The Last Trial of Marcia Clark

Marcia Clark is back in the news. Not because of a new hairstyle or a switch from business suits to tail-hugging skirts or that she is once again neither confirming nor denying that she has slept with her infamous locked-at-the-hip imbecile in crime, the disgraced and now former attorney Chris Darden.

The “news” is that Clark's own version of the O.J. trial has finally hit the book racks, one year and seven months after a jury decided O.J. Simpson did not kill his ex-wife and her lover. Clark’s book is the last in a line of many; and once again, and for one final time, she was a step behind the competition.

Clark’s book is called “Without A Doubt;” a fitting title considering that, without a doubt, Marcia Clark and Chris Darden blew the easiest criminal case ever tossed a prosecution team. Much has been said with respect to the opinion that Marcia Clark and Chris Darden didn’t “blow this case - the onus falls on . . . The Department.” Which is bullshit.

The ax must fall on someone and it’s not going to be on the entire department. Had the jury delivered a “guilty” verdict, it would have been "Marcia Clark’s victory." And this is important to note: It would not have been a Clark/Darden victory. While they were happy to team up in defeat for the purpose of sharing the blame, in victory, Marcia would have been a glory hog; reason enough to absolve Darden. In the end, he was nothing more than a second-team scrub who had no reason to be in that courtroom.

Searching for a scapegoat, Clark states in her book that Simpson walked “because American justice is distorted by race....” A sad declaration; there are few acts more cowardly or classless than an attorney blaming society or the system for his or her own failure. In this case, such a declaration is also wrong. The verdict in the civil trial derailed the “blame the jury” theory.

No - the blame for losing this no-brainer falls on the shoulders of Marcia Clark - without a doubt. And while she and many others view her “coming out” as redemption, it hardly constitutes atonement.

In the early days of the Simpson criminal fiasco, yours truly predicted that if she were to lose this case, she would never practice law again. She did, she hasn’t, she won’t and not even a book tour can salvage the remnants of her career now.

And it shouldn’t.

That which deserves to live, lives. - Anonymous