USA Today reported Friday that OJ lost his bid for a new trial. The primary basis for the motion was erroneous rulings limiting cross-examination of witnesses and errors during jury instruction. OJ is now going to have to wait until his appeal is heard before he can hope to be released from jail.  

Applications for post-conviction relief, such as motions for a new trial, are actually commonplace in our New Jersey criminal defense law firm.  However, success on these types of petitions require good facts, law, and/or creative argument.  The Judge in OJ’s case apparently found nothing of a reversible nature and now it is on to appeal.  The outcome is not surprising as it is often very difficult to get a trial judge to grant a new trial based on his or her own error, after trying a case for weeks.  This is why it is so important to get things right if at all possible at trial as “do overs” are the limited exception.  I am sure OJ’s Las Vegas defense attorney has a better prospective on what happened.  In any case, OJ’s involvement with the judiciary shall continue.