O. J. Simpson murder case

Brown–Simpson marriage

Simpson with his daughter, Sydney, in 1986

O.J. Simpson and Nicole Brown were married on February 2, 1985, five years after Simpson's retirement from professional football.^[17][18] The couple had two children, Sydney Brooke Simpson (b. 1985) and Justin Ryan Simpson (b. 1988).^[19] Their marriage lasted seven years, during which time Simpson was investigated multiple times by police for domestic violence and pleaded no contest to spousal abuse in 1989.^[20] Brown filed for divorce on February 25, 1992, citing "irreconcilable differences" as the reason.^[21] Still, the abuse continued; Brown called 9-1-1 on 25 October 1993, crying and saying that "[Simpson] is going to beat the shit out of me".^[22]

Murders

At 12:10 a.m.^[23] on June 13, 1994, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman were found murdered outside of Nicole's Bundy Drive condominium in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles, California. She had been stabbed multiple times in the head and neck, and had defensive wounds on her hands. Her larynx could be seen through the gaping wound in her neck, and vertebra C3 was incised;^[24] her head remained barely attached to the body.^[22] Both victims had been dead for about two hours prior to being discovered by police. Robert Riske, one of the first two officers on the scene, found a single bloody glove, among other evidence.

Detectives went to Simpson's Brentwood estate to inform him that Nicole had been murdered. Detective Mark Fuhrman climbed over an external wall and unlocked the gate to allow the other three detectives to enter as well. The detectives argued that they entered without a search warrant because of exigent circumstances – specifically, in this case, out of fear that Simpson might have been injured also. Simpson was not present when the detectives arrived early that morning; he had taken a flight to Chicago late the previous night. Detectives briefly interviewed Kato Kaelin, who was staying in Simpson's guest house. In a walk-around of the premises, Fuhrman discovered a second bloody glove; it was later determined to be the match of the glove found at the murder scene. Through DNA testing, the blood on this one was determined to have come from both victims. This, together with other evidence collected at both scenes, was determined to be probable cause to issue an arrest warrant for Simpson.

Simpson, while waiting in his bedroom, invited longtime friend and police officer Ron Shipp for a private discussion; Simpson jokingly told him, "To be honest, Shipp, I've had some dreams about killing her."^[25][26]

Arrest of Simpson

Simpson's mugshot, 17 June 1994

Lawyers convinced the LAPD to allow Simpson to turn himself in at 11 a.m. on June 17, 1994,^[27] although the double murder charge meant that no bail would be set and a first-degree murder conviction could result in a death penalty.^[28] More than 1,000 reporters waited for Simpson at the police station, but he did not arrive. At 2 p.m., the LAPD issued an all-points bulletin. At 5 p.m., Robert Kardashian, a friend of Simpson's and one of his defense lawyers, read a letter by Simpson to the media.^[29] In the letter, Simpson sent greetings to 24 friends and wrote, "First everyone understand I had nothing to do with Nicole's murder ... Don't feel sorry for me. I've had a great life."^[29][27][30] Some interpreted this as a suicide note; Simpson's mother Eunice collapsed after hearing it,^[22][31] and reporters joined the search for Simpson. Simpson's lawyer Robert Shapiro was present at Kardashian's press conference and said that Simpson's psychiatrists agreed with the suicide note interpretation. Through television, Shapiro appealed to Simpson to surrender.^[32]

News helicopters searched the Los Angeles highway system for Simpson's white Ford Bronco.^[31] At around 6:20 p.m., a motorist in Orange County notified police after seeing Simpson riding in the Bronco, driven by his longtime friend Al "A.C." Cowlings. The police tracked calls placed from Simpson on his cell phone. At 6:45 p.m., police officer Ruth Dixon saw the Bronco head north on Interstate 405. When she caught up to it, Cowlings yelled out that Simpson was in the back seat of the vehicle and had a gun to his own head.^[32] The officer backed off, but followed the vehicle^[33] at 35 miles per hour (56 km/h),^[34] with up to 20 police cars following her in the chase.^[35]

More than nine news helicopters eventually joined the pursuit; the high degree of media participation caused camera signals to appear on incorrect television channels.^[32] The chase was so long that one helicopter ran out of fuel, forcing its station to ask another for a camera feed.^[22] Radio station KNX-AM also provided live coverage of the low-speed pursuit. USC sports announcer Peter Arbogast and station producer Kash Limbach contacted former USC football coach John McKay to go on the air and encourage Simpson to end the pursuit. McKay agreed and asked Simpson to pull over and turn himself in instead of committing suicide;^[36] "My God, we love you, Juice. Just pull over and I'll come out and stand by you all the rest of my life", he promised.^[31]

LAPD detective Tom Lange, who had previously interviewed Simpson about the murders on June 13, realized that he had Simpson's cell phone number and called him repeatedly. A colleague hooked a tape recorder up to Lange's phone and captured a conversation between Lange and Simpson in which Lange repeatedly pleaded with Simpson to "throw the gun out [of] the window" for the sake of his mother and children. Simpson apologized for not turning himself in earlier that day and responded that he was "the only one who deserved to get hurt" and was "just gonna go with Nicole." Cowlings' voice is overheard in the recording (after the Bronco had arrived at Simpson's home surrounded by police) pleading with Simpson to surrender and end the chase peacefully.^[37] During the pursuit, and without having a chance to hear the taped phone conversation, Simpson's friend Al Michaels interpreted his actions as an admission of guilt.^[32]

