‘If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit!’ Why OJ Simpson’s iconic courtroom glove fitting is burned into America’s brain
It’s a moment fit for the history books.
OJ Simpson, who died after a cancer battle this week, goes down in history not just for his achievements on the football field, but also his notorious, racially charged murder trial — with no moment more visually memorable than his courtroom glove fitting.
During the disgraced NFL great’s 1995 trial, the prosecution asked Simpson to try on bloody black gloves found at the scene of his ex-wife Nicole Brown’s murder.
Prosecutors thought the gloves were among the strongest evidence because DNA tests showed blood on them contained genetic markers for Simpson, Brown and her friend Ron Goldman, who was also stabbed to death.
But when prosecutor Christopher Darden asked Simpson to slip on the gloves in front of jurors, the defendant squirmed and struggled to fit his hands into them, making them appear far too small for him — and the case went up in flames.
Simpson made a huge show in court of struggling to slip the gloves over thinner latex gloves he had been provided, making frustrated expressions, and leading jurors to believe they might not be his.
The courtroom drama, which unfolded on June 15, 1995, became one of the most powerful images during the trial and one of its most pivotal moments, with critics later speculating that Simpson — who had appeared in the 1988 spoof movie “The Naked Gun” — channeled his acting ability to drum up doubt.
The glove incident was far from the first misstep by the prosecution in the nine-month trial, but was famously seized on by the defense team.
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During closing statements in the so-called “trial of the century,” Simpson’s defense attorney Johnnie Cochran proclaimed, “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.” Simpson was ultimately found not guilty.
Darden later insisted he didn’t regret the choice to have Simpson try on the gloves, saying the fitting wasn’t the reason Simpson was acquitted.
“I think the trial was lost way before then,” Darden said in 2016.
