Confessions from a courtroom reporter during O.J. Simpson's trial

I was 25 years old, in the highrise office of City News Service, a local newswire out of Hollywood, and thoroughly unqualified for this job opening: covering courtrooms in downtown Los Angeles. My resume noted that I was a law school dropout, with 16 months experience writing about high school football in the small agricultural community of Santa Maria. A small handful of Americans still think of him primarily as a football player – or in San Francisco as a classmate or neighbor. But I’ll also remember him for changing...