Murder trial of O. J. Simpson

"O. J. Simpson case" redirects here. For the 2007–2008 robbery case involving Simpson, see O. J. Simpson robbery case. For other civil and criminal cases involving Simpson, see O. J. Simpson § Legal history.

People v. Simpson
CourtSuperior Court of California for and in the County of Los Angeles
Full case name The People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson
SubmittedJune 16, 1994
StartedJanuary 24, 1995
DecidedOctober 3, 1995; 29 years ago (1995-10-03)
VerdictNot guilty in violation of Penal Code Section 187(a), a felony upon Nicole Brown Simpson.
Not guilty in violation of Penal Code Section 187(a), a felony upon Ronald Lyle Goldman.
ChargeFirst-degree murder with special circumstances (2 counts)
Case history
Subsequent actionsCivil lawsuit filed by the Brown and Goldman families; Simpson was found responsible by a preponderance of the evidence for both deaths on February 4, 1997.
Court membership
Judges sitting
  • Kathleen Kennedy-Powell (Preliminary Hearing)
  • Lance Ito (Trial)

The People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson was a criminal trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court, in which former NFL player and actor O. J. Simpson was tried and acquitted for the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman, who were stabbed to death outside Brown's condominium in Los Angeles on June 12, 1994. The trial spanned eight months, from January 24 to October 3, 1995.

Though prosecutors argued that Simpson was implicated by a significant amount of forensic evidence, he was acquitted of both murders on October 3.[1][2][3][4] 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.[5][6][7] 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.[8] 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.[9] TV stations interrupted coverage of the 1994 NBA Finals to broadcast live coverage of the pursuit, which was watched by around 95 million people.[10] 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[11][12] 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.[1] They contended the blood sample had been mishandled by lab scientists[13] 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 trial was considered significant for the wide division in reaction to the verdict.[14] Observers' opinions of the verdict were largely related to their ethnicity; the media dubbed this the "racial gap".[15] 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[16][17] by the mostly African-American jury.[18] 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.[19] In 2017, three jurors who acquitted Simpson said they would still vote to acquit, while one said he would convict.[20]

After the trial, Goldman's father filed a civil suit against Simpson. In 1997, the jury unanimously found Simpson responsible for the deaths of Goldman and Brown.[21] The Goldman family was awarded damages totaling $34 million ($64 million adjusted for inflation), but as of 2024 have received a small portion of that.[citation needed]

  1. ^ a b Meier, Barry (September 7, 1994). "Simpson Team Taking Aim at DNA Laboratory". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 12, 2012. Retrieved December 5, 2008.
  2. ^ Jones, Thomas L. "O.J. Simpson". truTV. Archived from the original on December 9, 2008. Retrieved December 6, 2008.
  3. ^ "1995: OJ Simpson verdict: 'Not guilty'". On This Day: 3 October. BBC. October 3, 1995. Archived from the original on January 17, 2018. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
  4. ^ "The O.J. Simpson Murder Trial : Excerpts of Opening Statements by Simpson Prosecutors". Los Angeles Times. January 25, 1995. Archived from the original on April 12, 2024. Retrieved January 30, 2012.
  5. ^ "How O.J. Simpson's Dream Team Played the "Race Card" and Won". Vanity Fair. May 5, 2014. Archived from the original on October 6, 2022. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  6. ^ "Race and Justice: Rodney King and O.J. Simpson in a House Divided | Office of Justice Programs". www.ojp.gov. Archived from the original on August 23, 2022. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  7. ^ "OJ Simpson Juror: Not-Guilty Verdict Was 'Payback' for Rodney King". June 15, 2016. Archived from the original on June 7, 2020. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  8. ^ "Confusion for Simpson kids 'far from over'". USA Today. February 12, 1997. Archived from the original on December 7, 2008. Retrieved December 5, 2008.
  9. ^ Mydans, Seth (June 18, 1994). "The Simpson Case: The Fugitive; Simpson Is Charged, Chased, Arrested". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 7, 2014. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
  10. ^ Gilbert, Geis; Bienen, Leigh B. (1988). Crimes of the century: from Leopold and Loeb to O.J. Simpson. Northeastern University Press. p. 174. ISBN 978-1555533601.
  11. ^ Mydans, Seth (June 16, 1994). "Lawyer for O.J. Simpson Quits Case". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 21, 2017. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
  12. ^ Newton, Jim (September 9, 1994). "Power Struggle in the Simpson Camp, Sources Say – Shapiro, Cochran Increasingly Compete For Limelight In Case". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on August 21, 2011. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
  13. ^ "List of the evidence in the O.J. Simpson double-murder trial". USA Today. October 18, 1996. Archived from the original on December 2, 2008. Retrieved December 5, 2008.
  14. ^ "the o.j. verdict: Toobin". www.pbs.org. October 4, 2005. Archived from the original on August 6, 2020. Retrieved March 29, 2020.
  15. ^ "the O.J. verdict: Dershowitz". www.pbs.org. October 4, 2005. Archived from the original on March 27, 2020. Retrieved March 29, 2020.
  16. ^ Chakravarti, Sonali (August 5, 2014). "The OJ Simpson Verdict, Jury Nullification and Black Lives Matter: The Power to Acquit". Public Seminar. Archived from the original on March 29, 2020. Retrieved March 29, 2020.
  17. ^ Monroe, Sylvester (June 16, 2014). "Black America was cheering for Cochran, not O.J." Andscape. Archived from the original on April 1, 2020. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
  18. ^ Decker, Cathleen (October 8, 1995). "The Times Poll : Most in County Disagree With Simpson Verdicts". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on January 16, 2015. Retrieved January 16, 2014.
  19. ^ "Most Black People Now Think O.J. Was Guilty". FiveThirtyEight. June 9, 2014. Archived from the original on March 29, 2020. Retrieved March 29, 2020.
  20. ^ "O.J. Simpson jurors reflect on the history-making trial in Oxygen's The Jury Speaks". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on October 9, 2021. Retrieved March 14, 2020.
  21. ^ "Jury unanimous: Simpson is liable". CNN. February 4, 1997. Archived from the original on January 31, 2019. Retrieved June 16, 2008.