ABC, NBC, CBS and CNN, as well as local news outlets, interrupted regularly scheduled programming to cover the incident, with an estimated 95 million viewers nationwide;^{[38][39][32][40]} only 90 million had watched that year's Super Bowl.^[22] While NBC continued coverage of Game 5 of the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and the Houston Rockets at Madison Square Garden, the game appeared in a small box in the corner while Tom Brokaw covered the chase.^[38][32] The chase was covered live by ABC anchors Peter Jennings and Barbara Walters on behalf of the network's five news magazines, which achieved some of their highest-ever ratings that week.^[40] Benefiting from the event occurring in the evening, Domino's Pizza stated that its pizza delivery sales during the chase were as large as on Super Bowl Sunday.^[41]

Thousands of spectators and on-lookers packed overpasses along the procession's journey, waiting for the white Bronco. In a festival-like atmosphere, many had signs urging Simpson to flee.^[36][35] They and the millions watching the chase on television felt part of a "common emotional experience", one author wrote, as they "wonder[ed] if O. J. Simpson would commit suicide, escape, be arrested, or engage in some kind of violent confrontation. Whatever might ensue, the shared adventure gave millions of viewers a vested interest, a sense of participation, a feeling of being on the inside of a national drama in the making."^[38] Sports Illustrated later commented the chase and subsequent hoopla was "The Sugarland Express meets The Fugitive".

Simpson reportedly demanded that he be allowed to speak to his mother before he would surrender.^[35] The chase ended at 8:00 p.m. at his Brentwood estate, 50 miles (80 km) later, where his son, Jason, ran out of the house, "gesturing wildly",^[35] and 27 SWAT officers awaited.^[22] After remaining in the Bronco for about 45 minutes,^[36] Simpson was allowed to go inside for about an hour; a police spokesman stated that he spoke to his mother and drank a glass of orange juice, causing reporters to laugh.^[32] Shapiro arrived, and Simpson surrendered to authorities a few minutes later. In the Bronco, police found "$8,000 in cash, a change of clothing, a loaded .357 Magnum, a passport, family pictures, and a fake goatee and mustache."^[36] Neither the footage of the Bronco chase nor the items found in the Bronco were shown to the jury as evidence in the trial.^[42]

As Simpson was driven away, he saw the crowds, many of whom were African Americans, cheering him; Simpson said, "What are all these niggers doing in Brentwood?"^[26]

Evidence presented to the jury

The prosecution offered circumstantial evidence to show Simpson's guilt.^[55]

• DNA analysis of blood discovered on a pair of Simpson's socks found in his bedroom identified it as Brown's. The blood had DNA characteristics matched by approximately only one in 9.7 billion, with odds falling to one out of 21 billion when compiling results of testing done at the two separate DNA laboratories.^[24][55] Both socks had about twenty stains of blood.^[24] The blood made a similar pattern on both sides of the socks. Defense medical expert Dr. Henry Lee of the Connecticut State Police Forensic Science Laboratory testified that the only way such a pattern could appear was if Simpson had a "hole" in his ankle, or a drop of blood was placed on the sock while it was not being worn. Lee also testified that the collection procedure of the socks could have caused contamination.^[56]
• DNA analysis of blood found in, on, and near Simpson's Bronco revealed traces of Simpson's, Brown's, and Goldman's blood.^[57]
• Strands of hair consistent with Simpson's were found on Goldman's shirt.^[57]
• Several coins were found along with fresh blood drops behind Brown's condominium, in the area where the cars were parked.
• DNA analysis of blood on a left-hand glove, found outside Brown's home, showed that it was a mixture of Simpson's, Brown's, and Goldman's blood. Although the glove was soaked in blood, there were no blood drops leading up to, or away from the glove. No other blood was found in the area of the glove except on the glove.^[57]
• The gloves contained particles of hair consistent with Goldman's, and a cap contained carpet fibers consistent with fibers from Simpson's Bronco.^[13] A black knit cap at the crime scene contained strands of African-American hair.^[13] Several strands of dark blue cotton fibers were found on Goldman. The prosecution presented a witness who said Simpson wore a similarly-colored sweat suit that night.^[13]
• The left-hand glove found at Brown's home and the right-hand glove found at Simpson's home proved to be a match.^[58]
• Officers found arrest records indicating that Simpson was charged in 1989 with beating Brown. Photos of Brown's bruised and battered face from that attack were shown to the court.
• Much of the incriminating evidence – bloody glove, bloody socks, blood in and on the Bronco – was discovered by LAPD Detective Mark Fuhrman. He was later charged with perjury for falsely claiming during the trial that he had not used the word "nigger" within ten years of the trial. Later during the trial, with the jury absent, he invoked the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination when asked "did you plant or manufacture any evidence in this case?"^[59] In a 2016 interview, Dershowitz suggested that Detective Philip Vannatter – not Fuhrman – may have planted evidence on socks, based upon the presence of anti-coagulant in the blood discovered on the socks.^[60] Dershowitz said that the jury may have concluded that if the bloody socks were fabricated by the police, then other evidence may have been fabricated as well.^[60] F.B.I. expert testimony said that the defense exaggerated the significance of the presence of the anti-coagulant.^[61]
• The bloody shoe prints at the crime scene were identified by FBI shoe expert William Bodziak as having been made by a pair of extremely rare and expensive Bruno Magli shoes; only 29 pairs of this style were sold in the U.S.^[13] The large size 12 (305 mm) prints matched Simpson's shoe size.^[13] In the trial, Simpson's defense attorneys said the prosecution had no proof Simpson had ever bought such shoes. There were no witnesses who testified to selling Simpson the shoes and there wasn’t any receipts recovered that indicated he bought the shoes.^[13] But freelance photographer E.J. Flammer claimed to have found a photograph he had taken of Simpson in 1993 that appeared to show him wearing a pair of the shoes at a public event, which was later published in the National Enquirer. Simpson's defense team claimed that the photograph was doctored, but other pre-1994 photos appearing to show Simpson wearing Bruno Magli shoes were later discovered and published.^[62] None of these photos were shown until late in the trial and not during the "big shoe debate".^[63]
• Evidence collected by LAPD criminalist Dennis Fung was criticized by the defense. He admitted to "having missed a few drops of blood on a fence near the bodies;" on the stand he said that he "returned several weeks afterwards to collect them."^[59]
• Fung admitted that he had not used rubber gloves when collecting some of the evidence.^[59] But the blood tested had no DNA from Fung, within published guidelines.
• Vannatter testified that he saw photographs of press personnel leaning on Simpson's Bronco before evidence was collected.^[59]

