There have only been a couple of national events in my life where I can very clearly remember exactly where I was at the moment they happened. Obviously 9/11 was one of those most of us remember.
The Rodney King riots in 1992 are another one. I was at work in Washington, DC that day. A group of us were being sent to a warehouse in Virginia in the back of a panel van with benches rather than seats. I was the only white guy in a van with 8 black men, all of them in their mid-20s as I was at the time. The radio was on and the DJ announced the news and then played “Fight the Power” by Public Enemy. The driver, who was black, cranked it up loud. Fortunately, I was friends with one of the guys and he sort of vouched for me (“He’s white but he’s alright.”) And after that it was okay.
And then there was the acquittal of OJ Simpson in 1995. I happened to be in Pittsburgh visiting a close friend that day. Over the course of the long trial, I had become one of those obsessives who was watching events in real time every day after work, sometimes for hours. I knew the names of everyone involved in the trial. I knew all of the arguments being made by both sides.
That day, October 3, 1995, we knew the verdict was coming so we wound up on the second floor of a little house watching an old TV. It wasn’t my friend’s house. I don’t remember whose house it was but I remember the verdict being red and both of us being in disbelief that the “Dream Team” had somehow managed to convince the dumbest jury in the history of juries that there wasn’t enough evidence OJ was guilty.
He was of course guilty as sin. He had a long history of violence toward his ex-wife, Nicole Brown. Police had been involved multiple times. She was clearly in fear that he would kill her in a jealous rage and that’s exactly what happened in 1994.
There was also overwhelming physical evidence that OJ was the killer. I’m pulling this from Wikipedia now but 29 years ago I knew about all of this and so did anyone else watching the trial.
With no witnesses to the crime, the prosecution was dependent on DNA as the only physical evidence linking Simpson to the crime. 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. Marcia Clark stated in her opening statements that there was a “trail of blood from the Bundy Crime scene through Simpson’s Ford Bronco to his bedroom at Rockingham”.
- Simpson’s DNA found on blood drops next to the bloody footprints near the victims at the Bundy crime scene. The prosecution stated that the probability of error was 1-in-9.7 billion.
- Simpson’s DNA found on a trail of blood drops leading away from the victims, towards and on the back gate at Bundy. The prosecution stated that the probability of error was 1-in-200.
- Simpson, Goldman, and Brown’s DNA found on blood on the outside of the door and inside Simpson’s Bronco. The prosecution stated that the probability of error was 1-in-21 billion.
- Simpson’s DNA found on blood drops leading from the area where his Bronco was parked at Simpson’s Rockingham home to the front door entrance.
- Simpson, Brown and Goldman’s DNA on a bloody glove found behind his home.
- Simpson and Brown’s DNA found on blood on a pair of socks in Simpson’s bedroom. The prosecution stated that the probability of error was 1-in-6.8 billion.
In addition to all of that, there was the shoeprint and the infamous Bruno Magli shoes.
On June 19, FBI shoeprint expert William J. Bodziak testified that the bloody shoeprints 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 wore, and are only sold at Bloomingdales. Only 29 pairs of that size were sold in the US and one of them was sold at the same store that Simpson often buys his shoes from. Bodziak also testified that, despite two sets of footprints at the crime scene, only one attacker was present because they were all made by the same shoes. During cross-examination Bailey suggested the murderer deliberately wore shoes that were the wrong size, which Bodziak dismissed as “ridiculous”.
Simpson denied ever owning a pair of those “ugly ass shoes” and there was only circumstantial evidence he did. Bloomingdales employee Samuel Poser testified he remembered showing Simpson those shoes but there was no store record of him purchasing them.
If you remember this story then you already know the payoff. Simpson was lying about the “ugly ass shoes.” During a civil trial in 1997, lawyers turned up dozens of photos (taken by 2 different photographers) showing Simpson wearing a pair of Bruno Magli shoes in 1993, the year before the murders.
I’m going into detail because at the time there were many of us who were really immersed in it which made the outcome of the criminal trial inexplicable. Well, not quite inexplicable. What you had was Johnnie Cochran doing his best to capitalize on the same anger that had sparked the Rodney King riots a few years earlier. And it worked like a charm. There were people outside the courthouse selling t-shirts that proclaimed OJ innocent. The verdict wasn’t about the law or the facts. It was about race and sociology.
This isn’t just supposition on my part. One of the Simpson jurors, Carrie Bess, later said the verdict in the trial was all about Rodney King.
Interviewer: Do you think there are members of the jury that voted to acquit OJ because of Rodney King?
Bess: Yes.
Interviewer: You do?
Bess: Yes.
Interviewer: How many of you do you think felt that way?
Bess: Oh, probably 90 percent of them.
Interviewer: 90 percent. Did you feel that way?
Bess: Yes.
Interviewer: That was payback.
Bess: Uh-huh.
We all remember the pretext, i.e. the moment that made the acquittal possible (if still factually inexplicable). That was the infamous demonstration with the gloves. Simpson was told to put them on over another pair of latex gloves. He struggled, perhaps with a bit of acting on his part, and then held up his hands in the courtroom. “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit,” Cochran later said.
Simpson was eventually found liable in the civil trial based on the same evidence. And much later he would give interviews which were made into a book titled “If I Did It” which was basically a carefully couched confession.
He later got into some other legal problems as the result of a robbery of sports memorabilia. This time he was convicted and sentenced to nine years in prison. He was released in Oct. 2017.
Today, Simpson’s family announced that he had died as a result of a battle with cancer.
On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer.
He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren.
During this time of transition, his family asks that you please respect their wishes for privacy and grace.
-The Simpson Family
— O.J. Simpson (@TheRealOJ32) April 11, 2024
Just a couple months ago, Simpson had posted a video denying that he was in hospice care and claiming “all is well.”
Hospice??? pic.twitter.com/OXLzs9jWO6
— O.J. Simpson (@TheRealOJ32) February 9, 2024
Anyway, I don’t know what to think. Never speak ill of the dead usually applies but in this case I’m not sure. He was an abusive husband and double murderer who should have spent the rest of his life in prison. There was only one chance for him to get some part of what he really deserved for his behavior in this life and thanks to his “Dream Team” of lawyers and a jury willing to ignore the evidence, that chance was squandered.
Maybe at last his two victims can rest in peace.
I don’t want to talk about the murderer’s death today. Let’s remember the lives that he stole.
Ron Goldman & Nicole Simpson – may they rest in the peace that forever eludes OJ Simpson. pic.twitter.com/4LNkl8ukP9— AltSpaceForce 🚀🇺🇸 (@AltSpaceForce1) April 11, 2024