... WAS one of the serious prosecution blunders, though I believe the case was still winnable (or at least, should not have resulted in an acquittal).

By the way, I wasn't particularly slamming cops because of what happened in the OJ case, though much of the detective work was shoddy. In my 10 years as a DA, I worked with many fine cops -- most of the ones I met, in fact. I'm still friends with some of them.

As defense counsel, I treated arresting officers with the respect they deserved -- and most of them did deserve respectful treatment. I once defended a suspect charged with the attempted murder of a female police officer (and several other serious felonies), for which he could have been sentenced to life in state prison. After a lengthy trial, he was acquitted of the most serious offenses, convicted of assault on a police officer and sentenced to a relatively short prison term (3 years). Sometime later (a couple of years or more), the officer that he assaulted called me seeking legal advice in a civil matter, which I provided free of charge.

Police officers have one of the most difficult jobs in our society. And you're right, none of them get rich. That I was critical of a few cops in a particular case should not be taken as "throwing stones at" all cops. I didn't intend it that way at all. ----- jim o\-S