Evidence not presented to the jury

• At the June 1994 grand jury hearing, Ross Cutlery provided store receipts indicating that Simpson had purchased a 12-inch (305 mm) stiletto knife from salesman Jose Camacho six weeks before the murders. The knife was determined to be similar to the one the coroner said caused the stab wounds. The prosecution did not present this evidence at trial after discovering that Camacho had sold his story to the National Enquirer for $12,500.^[5] The knife was later collected from Simpson's residence by his attorneys; they presented it to Judge Ito and it was subsequently sealed in a manila envelope to be opened only if brought up at trial. This was not the murder weapon: tests on the knife determined that an oil used on new cutlery was still present on the knife, indicating it had never been used. The police searched Simpson's estate three times and could not find this knife. Simpson told his attorneys exactly where it was in the house and it was promptly recovered.^[64]
• Jill Shively testified to the 1994 grand jury that she saw a white Ford Bronco speeding away from Bundy Drive in such a hurry that it almost collided with another car at an intersection. She talked to the television show Hard Copy for $5,000, after which prosecutors declined to use her testimony at trial.^[5]
• A women's shelter, Sojourn, received a call from Brown four days prior to the murders; she said that she was afraid of her ex-husband, who she believed was stalking her. The prosecution did not present this information in court because they thought that Judge Ito would rule the evidence to be hearsay. In addition, friends and family indicated that Brown had consistently said that Simpson had been stalking her. Her friends Resnick and Cynthia Shahian said she was afraid because Simpson had told her he would kill her if he ever found her with another man.^[5]
• Former NFL player and pastor Rosey Grier visited Simpson at the Los Angeles County Jail in the days following the murders. A jailhouse guard, Jeff Stuart, testified to Judge Ito that at one point Simpson yelled to Grier that he "didn't mean to do it," after which Grier had urged Simpson to come clean. Ito ruled that the evidence was hearsay and could not be allowed in court.^[5]
• The events of the Bronco chase, and the materials in the Bronco including the cash, handgun, and disguise, were not presented to the jury. The prosecution did not cover Simpson's apparent suicide note and statement to the police.
• A few months before the 1994 murders, Simpson completed a film pilot for Frogmen, an adventure series in which he starred. Although the prosecution investigated reports that Simpson, who played the leader of a group of former U.S. Navy SEALs, received "a fair amount of" military training – including use of a knife – for Frogmen, and holds a knife to the throat of a woman in one scene, it was not introduced as evidence during the trial.^[65]
• The testimony of Lopez was recorded on videotape, but not shown to the jury.

DNA evidence

Samples from bloody shoe prints leading away from the bodies and from the back gate of the condo were tested for DNA matches.^[13] Initial polymerase chain reaction testing did not rule out Simpson as a suspect. In more precise restriction fragment length polymorphism tests, matches were found between Simpson's blood and blood samples taken from the crime scene (both the shoe prints in blood and the gate samples).^[12][13] Fung testified that this DNA evidence put Simpson at Brown's townhouse at the time of the murders. But defense expert Barry Scheck conducted an eight-day cross-examination questioning most of the DNA evidence. Dr. Robin Cotton, of Cellmark Diagnostics, testified for six days. Blood evidence had been tested at two separate laboratories, each conducting different tests.^[24] At this time, the general population was still unfamiliar with the precision and significance of DNA matching.^[66]

