Criminal trial , where the trial took place After leading police on a low-speed chase in a now infamous white
Ford Bronco, Simpson was tried for the murders of Brown and Goldman. The trial spanned eight months, from January 24 to October 3, 1995, and received international publicity and exacerbated racial divisions in the U.S. During the trial, there was some speculation as to whether Brown and Goldman were secretly dating, compounded by three facts, that Brown was wearing a slinky, revealing cocktail dress when she was found dead, candles were lit in the master bedroom and bathroom, and the master bathroom’s tub was full of water. Though prosecutors argued that Simpson was implicated by a
significant amount of forensic evidence, he was acquitted of both murders on October 3. Commentators agree that to convince the jury to acquit Simpson, the defense capitalized on anger among the city's
African-American community toward the
Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), which had a history of racial bias and had inflamed racial tensions in
the beating of Rodney King and
subsequent riots two years prior. The trial is often characterized as the
trial of the century because of its international publicity and has been described as the "most publicized" criminal trial in history. Simpson was formally charged with the murders on June 17; when he did not turn himself in at the agreed time, he became the subject of a police pursuit. TV stations interrupted coverage of the
1994 NBA Finals to broadcast live coverage of the pursuit, which was watched by around 95 million people. The pursuit and Simpson's arrest were among the most widely publicized events in history. Simpson was represented by a high-profile defense team, referred to as the "
Dream Team", initially led by
Robert Shapiro and subsequently directed by
Johnnie Cochran. The team included
F. Lee Bailey,
Alan Dershowitz,
Robert Kardashian,
Shawn Holley,
Carl E. Douglas, and
Gerald Uelmen. Simpson was also instrumental in his own defense. While Deputy
District Attorneys Marcia Clark,
William Hodgman, and
Christopher Darden believed they had a strong case, the defense team persuaded the jury there was
reasonable doubt concerning the DNA evidence. and that the case had been tainted by LAPD misconduct related to racism and incompetence. The use of DNA evidence in trials was relatively new, and many laypersons did not understand how to evaluate it. The defense retained renowned advocate for victims of domestic abuse
Lenore E. Walker. Cochran said that she would testify that Simpson does not fit the profile of an abuser that would murder his spouse; "He has good control over his impulses. He appears to control his emotions well." Brown's friend, Cora Fischman, testified that Brown never said anything to her about being abused by Simpson during the months leading up to the murders. The trial was considered significant for the wide division in
reaction to the verdict. Observers' opinions of the verdict were largely related to their ethnicity; the media dubbed this the "racial gap". A poll of
Los Angeles County residents showed most African Americans thought the "not guilty" verdict was justified while most whites thought it was a racially motivated
jury nullification by the mostly African-American jury. Polling in later years showed the gap had narrowed since the trial; more than half of polled Black respondents expressed the belief that Simpson was guilty. In 2017, three jurors who acquitted Simpson said they would still vote to acquit, while one said he would convict. In the 1996 book
Killing Time: The First Full Investigation into the Unsolved Murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, authors
Donald Freed and Raymond P. Briggs wrote that lipstick was found on Goldman's cheek after his death, and suggested that Brown kissed Goldman when he arrived and that they were together on the front porch when they were attacked.
Civil trial In 1996, Fred Goldman and Sharon Rufo (Ron Goldman's parents) and Lou Brown (Nicole Brown's father) filed a
civil suit against Simpson for wrongful death. Presiding Judge Hiroshi Fujisaki did not allow the trial to be televised, did not
sequester the jury, and prohibited the defense from alleging
racism by the
LAPD and from condemning the crime lab. There was no change to the
physical evidence, but additional evidence of
domestic violence was presented, as well as 31 pre-1994 photos of Simpson wearing
Bruno Magli shoes, including one that was published six months before the murders, proving it could not be a
forgery. One significant difference between the two trials was the admission of Brown's diary entries in the civil case. Lead counsel
Daniel Petrocelli explained, "The least explored aspect of the case is Simpson's motive. You cannot just say this murder was a culmination of domestic-violence incidents. You need to tell the jury a story. This was about a stormy relationship."
