The star struck judge, Lance Ito, ran a very sloppy court and let the defense get away with, well, murder. A clown show. But the DA's decision to bring the trial downtown in order to 'keep an eye on it' was probably fatal. He should have been judged by his peers in upscale Brentwood, where the murders took place, instead he got a weird, sketchy juror pool who were never going to convict him. Just because. The prosecution team was also ill prepared for the battle. They didn't see the racialisation angle that the defense used to good effect. And the rest is history, as sorry as it is. No doubt about it, it gripped the nation before the Internet got going.