It emerged during the cross-examination of Fung and the other laboratory scientists that LAPD scientist Andrea Mazzola (who collected blood samples from Simpson to compare with evidence from the crime scene) was a trainee who carried the vial of Simpson's blood around in her lab coat pocket for nearly a day before handing it over as an exhibit.^[67][68] While two errors had been found in the history of DNA testing at Cellmark, one of the testing laboratories, in 1988 and 1989, the errors were found during quality control tests and had not occurred since.^[24] One of the companies hired for DNA consulting by Simpson's defense had made the same error as found in 1988.^[12] What should have been the prosecution's strong point became their weak link, amid defense accusations that police technicians handled the blood samples with such a degree of incompetence as to render the delivery of accurate and reliable DNA results almost impossible. The prosecution argued that they had made the DNA evidence available to the defense for its own testing, and if the defense attorneys disagreed with the prosecution's tests, they could have conducted their own testing on the same samples. The defense had chosen not to accept the prosecution's offer.^[24]

On May 16, Gary Sims, a California Department of Justice criminalist who helped establish their DNA laboratory, testified that a glove found at Simpson's house tested positive for a match of Goldman's blood.^[24]

Mark Fuhrman

Mark Fuhrman in 2008

In March 1995, Fuhrman testified to driving over to Simpson's house to question him on the night of the murders. After getting no response when buzzing the intercom of the house, which appeared empty, he scaled one of the outer walls to enter the property. He found blood marks on the driveway of the house, as well as a black leather glove on the premises near the location of Kaelin's bungalow. It was later found to have the blood of both murder victims on it, as well as Simpson's, matched through DNA analysis.^[13]

Despite an aggressive cross-examination by F. Lee Bailey,^[69] Fuhrman denied on the stand that he was racist or had used the word "nigger" to describe black people in the ten years prior to his testimony.^[69] However, a few months later, the defense played audio tapes of Fuhrman repeatedly using the word – 41 times, in total. The tapes had been made between 1985 and 1994 by a young North Carolina screenwriter named Laura McKinney, who had interviewed Fuhrman at length for a screenplay she was writing on police officers. The Fuhrman tapes became one of the cornerstones of the defense's case that Fuhrman's testimony lacked credibility.

With the jury absent, Fuhrman was called back to the witness stand by the defense to answer more questions about the discovery of the blood marks and leather glove that he found on Simpson's property. When questioned by attorney Gerald Uelmen, Fuhrman, with his lawyer standing by his side, invoked the Fifth Amendment to avoid self-incrimination and further questioning after his integrity was challenged. The prosecution told the jury in closing arguments that Fuhrman was a racist, but said that this should not detract from the factual evidence that showed Simpson's guilt.^[5] Fuhrman's testimony resulted in his indictment on one count of perjury; he later pleaded no contest.

Fuhrman has stated that he is not a racist and apologized for his previous use of racist language.^[70] Many of his minority former coworkers have expressed support for him.^[71]

The glove

One dark leather glove was found at the crime scene, with its match found near Kaelin's guest house behind Simpson's estate. Kaelin testified that he had heard "thumps in the night" in the same area around the guest house the night of the murder. Brown had bought Simpson two pairs of this type of glove in 1990. Both gloves, according to the prosecution, contained DNA evidence from Simpson, Brown and Goldman. The glove at Simpson's house also contained a long strand of blonde hair similar to Brown's.^[13]

On June 15, 1995, Bailey goaded Darden into asking Simpson to put on the leather glove that was found at the scene of the crime. The prosecution had earlier decided against asking Simpson to try on the gloves because the glove had been soaked in blood from Simpson, Brown and Goldman,^[24] and frozen and unfrozen several times. The leather glove seemed too tight for Simpson to put on easily, especially over the sanitary gloves he wore underneath.^[13] Uelmen came up with, and Cochran repeated, a quip he had used several times in relation to other points in his closing arguments: "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit".

On June 22, 1995, Darden told Judge Ito of his concerns that Simpson "has arthritis and we looked at the medication he takes and some of it is anti-inflammatory and we are told he has not taken the stuff for a day and it caused swelling in the joints and inflammation in his hands". However, this theory was debunked by Cochran who informed Judge Ito on the record the next day that Shawn Chapman contacted the Los Angeles County Jail doctor who confirmed Simpson was taking his medication every day and that the jail’s medical records verified this.^[72] He said Simpson “takes his medicine every day and that he has never at any time not taken his medicine for his rheumatoid arthritis, sulfathiazole I think it's called, and that the records at the jail so indicate that. And I think that the record should be made clear in that regard. And we took the further statement, as I said, to talk to Dr. Johnson this morning who verifies that fact also. So I felt compelled to indicate that to the Court.”^[73] The prosecution also stated their belief that the glove shrank from having been soaked in blood and later testing.^[13] They presented a photo during the trial of Simpson earlier wearing the same type of glove that was found at the crime scene.

Prosecutors claimed that the presence of Simpson's blood at the crime scene was the result of blood dripping from cuts on the middle finger of his left hand. Police had noted his wounds and asserted that these were suffered during the fatal attack on Goldman. However, the defense showed that none of the gloves retrieved at the crime scene had any cuts in them. Plus, both prosecution and defense witnesses testified that they did not see cuts or wounds of any kind on Simpson's hands in the hours after the murders took place. The defense alleged that Fuhrman may have planted the glove at Simpson's house after taking it from the crime scene. The analysis that found that the hair could be Brown's was not reliable.^[13] The prosecution contended that the glove had not been moved. They noted that by the time Fuhrman had arrived at the Simpson home, the crime scene at Brown's home had already been combed over by several officers for almost two hours, and none had noticed a second glove at the scene. In his first round of testimony, Fuhrman answered "no" when asked by Bailey if he had planted any evidence at Simpson's house. In his second round of testimony after the tapes had been revealed, Fuhrman took the Fifth Amendment when asked the same question by Uelmen.

