The acquittals in this case have to do with the nature of the evidence that was available-- it was going to be a tough case to prove no matter what people thought of him as a rich celebrity. The count the jury hung up on is, I believe, still viable. It had been said that this count was potentially the most provable-- so it would be my hope that additional corroborative evidence may be forthcoming on that charge. It's also entirely possible, as many jurors implied, that some other hit man (besides the two for which Blake was tried on "solicitation of murder" charges) actually did the deed-- and may yet be identified, bringing Blake back into criminal court.

Murders for hire are often just very, very hard to prove, no matter how large or small the payment, and the checkbook of the mindermast behind the killing.

In any event, with or without a refiling of that charge-- the civil case is going to be as hard on him, and as humiliating, as OJ's was on him.

Our system is larger than any one charge, any one case. The beauty of law is its breadth-- it doesn't work instantaneously or in small sound bites. You have to step back a bit to see its operation-- a little slice is just not representative of any one case or the system's operation on any one individual.

~Susan