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OJ Simpson murder trial: How the case that gripped the US unfolded | US News

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9 months ago

April 11, 2024

OJ Simpson murder trial: How the case that gripped the US unfolded | US News

Former American footballer and actor OJ Simpson, who has died of most cancers, might be remembered most for his function on the centre of the “trial of the century”.

Accused of double homicide, his case captured the eye of the US till it got here to a dramatic finish in late 1995.

This is a glance again at how that trial unfolded.

12 June 1994

Simpson‘s ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson was discovered lifeless in entrance of her residence in Los Angeles together with her pal Ronald Goldman, who was a waiter at a restaurant the place she had simply dined.

The pair had been stabbed to loss of life outdoors her residence within the neighbourhood of Brentwood.

Learn extra:
OJ Simpson has died on the age of 76, his household says

17 June 1994

After the our bodies had been discovered, suspicion shortly fell on Simpson, who had been married to Nicole for seven years till their divorce grew to become last on 15 October 1992, little greater than 18 months earlier than her loss of life.

Simpson had been ordered by prosecutors to give up, however on this present day, carrying a passport and a disguise, he as an alternative fled, with pal and former team-mate Al Cowlings in a white Ford Bronco.

The automobile was quickly noticed on a California freeway and pursued by police in a automotive chase that was televised reside throughout the nation and watched by an estimated 95 million viewers.

Cowlings, in a cellphone name to police, mentioned Simpson was mendacity within the again seat of the automotive holding a gun to his personal head. After ultimately driving to his Brentwood residence he was persuaded to give up.

Sky Information’ Steve Bennedik recollects how Simpson’s trial was coated

It was the primary few weeks of 1995 when Sky Information’ reside protection of the OJ Simpson courtroom case received beneath approach. Every night we confirmed the trial and invited questions. In these days, the primary type of correspondence was by letter.

However there was additionally a brand new digital technique rising, known as e-mail. And the primary of those had the easy, however deflating, sentence: “Which one is OJ?”

We requested ourselves: Is our viewers able to observe the story of a really American tragedy unfold on British TV? We determined to keep it up.

In distinction, OJ Simpson was a family title within the US. A lot greater than an ex-football star. However the shock of this icon being arrested for homicide, the weird Bronco freeway chase, the high-profile superstar defence group, and finally the “did he do it?” query had common attraction.

Though the case stuttered via till October, the weak Decide Lance Ito was obsequious to legal professionals’ calls for for delays, however the curiosity amongst Sky Information viewers surged and remained undimmed.

Because the courtroom digicam panned to the state of California seal, signalling one other adjournment, we and little doubt the viewer sighed.

Extra behind-the-scenes authorized wrangling, however we had an ace up our sleeve – Professor Gary Solis. Gary is a Vietnam veteran, former army decide advocate, with alma maters together with George Washington College and the London College of Economics.

On the time, he was in London and prepared to surrender his evenings. He calmly steered our presenters, Laurie and Vivien, and our typically puzzled viewers via the complexities of the Californian authorized system and have become a agency favorite with the newsroom and the general public alike.

The courtroom characters emerged. Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden for the prosecution, and the “Dream Crew” defence – Jonnie Cochran, F Lee Bailey, Alan Dershowitz and Robert Kardashian, whose youngsters would go on to outshine his fame.

It was compelling courtroom drama, but it surely was additionally the very tragic story of two younger individuals who’d been savagely attacked and murdered, with their households devastated by the loss, and stricken by the lingering backwards and forwards courtroom battle.

The proceedings had lasted months, however the jury reached their verdict in just some hours and once they returned to the courtroom to ship it, an early night viewers within the UK was hanging on each second. After which it was over. OJ was a free man.

The Folks of the State of California v Orenthal James Simpson pale as a reminiscence, flickering again to life with the information of his loss of life.

24 January 1995

The homicide trial, dubbed the “trial of the century” by the media, started.

Prosecutors argued OJ Simpson had killed Nicole and Ron in a jealous rage, they usually offered intensive blood, hair and fibre checks linking him to the murders.

The defence countered that the superstar defendant was framed by racist white police.

15 June 1995

Maybe the defining second of the trial got here on a Thursday in June, when the prosecution dedicated what a defence lawyer would later describe because the “best authorized blunder of the twentieth century”.

On this present day, a prosecutor requested him to placed on a pair of gloves believed to have been worn by the killer.

The gloves gave the impression to be too small, as OJ Simpson struggled to placed on the gloves in a extremely theatrical demonstration and indicated to the jury they didn’t match.

Learn extra:
OJ Simpson a ‘utterly free man’ after being launched from parole

This led defence lawyer Johnnie Cochran to famously state in his closing argument: “If it would not match, it’s essential to acquit.”

3 October 1995

The trial got here to an finish with two phrases – not responsible.

OJ Simpson, who maintained from the outset he was “completely 100% not responsible”, waved on the jurors and mouthed the phrases “thanks”.