THE PEOPLE V. O.J.

SIMPSON

INTRODUCTION

For the uninitiated, OJ Simpson was a star Football player (of the American kind) who, after
numerous earlier allegations of domestic violence, was arrested as the prime suspect in the
murder of his wife and the man she was allegedly seeing. To put it in perspective, OJ was as
legendary in the ‘90s as MS Dhoni or Virat Kohli are today. This was bigger than the Jessica Lal
case, more high profile than either Salman Khan or Sanjay Dutt’s run-ins with the law. They
called it ‘The Trial of the Century’ and they weren’t wrong.

OJ Simpson was accused of two first degree murders- one of his wife Nicole Brown Simpson
and other of her alleged lover Ronald Goldman. This case is now over 25 years old but managed
to get into limelight once again with the release of the drama series The People v. O.J. Simpson:
American Crime Story, which turned out to be a huge success in the US and the UK.

THE PEOPLE INVOLVED IN THE CASE

 O.J. Simpson

Born in 1947 in San Fransico, Simpson started of his career by becoming a college football star
at USC and established himself in the field by winning the prestigious and famous Heisman
Trophy in 1968, an award which is bestowed upon the best player in college football in the
United States.

Then he moved into Buffalo Bills and San Fransico 489ers in the NFL and his role was a runner
back and went on to become a star in NFL too. His achievements speak for him becoming a star
in NFL as he became the first player to gain 1,000 rushing yards in a season and then also the
first player to gain 2,000 rushing yards in a season itself and also breaking the seasons record for
most touchdowns, i.e., 23 and most yards rushed in a game which was 273 yards v/s Detroit
Lions that came on a very special day of Thanksgiving Day on 1976.
After retirement too, fame did not leave him as he started of a successful career as a Sports
Broadcaster and actor.1

 Nicole Brown Simpson

Nicole Brown was born in Frankfurt in West Germany and moved to the US as a toddler with her
German mother and American father. She met O. J. Simpson in 1977, when she was 18 and
working as a waitress at the Daisy (a Beverly Hills private club). 2 Simpson was married but the
two began dating. Simpson filed for divorce in March 1979 and married Brown on February 2,
1985. She was a dedicated mother who refused to have nannies to look after her children.
Although they got divorced later in 1992 as Simpson was unfaithful and was abusive to her.
Nicole was thus, the former wife of O.J. Simpson and the mother of their two children Sydney
Simpson and Justin Simpson.3

 Roanld Goldman

Ronald Goldman was born in 1968 and worked as a waiter in a number of trendy restaurants as
well as working as a model. Goldman is seen by many as the forgotten victim with the media
focusing on the relationship between O.J. and Nicole. Ronald Goldman was a friend of Nicole
and according to an article on CNN he was only dropping off glasses at Nicole’s home on the
night of the murder.

THE MURDER

The Simpson-Brown marriage was a “textbook example of domestic abuse.” 4 Brown signed a
prenuptial agreement and was then prohibited from working while married. 5 She wrote that she
felt conflicted about notifying the police of the abuse because she was financially dependent on
him. Nicole described an incident in which Simpson broke her arm during a fight but she lied
and told the emergency room staff that she had fallen off her bike to protect Simpson from being
arrested. She wrote about Simpson beating her in public, during sex and even in front of family
1
Breakdown of the O.J. Simpson Case, Law Absolute (March 21, 2016), https://www.lawabsolute.com/recruitment-
news/article/breakdown-of-the-o-j-simpson-case.
2
CNN, O.J. Simpson Trial News: The Victims, CNN News (February 2, 1985 retrieved on Feb. 23, 2014),
http://edition.cnn.com/US/OJ/victims/.
3
Id.
4
LENORE E. WALKER, THE BATTERED WOMAN SYNDROME, Springer Publishing Company (2001).
5
Associated Press, Simpson Case Changed How America Sees Spousal Abuse, VOA News (June 12, 2019),
https://www.voanews.com/usa/simpson-case-changed-how-america-sees-spousal-abuse.
and friends.Of the 62 incidents of abuse, the police were notified eight times and Simpson was
arrested once.6

At 12:10 am. on June 13, 1994, Brown and Goldman were found murdered outside of Nicole's
Bundy Drive condominium in Brentwood, Los Angeles. 7 Both victims had been dead for about
two hours prior to the arrival of police. The defense and the prosecution agreed that the murders
took place sometime between 10:15 and 11:00 pm. Nicole's Akita dog with bloodstained paws
led neighbors to the body. Steven Schwab testified that while he was walking his dog in the area
near Brown's house at around 11:30 pm, he noticed that Brown's Akita dog had bloody paws but
was uninjured. Schwab said he took the dog to a neighbor friend, who took the dog for a walk at
approximately 12:00 midnight and testified that it tugged on its leash and led him to Brown's
house. There he discovered Brown's dead body and flagged down a passing patrol car.

