The O.J. Simpson murder trial was a must-see TV drama of the last century. What was supposed to be an open-and-close affair turned into an eight-month epic drama that America couldn’t take its eyes off.
Courtroom television captured every moment of the courtroom drama as witnesses made their way from the stands to the soundstage of Jay Leno’s “Tonight Show” or to their seats across from Larry King.
Journalist Dominic Dunne, who covered People of the State of California v. Orensal James Simpson for Vanity Fair, described the case as “the Super Bowl of murder trials” and said that Judge Lance Ito was “a great lawyer. He said he was looking forward to seeing his “skills”.
On the opening day of the trial, January 24, 1995, even the newly sworn-in Bill Clinton’s first speech to Congress was overshadowed.
The twists and turns happened quickly and furiously.
The feisty dream team of defense attorneys, including Johnnie Cochran, F. Lee Bailey, Robert Kardashian, and Robert Shapiro, were at war with themselves and with Bayley from the beginning. Shapiro accused of running secret campaign to tarnish his legal reputation through supermarket tabloids.
Cochran’s opening quickly gained him national fame for his memorable phrasing.
The defense will prove that the evidence against Simpson was “tainted, compromised and ultimately corrupted,” he said. bragged to the jury.
He outlined a compelling defense. The NFL star who ran through the airport in an ad went on to carry out a series of murders of his estranged wife Nicole Brown Simpson, 35, and her friend Ron Goldman, 25. had arthritis.
And he, along with the Rev. Jesse Jackson, hinted that there was a racial overtone to the case, which the African American community embraced him with. They call him “the people’s lawyer.”
The prosecutor’s story was simple. On Sunday, June 12, 1994, Simpson drove by to try to reconcile with Nicole, whom she had been hitting on for years before they broke up, but she refused. In her “final act of control,” he stabbed her to death on the sidewalk leading to her condo at 875 South Bundy Drive around 10:45 p.m.
Later, her close platonic friend Goldman comes to return the glasses, but Simpson also murders him to silence potential witnesses.
When Dennis Brown took the stand, the prosecution achieved an immediate victory. Simpson claims he beat his wife Someone called pregnant Nicole a “fat pig.”
But the racial undercurrent that Cochran stoked exploded when LAPD homicide detective Mark Fuhrman, who discovered the bloody glove allegedly tied to the murder, was asked if Bailey had ever used the N-word. did. Fuhrman said that’s not the case.
That was a lie — the tapes survived thanks to a screenwriter who interviewed Fuhrman as research for the film. The policeman used that word a lot.
Furman frowned further. Each time, he petitioned the Fifth Amendment. The defense questioned him about fabricating evidence, falsifying police records and giving false testimony.
Prosecutors were hoping for better luck for OJ’s housemate, Brian “Kato” Kaelin, who was called to the stand on March 21. He brought a surfer vibe to the courtroom.
However, due to his inconsistencies regarding Simpson’s demeanor on the day of the murder (from “carefree” to “angry”), Judge Ito deemed Kato to be a hostile witness.
Almost instantly, his looks and temperament made him a favorite punchline for comedians. It has also been decided that he will appear on Jay Leno’s “Tonight Show” on May 15th.
On April 1, Charles Keil, one of several dog walkers called to testify, claimed that Simpson’s white Bronco was not where the former football player said it was on the night of the alleged murder. In the end, the prosecution won.
I was told that I have left his hospital bed to testifyKail was cognizant enough to realize that even when there was little attendance at a trial, there was media scrutiny.
Asked for his home address to prove his proximity to Simpson’s dig site, he stammered.
Some moments of the trial had Gothic overtones. During the week of June 6, a female juror fled the courtroom, disgusted by the display of color autopsy photos and accompanying explanations.
Shortly thereafter, Coroner Dr. Lakshmanan Satyavagiswaran, working with Prosecutor Brian Kjellberg, physically show how to do something Simpson could have slashed Ron Goldman’s neck.
It was so terrifying that Ron’s father, Fred Goldman, wiped his eyes with a tissue.
But when Simpson was asked by prosecutors to try on a pair of bloodstained gloves, a moment came of age and became the subject of parody and endless fodder.
O.J. had a hard time squirming and managing, leading to speculation that he might have put his acting skills to good use that led him to appear in “The Naked Gun.”
The gloves represented a major error in the prosecution’s case against Simpson.
Five days later, another fashion accessory believed to belong to Simpson took center stage. This time it was size 12 Bruno Magli shoes. Specifically, there were images of bloody footprints from a shoe at the crime scene and Magri’s heels on Nicole’s back.
Shoe size is consistent with Simpson and similar Mari shoe sizes, Matched perfectly with his Reebok soles.
The obsession with this trial was: According to CNNby 1996, sales of Magli shoes had increased by 30%.
As the summer progressed, defense took center stage. On August 10, former New York City Chief Medical Examiner Michael Baden said: testified who committed the murder It took longer to finish the job than the prosecutor claimed.
This was very important because more time at the crime scene would have reduced the time OJ was accused of fleeing.
For his work on Simpson’s side, Baden received $100,000.
Nearly two weeks later, on August 23, the defense laid out a new smokescreen, claiming there were two perpetrators and neither was Simpson.
The expert witness, Henry C. Lee, then director of the Connecticut State Police Forensic Laboratory, claimed that there was another bloody shoe print.
He also focused on showing how bloodstain patterns indicate struggle. To demonstrate that, he was about to slam his hand into a blob of red ink.
Judge Ito, who seemed to be playing with the court’s television cameras and the ever-increasing number of viewers watching the trial, cheekily asked Lee, “Have you ever been to the Gallagher show?”
He cited the name of a single-named prop cartoon famous for watermelon splitting at the time.
The trial culminated in early October.
Ever the showman, Cochran delivered the most memorable line of the trial.
Reflecting on the prosecution’s failure to use black gloves, he implored jurors: “If it doesn’t fit, then you must acquit.”
It was a quip heard around the world.
Viewership for the trial steadily increased, reaching 150 million viewers on the day of the verdict.
Televisions were brought into school classrooms, and office workers stopped work while 57% of the nation, including Mr. Clinton, tuned in to see the outcome of the courtroom drama.
In the end, it took the jury just four hours to reach a verdict.
One of them, former Black Panther Lionel Cryer, smiled and winked At Simpson.
The court clerk then read out, “Not guilty.”
Simpson smiled. Cryer raised his fist in the air and gave a black power salute. Fred Goldman called the decision his second worst nightmare after his son’s murder.
But he will continue to receive some form of justice. In 1997, the families of Goldman and Brown were awarded a $33.5 million civil judgment against Simpson.
After the judgment Ron Goldman said:“Justice is finally being served for Ron and Nicole.”
However, Simpson died without discharging any money.