In May 2008, Mike Gilbert, one of Simpson's former sports agents, released his book How I Helped O.J. Get Away with Murder, in which he revealed that the gloves did not fit because, on his advice, Simpson had stopped taking his arthritis medicine, which made his hands swell.^[74][75]

On September 8, 2012, Darden accused Cochran of tampering with the glove before the trial.^[76] Dershowitz, a member of the Simpson defense team, refuted the claim, stating "the defense doesn't get access to evidence except under controlled circumstances."^[77]

Racial issues

In closing arguments, Darden ridiculed the notion that police officers might have wanted to frame Simpson.^[5] He questioned why, if the LAPD was against Simpson, they went to his house eight times on domestic violence calls against Brown between 1986 and 1988 but did not arrest him; they only arrested him on charges of abuse in January 1989 (when photos of Brown's face were entered into the record). Darden noted the police did not arrest Simpson for five days after the 1994 murders.^[5]

In Cochran's summation to the jury, he emphasized that Fuhrman was proved to have repeatedly referred to African-Americans as "niggers" and also to have boasted of beating young African-Americans in his role as a police officer. Cochran's rhetoric was later criticized by Shapiro and by at least one juror,^[5] as well as Goldman's father, Fred Goldman. Cochran called Fuhrman "a genocidal racist, a perjurer, America's worst nightmare and the personification of evil".^[5] Fuhrman later pleaded no contest to a felony charge of perjury, which had arisen from his testimony in Simpson's trial.

Fears grew that race riots would erupt across Los Angeles and the rest of the country if Simpson was convicted of the murders, similar to the riots in 1992 which occurred after the acquittal of four police officers for the beating of black motorist Rodney King (King's beating was captured on an amateur video). As a result, all Los Angeles police officers were put on 12-hour shifts. The police arranged for more than 100 police officers on horseback to surround the Los Angeles County courthouse on the day the verdict was announced, in case of rioting by the crowd.

Reaction to the verdict

In post-trial interviews, a few of the jurors said that they believed Simpson probably did commit the murders,^[83] but that the prosecution had failed to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. Three jurors together wrote and published a book called Madam Foreman,^[84] in which they described how their perception of police errors, not race, led to their verdict. They said that they considered Darden to be a token black assigned to the case by the prosecutor's office.^[69]

Critics of the jury's not-guilty verdict contended that the deliberation time was unduly short in comparison to the length of the trial. Some said that the jurors, most of whom did not have any college education, did not understand the forensic evidence.^[85] After the verdict was read, juror number six, 44-year-old Lionel Cryer, gave Simpson a black power raised fist salute.^[86] The New York Times reported that Cryer was a former member of the revolutionary nationalist Black Panther Party that prosecutors had "inexplicably left on the panel".^[87]

In 1996, Cochran wrote and published a book about the trial. It was titled Journey to Justice, and described his involvement in the case.^[88] That same year, fellow defense attorney Shapiro also published a book about the trial, entitled The Search for Justice. He criticized Bailey as a "loose cannon" and Cochran for bringing race into the trial.^[89] In contrast to Cochran's book, Shapiro said that he does not believe that Simpson was framed by the LAPD for racial reasons, but believed the verdict was correct due to reasonable doubt.^[69]

Clark published a book about the case titled Without a Doubt (1998).^[90] Her book recounts the trial proceedings, from jury selection to final summation. She concluded that nothing could have saved her case, given the defense's strategy of highlighting racial issues related to Simpson and the LAPD, and the predominance of blacks on the jury. In Clark's opinion, the prosecution's factual evidence, particularly the DNA, should have easily convicted Simpson. That it did not, she says, attests to a judicial system compromised by issues of race and celebrity.

Former Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Vincent Bugliosi wrote a book titled Outrage: The Five Reasons Why O. J. Simpson Got Away with Murder (1997). Bugliosi was very critical of Clark and Darden, faulting them, among other reasons, for not introducing the note that Simpson had written before trying to flee. He contended that the note "reeked" of guilt and that the jury should have been allowed to see it. He also noted that the jury was never informed about items found in the Bronco. The prosecution said that they felt these items of evidence would bring up emotional issues on Simpson's part that could harm their case, despite the fact that the items seemed as though they could be used for fleeing.^[5][91] Bugliosi also said the prosecutors should have gone into more detail about Simpson's domestic abuse; that the prosecution should have presented evidence contrary to the defense's assertion that Simpson was a leader in the black community; and criticized the prosecution's closing statements as inadequate.^[91] Bugliosi also criticized the prosecution for trying the murder in Los Angeles rather than Santa Monica.^[92] During the jury selection process, the defense made it difficult for the prosecution to challenge potential black jurors, on the grounds that it is illegal to dismiss someone from the jury for racially motivated reasons. (California courts barred peremptory challenges to jurors based on race in People v. Wheeler,^[93] years before the U.S. Supreme Court would do so in Batson v. Kentucky).^[94]