THE BLOOD TRAIL

Following the murders, investigators found blood drops alongside bloody shoe prints walking
away from the bodies of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, as well as blood on a gate
at the back of the murder scene. Blood from these places contained the same genetic markers as
Simpson’s and O.J. also had a fresh cut on his hand.

The bloody shoe prints were a size 12 Bruno Magli shoe and Simpson wore size 12, although
there was no evidence, he had ever bought this type of shoe. There was a cashmere-lined Aris
Light glove found at the murder scene and another behind Simpson’s guest house, but detective
Mark Fuhrman was later accused of planting this evidence.8

There were also a pair of bloodied, crumpled socks found at the foot of Simpson’s bed and DNA
tests found genetic markers for Simpson and his ex-wife.

There was also a small spot of blood found near the driver’s outside door handle of Simpson’s
Ford Bronco and more blood found smeared inside on the console, door, steering wheel and
carpet.
6
Andrea Dworkin, Disorder in the Court : THE ABUSE : In Nicole Brown Simpson’s Words, Los Angeles Times
(Jan. 29, 1995), https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-01-29-op-25763-story.html.
7
Ronald Goldman, O.J. Simpson trial: Night of the murders timeline, CNN News (Dec. 11, 2007),
https://web.archive.org/web/20130306203826/http://articles.cnn.com/2007-12-11/us/
court.archive.simpson14_1_pablo-fenjves-ronald-goldman-allan-park?_s=PM:US.
8
Supra Note 1.
CAR CHASE AND ARREST

Following the murder, Simpson resided at the home of his attorney and friend, Robert
Kardashian, and after the discovery of the aforementioned evidence a warrant for his arrest was
issued.

Detective Fuhrman discovered a bloody glove in Simpson’s house and it was later determined to
be the matching right-hand glove of the one found at the murder scene. This evidence was
determined to be probable cause to issue an arrest warrant for Simpson.

The police contacted Simpson at his home on Monday, June 13 and took him to Parker Center
for questioning. Detective Lange noticed that Simpson had a cut on a finger on his left hand that
was consistent with where the killer was bleeding from and asked Simpson how he got it. At
first, he claimed he cut his finger accidentally while in Chicago after learning of Nicole's death.
Lange then informed Simpson that blood was found inside his Bronco at which point Simpson
admitted that he did cut his finger the same day as the murders but did not remember how. He
voluntarily gave some of his own blood for comparison with evidence collected at the crime
scene and was released.9

On Wednesday, June 15, preliminary results from DNA testing came back with matches to
Simpson but the District Attorney delayed filing charges until all the results had come back. On
Thursday June 16, Simpson spent Thursday night at the San Fernando Valley home of friend
Robert Kardashian; Shapiro asked several doctors to attend to Simpson's purported fragile
mental state. On Friday, June 17 detectives recommended that Simpson be charged with two
counts of first-degree murder with special circumstance of multiple killings after the final DNA
results came back.10 The police were told that Simpson would turn himself in on June 17th, but
when he went missing his lawyers held a news conference and read a statement that was
interpreted as a suicide note. Police began a search for Simpson and at around 6.30pm Simpson
was spotted in a white Ford Bronco which was being driven by his best friend and former team
mate Al Cowlings.

9
Jim Newton & Andrea Ford, Simpson Dreamed of Killing, Witness Says: Courts: Ex-officer says he is a longtime
friend of the defendant. His account is attacked in cross-examination, Los Angeles Times (Feb 2, 1995),
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-02-02-mn-27325-story.html.
10
Jim Newton & Sharm Hubler, Simpson Held After Wild Chase: He's Charged With Murder of Ex-Wife, Friend,
Los Angeles Times (June 18, 1994), https://www.latimes.com/local/la-oj-anniv-arrest-story.html.
When police caught up with the Ford Bronco, Cowlings called 911 to tell them that O.J. Simpson
was holding a gun to his head and that all he wanted to do was to see his mum. Following the
phone call, police dropped back and followed the car at low speed back to Simpson’s residence
where he was then arrested.

PRELIMINARY HEARING

On June 20, Simpson was arraigned and pleaded not guilty to both murders and was held without
bail. The following day, a grand jury was called to determine whether to indict him for the two
murders but was dismissed on June 23, as a result of excessive media coverage that could have
influenced its neutrality. Instead, authorities held a probable cause hearing to determine whether
to bring Simpson to trial. California Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy-Powell ruled on
July 7 that there was sufficient evidence to bring Simpson to trial for the murders. At his second
arraignment on July 22, when asked how he pleaded to the murders, Simpson firmly stated:
"Absolutely, one hundred percent, not guilty."

