FAMOUS COURT CASES

OJ Simpson trial
OJ Simpson case background
The O. J. Simpson murder case (officially The People of the State of California
v. Orenthal James Simpson) was a criminal trial held in Los Angeles County
Superior Court. Former NFL playernd and actor O. J. Simpson was tried and
acquitted on two counts of murder for the June 12, 1994, slashing deaths of his
ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman.
Who was OJ Simpson?
OJ Simpson aka (Orenthal James Simpson, nicknamed "The Juice") was born
on July 9th 1947 in San Francisco, California. He grew up poor, but his passion
was football and eventually he became a pro football player. He was also very
well liked, a very charming character. At the age of 19 he got married to a
woman named Margaret and they had three childrenafter,soon after they started
arguing heavily which led to their divorce.
When his football carrier ended, he appeared in many commercials, even did
some acting and it is in this way that even more people got to know him. He
immersed himself in this fame and it was like a dream come true for him.
Meeting Nicole Brown
In 1977 OJ met Nicole Brown in a nightclub. They were head over heels for
each other, despite the fact that he was 12 years older than her. At that time
Nicole was living with a friend and after the first date with OJ her room-mate
noticed that her pants were ripped. He expressed his concerns, but she refused
to listen. They continued dating and tied the knot in 1985. Soon after that they
had 2 children, but the marriage was very unstable, disputes were an everyday
occurrence.
She stated that due to her prenuptial agreement she was prohibited from
working and therefore hesitated to file for divorce since she was financially
dependent on him. Nicole even described an incident in which Simpson broke
her arm but in order to protect him she lied to the emergency room staff that her
injury was due to her falling off her bike. In 1992 Nicole filed for divorce. They
didn’t end thing in good terms and Nicole made it crystal clear that she wanted
nothing to do with him OJ continued to harass her after the split, threatening to
kill her if he found her with another man.
 She was so scared that she even drafted a will for herself. Four days prior to her
murder she even made a call to the woman’s shelter fearing that Simpson might
do something since she kept refusing his pleas to reconcile their marriage and
she had also reported a missing set of keys to her house a few weeks prior. They
were later found on Simpson when he was arrested.

- Nicole became close with a person named Ron Goldman

- admitting only to a platonic relationship
The night of the murder
- on the night of the murder Ron headed off to Nicole’s house to bring her the glasses she
forgot
- around 9 pm OJ was at with his friend, Kato, having dinner, and 45 minutes later allegedly
he was home
Around midnight a witness saw a dog barking and noticed that the dog had red spots all over
his paws, resembling blood
- the dog belonged to Nicole and he led the neighbor back to Nicole’s house where he found
2 dead bodies. The sight was horrific, blood splatter everywhere, truly a gruesome scene. The
police were called immediately.
- On June 13th 1994, 10 ten minutes after midnight Nicole and Ron were found dead
- Evidence collected at the crime scene contained a black beanie, an envelope with some
glasses, some bloody boot prints and a bloody leather glove.
- That night OJ caught a flight at 11:45pm to Chicago
- In the morning he was formally contacted and given the news of this tragic event, he didn’t
ask what had happened to her, his first question was – “Who killed her?”
- It wasn’t long before suspicion started to rise. The limousine driver who took OJ to the
airport that night, came a little early and said that he saw someone who looked like OJ
entering OJ’s house. But, minutes later the driver came to OJ’s front door and was told by
Simpson that he was taking a shower and he will be down right away.
The media and the public interest
In the next several days the media was having a frenzy, wondering if OJ was a suspect or not
- When the glove was DNA tested the results matched the DNA of Nicole, Ron and OJ.
- In the beginning no one seemed to believe that OJ had any involvement in this, the public
loved him
- Police officers went straight to OJ’s house, claiming that by doing so they wanted to inform
him about his ex-wife's passing. But the defence argued that they went to Simpson’s house to
try to pin the murder on him.
- When they got to the house his car was parked outside and detective noticed blood above
the driver’s side handle
- They jumped over the gate, entering his property without a warrant, knocking heavily on the
door and Kato Kaolin, who was staying in his guest house, opened the door
- He said that he heard loud banging earlier that night. The sound was coming from the side
of the house where detective Fuhrman found the missing bloody glove. This evidence was
determined to be a probable cause to issue an arrest warrant for Simpson.
- The limousine driver, also testified that he loaded 4 bags into the car that night, but OJ
forbided him from touching one of them. But a porter at LA International Airport claims that
OJ checked 3 bags that night
- Simpson was seen at the airport that night discarding items from a bag into the trash can.
Many believe that this is how the murder weapon, shoes and the clothes Simpson wore during
the murder were disposed

