Devil’s Apprentice: O.J. Simpson prosecutor Marcia Clark says Jason Roberts ‘shouldn’t have spent 22 years in custody’

The lead prosecutor in the O.J. Simpson murder trial has shared her views on Jason Roberts’ acquittal over the Silk-Miller police murders.

Famed US former prosecutor Marcia Clark, who became a household name during the O.J. Simpson murder trial, says the acquittal of Jason Roberts over the Silk-Miller police murders was a just result.

Ms Clark was the lead prosecutor in the so-called “Trial of the Century” in which NFL footballer and actor, O.J. Simpson, was accused of the 1994 stabbing murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ronald Goldman.

It would be remembered as one of the most polarising criminal trials in American history.

Simpson was acquitted after the memorable “glove doesn’t fit” moment in the trial.

Now an author and podcaster, Ms Clark has read about the 24-year saga which ended in Roberts walking free last year.

Prosecutor Marcia Clark during her closing arguments in the O.J. Simpson trial.

In the final episode of The Devil’s Apprentice, released on Friday, Ms Clark was asked her views on the pressures of big trials.

She said the recent exposure of a “win at all costs” mentality in Orange County, Los Angeles, had led to police and prosecutors misusing prison informants.

“So, this is a very loaded question,” she said.

“There has been, just today, a report was released, a big scandal, on the use of informants in Orange County … and I think that the police and prosecutors were operating in a manner that was not ethical in terms of the use of jailhouse informants.

“And I think the reason they got into that situation was a drive to win at all costs.”

O.J Simpson.

Jason Roberts. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

Ms Clark said it was critical to secure convictions fairly.

“Yes, you represent the people, and you are there to secure a conviction against the guilty,” she said.

“But you’re also there to make sure you get the guilty convicted in a manner that’s fair, with integrity and ethics.

“When you don’t, when you forget that’s your primary goal and not just a conviction, that’s when bad things happen.”

As revealed by a Herald Sun investigation, Roberts did not receive a fair trial in 2002 over the 1998 murders of policemen Gary Silk and Rodney Miller.

Part of the evidence in the original trial was a falsified police statement, which not only led to an anti-corruption probe but sparked a retrial held last year.

Jason Roberts was acquitted of the 1998 murders of Sergeant Gary Silk and Senior Constable Rodney Miller. Picture: David Caird

The original statement, which was replaced, was not disclosed to the prosecution or defence.

Ms Clark said the system of justice was built on full disclosure and proving guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

“And when you don’t have enough proof, even if you think it might be true, or he might have done it, that’s not good enough,” she said.

“So, he shouldn’t have been there and he shouldn’t have spent 22 years in custody and it’s a good thing he’s out.”

The Devil’s Apprentice also delves into police getting a warrant to tap the phones of an alibi witness before the retrial began last year.

Surveillance was placed on Nicole Debs, the daughter of police killer Bandali Debs and former girlfriend of Roberts, due to anomalies in statements she made in 1998 and 2013

Years earlier, Ms Debs and Roberts had told veteran homicide investigator Ron Iddles they were in bed together at the time of the murders.

Ms Debs, who was charged with a minor, unrelated, crime just months prior to the retrial.

She would later become unwilling to testify for the defence.

The podcast also explores the human toll of justice.

Mr Iddles tells of being ostracised over his “Rainmaker” investigation into the Silk-Miller murders.

Roberts also recounts the moment he was found not guilty of the murders in the Victorian Supreme Court and walking free into a media mob after 22 years in prison.

A civil suit is now being built into his wrongful conviction.

Originally published as Devil’s Apprentice: O.J. Simpson prosecutor Marcia Clark says Jason Roberts ‘shouldn’t have spent 22 years in custody’