Jill Shively testified to the grand jury that soon after the time of the murders she saw a white
Ford Bronco speeding away from Bundy Drive in such a hurry that it almost collided with a
Nissan at the intersection of Bundy and San Vicente Boulevard, 11 and that she recognized
Simpson's voice. She talked to the television show Hard Copy for $5,000, after which
prosecutors declined to use her testimony at trial.

Jose Camacho of Ross Cutlery provided store receipts showing Simpson had purchased a 12-
inch (305 mm) stiletto knife six weeks before the murders. The knife was recovered and
determined to be similar to the one the coroner said caused the stab wounds. The prosecution did
not present this evidence at trial after Camacho sold his story to the National Enquirer for
$12,500.12 Tests on the knife determined that an oil used on new cutlery was still present on the
knife, indicating it had never been used.13

11
Thomas L. Jones, O.J. Simpson, TruTV (Dec. 9, 2008),
https://web.archive.org/web/20081209063157/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/famous/
simpson/home_15.html.
12
Id.
13
Joanna Robinson, Mark Fuhrman Slams the People v. O.J. Simpson for Political Correctness, Vanity Fair (March
7, 2016), https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/03/mark-fuhrman-people-v-oj-simpson.
At first, Simpson's defense sought to show that one or more hitmen hired by drug dealers had
murdered Brown and Goldman – giving Brown a "Colombian necktie" – because they were
looking for Brown's friend, Faye Resnick, a known cocaine user who had failed to pay for her
drugs.14 She had stayed for several days at Brown's condo until entering rehab four days before
the killings. Ito ruled that the drug killer theory was "highly speculative" with no evidence to
support it.15 Consequently, Ito barred the jury from hearing it and prohibited Christian Reichardt
from testifying about his former girlfriend Resnick's drug problems.

THE TRIAL

Simpson wanted a speedy trial, and the defense and prosecuting attorneys worked around the
clock for several months to prepare their cases. The trial began on January 24, 1995, seven
months after the murders, and was televised by closed-circuit TV camera via Court TV, and in
part by other cable and network news outlets, for 134 days. Judge Lance Ito presided over the
trial in the C.S. Foltz Criminal Courts Building.

PROSECUTION’S CASE

The two lead prosecutors were Deputy District Attorneys Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden.
Clark was designated as the lead prosecutor and Darden became Clark's co-counsel.

The prosecution argued that the domestic violence within the Simpson-Brown marriage
culminated in her murder. Simpson's history of abusing Nicole resulted in their divorce and him
pleading guilty to one count of domestic violence in 1989. 16 On the night of the murders,
Simpson attended a dance recital for his daughter and was reportedly angry with Nicole because
of a black dress that she wore, which he said was "tight". Simpson's then girlfriend, Paula
Barbieri, wanted to attend the recital with Simpson but he did not invite her. After the recital,
Simpson returned home to a voicemail from Barbieri ending their relationship. Simpson then

14
Anna Rose Lovine, Faye Resnick Videos Addressing the Drug Cartel Theory On 'The People V. O.J. Simpson'
Shows Just How Complicated the Case Was, Romper Entertainment (March 16, 2016),
https://www.romper.com/p/faye-resnick-videos-addressing-the-drug-cartel-theory-on-the-people-v-oj-simpson-
shows-just-how-complicated-the-case-was-7255.
15
Nell Henderson & Lorraine Adams, ITO BARS SIMPSON TEAM'S ATTEMPT TO LINK DRUG DEALERS
TO KILLINGS, The Washington Post (July 14, 1995),
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1995/07/14/ito-bars-simpson-teams-attempt-to-link-drug-dealers-
to-killings/6b80d0d8-504b-406f-812d-1eb5ef3e1047/.
16
JEFFREY TOOBIN, THE RUN OF HIS LIFE, Random House (2015).
drove over to Nicole Brown's home to reconcile their relationship as a result and when Nicole
refused, Simpson killed her in a "final act of control." Ron Goldman then came upon the scene
and was murdered as well.17

The prosecution opened its case by calling LAPD 911 dispatcher Sharon Gilbert and playing a
four-minute 9-1-1 call from Nicole Brown Simpson on January 1, 1989, in which she expressed
fear that Simpson would physically harm her and Simpson himself is even heard in the
background yelling at her and possibly hitting her as well. The officer who responded to that call,
Detective John Edwards, testified next that when he arrived, a severely beaten Nicole Brown
Simpson ran from the bushes where she was hiding and to the detective screaming "He's going to
kill me, he's going to kill me," referring to O.J. Simpson. Pictures of Nicole Brown's face from
that night were then shown to the jury to confirm his testimony. That incident led to Simpson's
arrest and eventual pleading of no contest to one count of domestic violence for which he
received probation for one year.