Time magazine reported, "That strategy made the difference in understanding Simpson... Nicole's diary showed that she and Simpson were having fights in those last weeks. Their hostilities had taken a cruel turn. Simpson sent Nicole a letter that was a thinly veiled threat to report her to the IRS for failing to pay capital-gains taxes. Infuriated, she started to deny him access to the children.... She began to treat him like a stranger. That, Petrocelli said, is when three weeks of retaliation began. In that period, the lawyer argued, Simpson grew angrier and more obsessed with his ex-wife, developing a rage that resulted in death for her and Ron Goldman." The civil judge found the diary entries admissible because they were pertinent to Nicole's state of mind, which in turn was relevant to Simpson's motive—reversing a crucial ruling from the criminal case that excluded the diary as "inadmissible hearsay". The civil court's ruling was upheld on appeal. The jury found Simpson
liable for the murders and awarded the victims' families $33.5 million in
compensation and
punitive damages. Simpson filed for
bankruptcy afterwards and relocated to
Florida to protect his
pension from seizure. His remaining assets were seized and auctioned off, most being purchased by critics of the criminal trial verdict to help the plaintiffs recoup the costs of litigation. Simpson's
Heisman Trophy was sold for $255,500 to an undisclosed buyer. All the proceeds went to the Goldman family, who said they have received only one percent of the money that Simpson owes from the wrongful death suit. Following Simpson's acquittal, no additional arrests or convictions related to the murders were made. Simpson maintained his innocence in subsequent media interviews. He was subsequently jailed for
an unrelated armed robbery at a Las Vegas hotel in 2008. In July 2017 after Simpson was granted parole,
Ron Goldman’s father Fred inquired about the real estate purchases made by Sydney and Justin Simpson, Brown’s children with Simpson. David Cook, a lawyer for Fred Goldman, said he would seek bank records and depositions to follow the kids’ money trail and see if any of the homes were bought with their dad’s cash, which could make them eligible for a
clawback. “The kids’ loss is no greater than Fred’s, but Fred’s loss should be no greater than theirs,” Cook said. Following Simpson's death in 2024, his estate lawyer Malcolm LeVergne pledged to prevent the Brown and Goldman families from obtaining the money promised in the civil trial judgement, but later reversed course.
Custody of children After Brown's death and Simpson's arrest, Brown's parents temporary received custody of Sydney and Justin. In 1996, after the conclusion of the criminal trial, a judge granted Simpson's petition to return to him full custody of Sydney and Justin. Brown's parents continued unsuccessfully to fight for custody until 2006, when Justin turned 18 and legally became an adult. Sydney turned 18 in 2003.
Alternate theories and suspects While defense attorney
F. Lee Bailey and several members of Simpson's family still advocated for Simpson's innocence, such theories have been rejected by prosecutors, witnesses, and the families of Brown and Goldman, who have expressed the belief that Simpson committed the murders and was the sole perpetrator. Alternative theories have been suggested, such as that Simpson may have had accomplices in the murders, or that he was not involved at all and was
framed. Several speculate that the murders were related to the Los Angeles drug trade and the murders of
Michael Nigg and
Brett Cantor. The 2000
BBC TV documentary,
O.J.: The True Untold Story, primarily rehashes the contamination and blood planting claims from the trial and asserted that Simpson's elder son Jason is a possible suspect, due to—among other reasons—Simpson hiring defense attorneys for his children first before himself, pictures of Jason's descriptive wool cap, and an alleged prior arrangement to meet with Brown that evening.
William Dear published his findings in the book
O.J. Is Innocent and I Can Prove It. A 2012 documentary entitled
My Brother the Serial Killer examined the crimes of convicted murderer
Glen Edward Rogers and included claims that Rogers had killed Brown and Goldman in California in 1994. According to Rogers's brother Clay, Rogers claimed that before the murders, he had met Brown and was "going to take her down." ==Legacy==