, O.J. has always been about race, class, and justice. And although I didn’t agree with everything O.J. Simpson said, and this concept of him being a person that’s lived a conflict-free life, of course, that’s not true. And of course, the issues of domestic violence, as they related to his second wife were very serious, and we should all take them very seriously. But I sat here and counted the times that he said he was sorry, and the times that he expressed remorse. We’re not here today to relitigate what he did with respect to his first wife, with respect to domestic violence. We’re not here to relitigate the trial where he was charged for killing his ex-wife, and the way to — we’re here about the robbery that happened in that hotel room, and we’re here talking about, should he be paroled because of his conduct, because he’s shown himself to have been rehabilitated?”
She continued, “And when you think about what the prison system should be doing and what these hearings should be about, he’s a model prisoner. He did what they told him to do. He said he would be conflict-free in prison, that he would avoid trouble, that he would not have a disciplinary record, and he did that. And not one of the commentators, and Jeff and Mark, with all due respect, have really given him credit for doing that. And that’s the message that this should be sending to other prisoners, is when you do your time, and you’re conflict-free and you avoid disciplinary actions in prison, you should be given an opportunity if you are low risk. And I think that the conversation should be focused on that and not be about what should have happened in that murder trial. Because that’s not relevant today.”
(h/t WFB)
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett