Most Lawyers Don’t Expect O.J. Conviction

Seventy percent of the lawyers in a national poll believe O.J. Simpson will not be convicted.

Thirty-nine percent predicted a hung jury and 31 percent said he will be acquitted, according to the poll of 301 attorneys in the National Law Journal.

The other 30 percent said they don’t know or that Simpson will be convicted in the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.

The poll, conducted Feb. 8-10, was to appear today in the journal, a national trade publication.

The results were more favorable for Simpson than a similar poll conducted by the newspaper in September, when 61 percent of the respondents said Simpson will not be convicted.

Some lawyers attributed the change to reports that the jury is divided by racial tension. The panel is comprised of nine blacks, one white and two people of mixed race.

xxxx