Michael Ventre

I should start off by saying that I believe O.J. Simpson is a murderer. And not just any kind of murderer, mind you, not the “convenience store robbery gone awry” type or the “heat of passion” variety. No, I believe his crimes, although fueled by jealousy and hatred, involved a great deal of premeditation that places them in a special category of the most heinous acts committed by humans against other humans.

I believe he butchered Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman in cold blood, and I also believe he feels no remorse whatsoever about it.

I’m entitled to this belief. I followed the criminal trial closely, as did millions of others around the world. I was satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt — way beyond — that the evidence against him was overwhelming. I believe he was found not guilty because the jurors in that case were suckers who swallowed a smooth line of defense by the late Johnnie Cochran and his extremely high-priced team of attorneys.

Without going into too much detail, suffice to say the police and prosecution produced just enough rope — the revelation of Detective Mark Fuhrmann’s use of the “N” word, which he had denied using, Christopher Darden’s blunder in making Simpson try on the glove, just to name two memorable examples — to hang themselves in the minds of a gullible group of jurors looking for any reason to let a celebrity off the hook.

In 1997, another jury found Simpson liable in a wrongful death suit filed by Goldman’s family. That was some indication that the justice system hadn’t gone completely haywire.

The killings happened in 1994. And now, more than 12 years later, rather than recede from memory, the travesty of Simpson walking free has reached its nadir, thanks to Fox and book publisher Judith Regan.

But it isn’t just the Simpson situation that has hit rock bottom. Our current culture can also claim that dubious honor.

Simpson has a book coming out later this month called “If I Did It,” which “hypothetically” describes how the murders would have been committed. The book is being published by Regan.

To preview the book, Fox will air a two-part interview called “O.J. Simpson: If I Did It, Here’s How It Happened.” In essence, it’s Simpson’s confession without officially confessing.

He has a free pass now. He should be rotting in a box for the rest of his life, but he isn’t. He should turn over every last dime to Fred Goldman, but he won’t, because there’s no way to make him do that.

Instead, he’s free to flout his status as a celebrity who got over on the system. He can thumb his nose at his detractors and say, “Sure I killed those people — hypothetically. (Wink, wink). So what?”

He can satisfy his need for money, and his sick craving for notoriety, with this sham of a book and this abomination of an interview. That’s expected. He is who he is.

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But has our society degenerated to the point where potentially millions of viewers and readers are more than eager to act as his accomplices?

I understand full well that there is almost no decency anymore. We have only the recent elections to show that certain people — on both sides of the fence — are willing to stoop to anything to get what they want. We have reality TV shows that revel in the misery of others. We have corporate executives quick to plunder the retirement accounts of their workers in order to feather their own opulent nests.

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