The summer of 1994. The summer of the murders of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman. All signs and evidence pointed to O.J. Simpson, a famous running back for the Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers and actor, who was Nicole's ex-husband. Soon, Simpson was arrested (after the most iconic car chase of all time) and placed on trial for the murders.
Some say this case was the "trial of the century," and I say that I must agree even though I hadn't even been born yet.
And even though (spoiler alert), O.J. Simpson was found not guilty by the jury on both counts of murder, whether or not he really did it is still a widely debated topic 22 years later in 2017. This is partly due to a 2016 FX anthology series, "The People vs. O.J. Simpson" and the recent docu-series by ESPN, "OJ: Made in America." (Which I have seen both of by the way.)
In light of O.J. Simpson's upcoming parole hearing about his 2008 armed robbery charges which he was found guilty of all 10 charges, let's take a trip back to the "trial of the century" and discuss why he did or didn't do it.
Though DNA evidence had just recently became an often used thing thanks to all of the new technology in the 90's, the prosecution team, Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden, thought that the blood evidence they had against Simpson would easily seal the deal since the murder weapon hadn't been found.
Brown and Goldman's blood/DNA was found on a pair of socks in Simpson's room, a glove (but we'll get to that later), in footprints of shoes that belonged to O.J., and on and near Simpson's Bronco. The analysis came back and said that the blood had matching characteristics of "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."
Obviously, that's severely incriminating, so of course the prosecution would be confident in their findings. Unfortunately, most of this DNA evidence was found by Mark Fuhrman, an LAPD detective, who was a known racist. Luckily, the defense team, also known as "The Dream Team," knew that and used it to their advantage. This was known as "the race card."
The defense argued that because Mark Fuhrman was a known racist and O.J. was an African American, Fuhrman could have easily planted and or manufactured the evidence just because he felt racial bias. The defense also argued that the blood and DNA evidence was mishandled by the LAPD and the people in the lab testing it, such as one lab worker holding a vial of Simpson's blood and not handing it over as an "exhibit" for a whole day.
Let's talk about the infamous gloves. One leather glove was found at the Bundy Estate on the night of the murders of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman. The match to that same glove was found outside of O.J.'s Rockingham Estate. These gloves belonged to Simpson and also contained blood evidence from himself, Brown, and Goldman according to the prosecution's testing.
During the trial, the prosecution decided that they shouldn't ask Simpson to try the glove on because it had blood on it and had been frozen and thawed several times due to being a piece of evidence in the trial.
Little did they know, the defense, specifically Johnnie Cochran, was planning to talk Simpson into trying on the glove, and so came the famous saying "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit." So the glove didn't fit when O.J. tried it on in the middle of the courtroom, but the prosecution said that he hadn't been taking his arthritis medication.
When a person has arthritis and they don't take their medication, their joints swell. If Simpson hadn't been taking his medication since he had been in jail, the glove obviously wasn't going to fit, not to mention the shrinkage that could have occurred because of it being a piece of evidence. One thing we do know for sure is that the gloves definitely did belong to Simpson.
The prosecution team also heavily disagreed with the fact that the LAPD might have wanted to frame O.J. Simpson. Many of Nicole's friends and family members said that the ex-husband and wife had often been involved in domestic disputes.
The prosecution argued that if the LAPD really did want to incriminate OJ, they had numerous opportunities to do so. The defense continued to argue that Mark Fuhrman was a racist along with the LAPD in general. They also argued that hit men had killed Brown and Goldman because Brown's friend had not paid for some drugs.
While all of this happened, the LAPD was concerned that if O.J. was convicted that there would be riots similar to the famous LA Riots.
When it came down to the end of the trial, the jury did find O.J. Simpson not guilty. We may never know the reasons behind their decision, whether it was race, the actual evidence, or the fact that they just simply couldn't believe that a famous celebrity that they loved could murder two people.
Later, in a civil suit, O.J. Simpson was found guilty of the murders and was forced to sell tons of memorabilia to pay the money he owed to the Brown and Goldman families.
That brings us right back to his conviction in an armed robbery attempt to steal back his precious memorabilia. But whether or not O.J. really did it is something that is up to your own conscience to decide.