District Attorney Garcetti's supporters noted that the decision to move the trial was made by the Los Angeles Superior Court Presiding Judge, and not by Garcetti. The trial was moved due to security concerns at the smaller facility and the poor physical condition of the Santa Monica Courthouse.^[92] In a 2010 review, the Metropolitan News-Enterprise said that Garcetti had "micromanaged" the trial, and that he had decided to have Simpson try on the gloves in open court that had been recovered at the murder scene and at Simpson's estate. Also, pundits criticized the prosecution for calling Fuhrman to the witness stand in the first place; they criticized the prosecution for lack of due diligence, which should have discovered his earlier racist statements. The D.A.'s office argued that the defense would have called Fuhrman anyway and that no one knew of the existence of the McKinney tapes until after the trial started.^[95]

Discussion of the racial elements of the case continued long after the trial's end. Some polls and commentators have concluded that many blacks, while having their doubts as to Simpson's innocence, were more inclined to be suspicious of the credibility and fairness of the police and the courts, and thus more likely to question the evidence. The LAPD had a history of abusing African-Americans in the city, which was emphasized in the Rodney King case. After the civil verdict against Simpson, most whites surveyed said they believed justice had been served. Most blacks (75%) disagreed with the verdict and believed that it was racially motivated.^[14] An NBC poll taken in 2004 reported that, although 77% of 1,186 people sampled thought Simpson was guilty, only 27% of blacks in the sample believed so, compared to 87% of whites. The Simpson case continues to be assessed through the lens of race. In 2016, FiveThirtyEight reported that most black people now think Simpson was guilty.^[96]

According to a 2016 poll, 83% of white Americans and 57% of black Americans believe Simpson was guilty of the murders.^[97]

Civil trial

In 1996, Fred Goldman and Sharon Rufo, the parents of Ron Goldman, filed a civil suit against Simpson for wrongful death, while Brown's estate, represented by her father Lou Brown,^[78] brought suit against Simpson in a "survivor suit." The trial took place over four months in Santa Monica and, by judge's order, was not televised.^[101][106] The Goldman family was represented by Daniel Petrocelli, with Simpson represented by Bob Baker.^[106] Attorneys for both sides were given high marks by observing lawyers.^[106] Simpson's defense in the trial was estimated to cost $1 million and was paid for by an insurance policy on his company, Orenthal Enterprises.^[78]

Fuhrman was not called to testify, and Simpson was subpoenaed to testify on his own behalf.^[8][14] In addition, a photo of Simpson, taken while he was attending a Buffalo Bills game in 1993, was presented at trial that showed him wearing Bruno Magli shoes,^[107] the same type of shoes which investigators said the killer of Goldman and Brown was wearing when the murders were committed.^[108] The photo was presented as evidence against him, as Simpson had previously denied ever wearing such shoes.^[108]

The jury in the civil trial awarded Brown and Simpson's children, Sydney and Justin (Brown's only children), $12.6 million from their father as recipients of their mother's estate.^[8] The victims' families were awarded $33.5 million in compensatory and punitive damages, thereby finding Simpson "responsible" for the respective murders.^[109] In 2008, a Los Angeles superior court approved the plaintiffs' renewal application on the civil court judgment against Simpson.^[110]

Four years after the trial, at an auction to pay some of the money in the compensation order, Bob Enyart, a conservative Christian radio host, paid $16,000 for some of Simpson's memorabilia, including his Hall of Fame induction certificate, two jerseys, and two trophies he was given for charity work. Enyart took the items outside the courthouse where the auction was held, burned the certificate and jerseys, and with calm deliberation smashed the trophies with a sledgehammer.^[111][112]

If I Did It

In November 2006, ReganBooks announced a book ghostwritten by Pablo Fenjves based on interviews with Simpson titled If I Did It, an account which the publisher said was a hypothetical confession. The book's release was planned to coincide with a Fox special featuring Simpson. "This is a historic case, and I consider this his confession", publisher Judith Regan told the Associated Press.^[113] On November 20, News Corporation, parent company of ReganBooks and Fox, canceled both the book and the TV interview due to a high level of public criticism. CEO Rupert Murdoch, speaking at a press conference, stated: "I and senior management agree with the American public that this was an ill-considered project."^[114]

Later, the Goldman family was awarded rights to the book to partially satisfy the civil judgment against Simpson. The title of the book was changed to If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer. On the front cover of the book, the title was stylized with the word "If" to appear much smaller than those of "I Did It", and placed inside the "I", so unless looked at very closely, the title of the book reads "I Did It: Confessions of the Killer".^[115]

On March 11, 2018, Fox broadcast Simpson's previously unaired interview with Regan which was part of the book deal in a special titled O.J. Simpson: The Lost Confession?^[116] In the decade-old interview, which was supposed to air with the release of the book by ReganBooks, Simpson gave a very detailed hypothesis on how the murders would have been committed if he had been involved, initially using phrases like "I would" and "I'd think", but later moved to using first person phrasing with sentences like "I remember I grabbed the knife", "I don't remember except I'm standing there", "I don't recall", and "I must have." Due to the change in phrasing, these comments were interpreted by many as being a form of confession, which stirred strong reactions in print media and the internet.^[117][118]

