THE Trial of the Century

THE Trial of the Century Anatomy of a Trial: Public Loss, Lessons Learned from The People v O.J. Simpson, by Jerrianne Hayslett. University of Missouri Press. 272 pages. 2008. $29.95.

More than 13 years have passed since THE Trial of the Century, the criminal case of athlete, sportscaster, and actor O.J. Simpson, acquitted on charges of the 1994 murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. Scores of books have been written by trial participants: defense and prosecution lawyers, dismissed and remaining jurors, witnesses such as Kato Kaelin, die Houseguest from Hell - in fact, almost everyone involved, save Kato the Akita.

Scholars have studied such aspects of the case as race (the defendant is African-American, the victims white); humorists have written joke books and parodies. Simpson himself has written several books, most recently If I Did It, subject of a 2007 court case that temporarily halted publication and ended with the copyright and all profits turned over to Goldman's family, toward the 1996 wrongful-death judgment holding that Simpson owed the victims' families millions. So why did Jerrianne Hayslett write Anatomy of a Trial, and why should anyone read it?

Discussion of the lasting effects of the trial on use of gag orders, sealed records, closed proceedings, and courtroom cameras remains relevant. And Simpson is still a public figure: a recent Las Vegas robbery and conspiracy conviction, currently on appeal, has finally sent him to prison to serve what could be at minimum a nine-year sentence. Moreover, (now retired) Hayslett is uniquely qualified to write a broad overview with hindsight: as the longtime L.A. Court PIO and media liaison, she handled not only Simpson but cases involving the Menendez brothers, the Rodney King beating, and pop singer Michael Jackson.

And while almost everyone involved has discussed the case, the one person who has refused thousands of requests to do so, the focus of the world's attention during the trial (an estimated 150 million watched the verdict),...