However, the prosecution dropped the domestic violence portion of their case on June 20, 1995.
Marcia Clark stated it was because they believed the DNA evidence against Simpson was
insurmountable, but the media speculated it was because of the comments made by dismissed
juror Jeanette Harris. This was true too. An interview of Harris in which she called the evidence
of Simpson's abuse of Nicole "a whole lot of nothing" and also said "that doesn't mean he is
guilty of murder". This dismissal of Simpson's abusive behavior from a female juror, who was
also a victim of such abuse by her own husband, convinced the prosecution that the jury was not
receptive to the domestic violence argument.18

The prosecution presented a total of 108 exhibits, including 61 drops of blood, of DNA evidence
allegedly linking Simpson to the murders. With no witnesses to the crime, the prosecution was
dependent on DNA as the only physical evidence linking Simpson to the crime. 19 The volume of
DNA evidence in this case was unique and the prosecution believed they could reconstruct how
the crime was committed with enough accuracy to resemble an eyewitness account.

17
Id.
18
Jake Macmanus, Marcia Clark Explains Domestic Violence Bias in OJ Simpson Trial, ABC News (June 15,
2016), https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/marcia-clark-explains-domestic-violence-bias-oj-simpson/story?
id=39852403.
19
JOHN M. BUTLER, FUNDAMENTALS OF FORENSIC DNA TYPING, Academic Press (2009).
On June 19, 1995, FBI shoe print expert William J. Bodziak, testified that the bloody shoe prints
found at the crime scene and inside Simpson's Bronco were made from a rare and expensive pair
of Bruno Magli Italian shoes. He determined the shoes were a size 12, the same size that
Simpson wears, and are only sold at Bloomingdales. Only 29 pairs of that size were sold in the
U.S. and one of them was sold at the same store that Simpson often buys his shoes from.

THE DEFENSE CASE:

Simpson hired a team of high-profile defense lawyers, initially led by Robert Shapiro.

The defense team's reasonable doubt theory was summarized as "compromised, contaminated,
corrupted" in opening statements.20 They argued that the DNA evidence against Simpson was
"compromised" by the mishandling of criminalists Dennis Fung and Andrea Mazzola during the
collection phase of evidence gathering, and that 100% of the "real killer(s)" DNA had vanished
from the evidence samples.21 The evidence was then "contaminated" in the LAPD crime lab by
criminalist Collin Yamauchi, and Simpson's DNA from his reference vial was transferred to all
but three exhibits. The remaining three exhibits were planted by the police and thus "corrupted"
by police fraud. The defense also questioned the timeline, claiming the murders happened around
11:00pm that night.22 Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld argued that the results from the DNA
testing were not reliable because the police were "sloppy" in collecting and preserving it from the
crime scene.

The contamination claim was made by microbiologist Dr. John Gerdes. Gerdes testified that
because of the LAPD's history of contamination, he would not consider any of the PCR DNA
matches in this case reliable because the tests were carried out by the LAPD.

O.J.’s defence team said prosecutor Christopher Darden must wear a latex glove underneath the
leather one and as Simpson tried the glove on it was too small for his hands and was too tight.

This point was highlighted in the closing statements of the trial when defence lawyer Johnnie
Cochran said the famous line ‘if it doesn’t fit, you must acquit’.

20
Vedita Saraf, Famous Court Cases: People Vs. O.J. Simpson Case, Steemit (2018),
https://steemit.com/court/@vsaraf/famous-court-cases-people-vs-oj-simpson-case.
21
Supra note 16.
22
M.L. RANTALA, O.J. UNMASKED: THE TRIAL, THE TRUTH, AND THE MEDIA, Open Court Publishing (1996).
VERDICT

On Tuesday, October 3, 1995, Simpson was acquitted on both counts of murder. The jury arrived
at the verdict by 3:00 p.m. on October 2, after four hours of deliberation. After the verdict in
favor of Simpson, most black people surveyed said they believed justice had been served, with
most claiming that Simpson had been framed and some even suggesting that Mark Fuhrman was
the actual killer. Most whites (75%) disagreed with the verdict and believed that it was racially
motivated. Critics of the jury's not-guilty verdict contended that the deliberation time was unduly
short relative to the length of the trial. Some said that the jurors, most of whom did not have any
college education, did not understand the forensic evidence.