Later developments

In 2007, as a result of an incident in Las Vegas, Nevada, regarding an attempt to reacquire materials Simpson claimed were stolen from him, Simpson was convicted of multiple felonies including use of a deadly weapon to commit kidnapping, burglary and armed robbery, and sentenced to a minimum nine years to a maximum 33 years in prison. His attempts to appeal that sentence were unsuccessful and he resided at Lovelock Correctional Center in Lovelock, Nevada.^[119] During his 2013 parole hearing, Simpson was granted parole on all counts except weapons-related and the two counts of assault with a deadly weapon. After a July 20, 2017, Nevada parole board hearing voting unanimously 4–0, Simpson was granted parole after a minimum nine-year sentence on the remaining counts for the Vegas robbery with Sunday, October 1, 2017, to be his release date from prison on parole. According to Nevada law if he continues his good behavior, Simpson will have his 33-year sentence reduced by 50% to make September 29, 2022, the end of his sentence.^[120] Upon release, Simpson intends to reside near his family in Miami, Florida. Goldman's father and sister, Fred and Kim, did not appear before the board, but stated that they had received about 1% of the $33.5 million that Simpson owes from the wrongful death civil suit.^{[121][122][123][124][125][126][127]}

Simpson has participated in two high-profile interviews regarding the case – one in 1996 with Ross Becker, which outlines Simpson's side of the story, as well as a guided tour of his estate, where evidence used in the trial was found. The second took place in 2004, on the ten-year anniversary of the murders, with Katie Couric for NBC speaking to Simpson. He had worked for that network as a sports commentator.^[128]

In May 2008, Mike Gilbert, a former agent and friend of Simpson, released his book How I Helped O.J. Get Away with Murder,^[129] which details Simpson confessing to the killings to Gilbert.^[130] Gilbert states that Simpson had smoked marijuana, taken a sleeping pill and was drinking beer when he confided at his Brentwood home weeks after his trial what happened the night of the murders. Simpson said, "If she hadn't opened that door with a knife in her hand... she'd still be alive." This, Gilbert said, confirmed his belief that Simpson had confessed.^[131][75]

In March 2016, the LAPD announced a knife had been found in 1998 buried at Simpson's estate, when the buildings were razed. A construction worker had given the knife to a police officer, who, believing the case had been closed, did not submit it as evidence at the time. Forensic tests demonstrated that the knife was not related to the murder.^[132]

It can be argued that the presence of Kardashian on Simpson's legal team, combined with the press coverage of the trial, would ultimately be the catalyst for the ongoing popularity of the Kardashian family.^[133] While Kardashian's ex-wife Kris Jenner was already married to former Olympic gold medalist Bruce Jenner at the time of the trial, Kardashian's family was mostly out of the public eye before the trial, only becoming famous due to the trial.^[134]

Stephen Singular

New York Times best selling author and journalist Stephen Singular was approached about the O.J. Simpson murder case a few weeks after the murders from an anonymous source within the LAPD.^[148] Singular acquired the attention of this source through his book Talked to Death: The Life and Murder of Alan Berg.^[149] Alan Berg was a Jewish radio talk show host who was murdered by a white supremacist, Neo-Nazi group called The Order (white supremacist group).^[150] According to the anonymous source, the same type of white supremacist Neo-Nazi’s who murdered Alan Berg could be found within the LAPD.^[151] Singular’s source gave him multiple, specific pieces of information regarding the Simpson case. The source told him about a LAPD detective named Mark Fuhrman and that he had a history of racism, antisemitism, and planting evidence.^[152] According to this source, Fuhrman used a piece of broken fence as a stick to pick up one of two bloody gloves found at the Bundy crime scene and place it in a blue plastic bag.^[153] Afterwards, Fuhrman and another detective made an undocumented trip to O.J. Simpson's Rockingham estate in the early morning, and subsequently removed the bloody glove from the plastic bag and planted it in order to frame Simpson.^[154] Rosa Lopez, a housekeeper for Simpson’s next door neighbor, testified to hearing men’s voices coming from the yard of the Rockingham estate at around midnight.^[155] A plastic bag was eventually recovered from Rockingham and a broken piece of fence was eventually recovered from the Bundy crime scene, and both were introduced as evidence in the trial.^[156]

Fuhrman had been aware of the violence in the Simpson marriage, having responded to a domestic violence call made by Nicole Brown Simpson almost a decade earlier at the Rockingham estate.^[157] He also was disgusted by interracial couples and said if he saw a black man and a white woman in a car together, he would pull them over and would find a reason for them to be in trouble.^[158] Singular was also told that Fuhrman had been acquainted with Brown in some way and it was later revealed in transcripts of interviews conducted by investigators from the LAPD's Internal Affairs Division, that two deputy district attorneys were told by a detective of the LAPD's 77th Division that Fuhrman told two officers that he had been intimate with Brown and also bragged about seeing her boob job.^[159]

Singular was also told that a vial of Simpson’s blood was in the possession of another LAPD detective for several hours before booking it into evidence.^[160] This detective would later be revealed to be Phillip Vannatter.^[161] According to Singular’s source, blood from this vial was deposited at the Bundy crime scene and at Rockingham.^[162] The source also told Singular that the presence of the anticoagulant Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, also known as EDTA, would be found in some of the blood evidence if tested and that some lab technicians had also mishandled Simpson’s blood samples.^[163][164] Singular relayed this information from his source to the defense team and was in communication with them for a couple of months, way before the trial began.^[165] Afterwards, he wrote a book called Legacy of Deception: An Investigation of Mark Fuhrman and Racism in the L.A.P.D. about his experience.

