Letter: Vegas justice has already failed O.J.

Thursday, Sept. 20, 2007 | 7:03 a.m.

The Las Vegas Sun's Sept. 18 editorial about O.J. Simpson, "O.J. spotlight on us," misses the real point. The eyes were on Las Vegas, and we failed.

If any readily identifiable person had been arrested for the same mix of charges, he would have either been released or he would have had bail set immediately. Although O.J. eventually was granted bail and released from jail Wednesday, a person is not supposed to be in jail for a couple of days for a media circus or because of some past "unjust" nonconviction.

O.J. was punished by "our" system for no reason other than "we had it in for him because he is O.J." Our system is supposed to be impartial. He was denied quick bail for political reasons, not for justice reasons.

If he is convicted of the crimes of which he is accused, the problem will be what his punishment should be. He should not now be punished for the killings some think he committed years ago.

Put the judge who denied bail in jail for keeping O.J. in jail. Then have a hearing a week later to see whether the judge should be kept in jail. I doubt that the judge would be quite so politically motivated after that experience.

Frank Silver, Henderson