The Felon Behind O.J.'s Bust - Meet Thomas Riccio: Arsonist, prison escapee, stolen goods

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Posted By: boxingcardman

The case was supposed to have been heard in Santa Monica based on the Brentwood location of the crime. A Santa Monica jury pool is going to be predominantly white/hispanic/asian with virtually no blacks. It was a Santa Monica jury that smacked down on Simpson in the civil wrongful death case. Downtown the jury pool is predominantly black and hispanic. The moment the case was transferred every lawyer I knew around here called it either a hung jury or an acquittal; that's how raw the racial tensions were in LA after the King thing. Southern California is so racially and economically segregated that where you file a case has big consequences for how it turns out. If I can file a case against a big company in downtown LA or an outlying area, I will usually choose downtown because the juries there are so notorious for punishing the Man. Take that same case to West LA and you can chop the value in half.