Reaction from individuals involved

Such theories have been refuted by Clark,^[166] Brown's sister Tanya, and Fred Goldman who said, "I believe [O.J.] did it, and he did it alone".^[167]

The families of Brown and Goldman expressed anger at the premise of My Brother the Serial Killer, with both families dismissing the claims by the Rogers family.^[168] Kim Goldman accused ID of irresponsibility, stating that no one had informed her of Glen Rogers' claims that he had been involved in her brother's death.^[168]

ID's president, Henry Schlieff, replied that the documentary's intention was not to prove that Rogers had committed the crimes, but to "give viewers new facts and let them make up their own minds," and that he believed that Simpson was guilty of the murders.^[169] Schlieff also commented that the movie did not point out any inconsistencies with the claims or evidence against Rogers because "ID viewers are savvy enough to root them out on their own."^[169]

According to O.J.: Made in America director Ezra Edelman, no plausible alternative theory has emerged. ^[96]

Media adaptations

• In 1995, Fox premiered the TV movie The O. J. Simpson Story. The movie followed some of the more tawdry events in the relationship between Simpson and Brown, up to and including his arrest for Brown's murder. Simpson is portrayed by Bobby Hosea.^[170][171]
• In 2000, 20th Century Fox produced American Tragedy, starring Ving Rhames as Cochran, Christopher Plummer as Bailey, Ron Silver as Shapiro, and Raymond Forchion as Simpson.
• BBC TV's documentary, O.J. Simpson: The Untold Story (2000), produced by Malcolm Brinkworth, "reveals that clues that some believe pointed away from Simpson as the killer were dismissed or ignored and highlights two other leads which could shed new light on the case."^[172]
• In 2006, Robert Horgan made a short film, Reenactment of the Century, depicting a reenactment of the killings, starring Gerald Rush as Simpson, Sandra Olson as Brown, and Russ Russo as Goldman.
• In 2014, ID premiered the documentary OJ: Trial of the Century, which begins on the day of the murders, ends on the reading of the verdict, and comprises actual media footage of events and reactions as they unfolded.^[173][174]
• In February 2016, FX premiered the anthology series American Crime Story. The self-contained first season, The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, was adapted from the book The Run of His Life: The People v. O. J. Simpson (1997), by Jeffrey Toobin, who had also served as a legal analyst for the New Yorker on the trial. The cast included Sarah Paulson as Clark, Courtney B. Vance as Cochran, John Travolta as Shapiro, David Schwimmer as Kardashian, Sterling K. Brown as Darden, and Cuba Gooding Jr. as Simpson.^[175] It received critical acclaim^[176] and several Emmy Awards.
• In April 2016, ID premiered O.J. Simpson Trial: The Real Story, which entirely comprises archival news footage of the murder case, the Bronco chase, the trial, the verdict, and reactions.^[177]
• In June 2016, ESPN premiered O.J.: Made in America, a five-part, eight-hour documentary by Ezra Edelman on the trial. The documentary received widespread acclaim and won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
• Joshua Newton’s upcoming 2019 film Nicole & O.J., centers around the tumultuous relationship between Simpson and Brown and the circumstances surrounding the murders of Brown and Goldman. It will also argue Simpson's innocence and present evidence to support this based on real court documents, witness interviews, and trial testimonies. Simpson will be portrayed by Boris Kodjoe.^[178]

TV

Episodes of sitcoms, such as The Simpsons, Family Guy, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia and Seinfeld ("The Big Salad", "The Caddy"), have mocked the case, or more specifically, Simpson himself.^[179]

Music

R&B group H-Town dedicated their album Ladies Edition, Woman's World (1997) to Brown, to help victims of domestic violence.^[180]

Rapper Eminem referenced the murders in his 1999 song "Role Model", saying, "Me and Marcus Allen went over to see Nicole, When we heard a knock at the door, must have been Ron Gold. Jumped behind the door, put the orgy on hold, Killed them both and smeared blood in a white Bronco (We Did It)".^[181]

The 2002 song "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous", by American punk-pop band Good Charlotte includes the lyrics, "You know if you're famous you can kill your wife? There's no such thing as 25 to life, as long as you got the cash to pay for Cochran", in reference to the "Not Guilty" verdict which, many believe, wouldn't have been the case if Simpson hadn't appointed Cochran as his lead attorney.

Rapper Jay Z also referenced the trial in a song named The Story Of O.J which revolves around the case and the influence of systematic racism on the trial.

Hip hop artist Magneto Dayo released a 2013 "diss track" song titled "OJ Simpson" in which he insults his ex-girlfriend/artist V-Nasty, by referencing the Simpson murder case. The song's lyrics were also added to the Houston Press' list of "The 15 Most Messed-Up O.J. Simpson Lyrics".^[182][183]