The defence team

Simpson was represented by a high-profile defence team, also referred to as the

"Dream Team", which was initially led by Robert Shapiro and subsequently
directed by Johnnie Cochran. The team also included many other experts.
Maybe the best known one is Robert Kardashian.
Robert Kardashian was a close friend of OJ Simpson and was heavily involved
in the trial. His ex wife, Kris Kardashian stood by Nicole’s side, believing she
had been murdered by OJ since on several occasions Nicole had expressed fear
for her own life, the 2 of them were supposed to have lunch the next day and
Nicole wanted to speak to Kris about the contents of her safe deposit and also
about some problems she was facing referring to OJ.
The day after the murders Robert Kardashian was seen walking out of OJ
Simpsons house with a large black bag. Assumptions were that the murder
weapon might have been inside. The court ordered them not to take anything
out of the bag and to bring it to the court. But when they brought it, the bag had
clearly been messed with, it had been completely emptied. They wanted to
question Robert about the insides off the bag, but they were unable due to him
being OJ’s defence attorney and attorney client privilege blocked them from
getting any of that information from him.
Around the time of Nicole and Ron’s funeral OJ Simpson disappeared, he
wasn’t attending the funeral. His defence attorney received information that the
police had an arrest warrant for him, but his defence pled that OJ voluntarily
turns himself in, which he never did. Robert Kardashian found a letter that OJ
wrote in which he stated that he wished the media would stop harassing him and
his children and therefore he decided to go off radar. Robert claimed that OJ
was experiencing deep depression and that he was concerned for him.
That day his car was spotted on the highway with him inside, holding a gun to
his head. The police were following him and the chase lasted for more than 2
hours ending in the driveway of his house, where they were able to arrest him.
On June the 22nd of 1994 OJ was taken to LA Superior Court where he would
wait for his trial to start. One very important thing that has to be noted is that
during this time there was a lot of police distress, especially when it comes to
their interaction with the people of color. Many didn’t trust the police and they
believed that OJ might have been set up by police with some type of racial
motivation.
One interesting detail is that underneath Nicole’s fingernails there was DNA
which did not match neither Ron’s nor OJ's. This factor was a great part of the
defence strategy. Very shortly after the trial began many theories about who
was the killer arose. But since the evidence couldn't connect these people to the
crime scene, they were all discredited.

The Trial
- The trial began on January 24th 1995 - the Trial of the century, there were even cameras at
the court room
- The jury was consisted of 8 people of colour, 1 Hispanic person, 1 white person and 2
people of mixed race, there was racial divide and tension around this case
- One of the lead detectives was caught saying over 40 racial slurs and this tape recording
was played during the trial, not only this but when he took the stand he lied about ever using
the n**** word in a derogatory way
- the detective was asked if he planted any evidence in the crime scene, he pled himself on
the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution
- The most famous part of the trial was when the glove was brought to the court and OJ tried
to put it on but he failed, the glove was too small. There was even controversy around this
with many theories as to why the glove was too small at the trial

- Deputy District Attorneys thought that they had a strong case against Simpson, but Cochran
was able to convince the jury that there was reasonable doubt concerning the validity of the
State's DNA evidence, which was a relatively new form of evidence in trials at that time.
- The reasonable doubt theory included evidence that the blood sample had allegedly been
mishandled by lab scientists and technicians, and there were questionable circumstances that
surrounded other court exhibits

- the defence team also alleged other misconduct by the LAPD related to systemic racism and
incompetence, in particular actions of Detective Mark Fuhrman
- The defence stated that the crime scene could have been contaminated meaning that some of
the evidence could be discredited
- Defence closing argument was really strong stating that if it doesn’t fit you must acquit
- The trial lasted for a really long time, 9 months and over 100 witnesses
-On October 3rd 1995 came the time for the verdict, the jury deliberated for less than 4 hours
before they came out to give the verdict
- the Superior Court of California County of LA found the defendant not guilty of the crime
of murder
- The nation observed the same evidence presented at trial but a division along racial lines
emerged in observers opinion of the verdict, which the media dubbed the "racial gap"
- A poll of Los Angeles County residents showed that most African Americans felt that
justice had been served by the "not guilty" verdict, while the majority of whites and Latinos
felt it was a racially motivated jury nullification by a mostly African-American jury
- Polling shows the gap has narrowed since the trial, with over half of polled black
respondents in 2015 stating they believed Simpson was guilty

Civil lawsuit
After the trial, the families of Brown and Goldman filed a civil action lawsuit
against Simpson in the wrongful death of their son. The trial took place over 4
months in Santa Monica. On February 4, 1997, the jury unanimously found
Simpson responsible for both deaths. The families were awarded compensatory
and punitive damages totalling $33.5 million, but have received only a small
portion of that monetary figure.
OJ was forced to testify under oath in his civil trial and denied ever wearing
shoes that were said to be the ones that left the footprints on the scene. But a
picture showed up, 9 months prior to the murders, with him wearing the shoes,
which just makes him lose all his credibility. He was called back to give another
deposition and when presented with the evidence of him owning the shoes, his
reaction said it all, he was in complete shock.
Present day press interviews
An interview was arranged between Barbara Walters and the eye-witness of the
OJ Simson trial, his former friend Karo Kaelin. The main question of the
interview was his opinion whether Simspon is guilty or innocent of the crime.
As the time progressed, he had claimed that OJ is guilty and that jury made a
mistake.
In another interview captured in 2006. with OJ himself, he presented his new
book, in which he hipothetically described the events leading up to the murder
and the murder itself. He described it in such great detail that it led many to
belive that he truly committed those crimes many years ago.