Breaking Down

O.J. SIMPSON'S
MURDER
CASE

1.23.95


Overview

The People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson was a criminal trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court starting in 1994, in which O. J. Simpson, a former National Football League (NFL) player, broadcaster and actor, was tried and acquitted for the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. The pair were stabbed to death outside Brown's condominium in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles on the night of June 12, 1994. The trial spanned eleven months, from November 9, 1994,[1] to October 3, 1995.

Opening statements were made on January 24, 1995.[2] Though prosecutors argued that Simpson was implicated by a significant amount of forensic evidence, Simpson was ultimately acquitted of both counts of murder on October 3 of the same year.[3][4][5] Commentators agree that the defense capitalized on anger among the city's African-American community toward the LAPD, which had a history of racial bias, to convince the majority-Black jury to acquit Simpson.[6][7][8] The trial is often characterized as the trial of the century because of its international publicity. It has been described as the "most publicized" criminal trial in human history.[9]The People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson was a criminal trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court starting in 1994, in which O. J. Simpson, a former National Football League (NFL) player, broadcaster and actor, was tried and acquitted for the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. The pair were stabbed to death outside Brown's condominium in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles on the night of June 12, 1994. The trial spanned eleven months, from November 9, 1994,[1] to October 3, 1995.

Opening statements were made on January 24, 1995.[2] Though prosecutors argued that Simpson was implicated by a significant amount of forensic evidence, Simpson was ultimately acquitted of both counts of murder on October 3 of the same year.[3][4][5] Commentators agree that the defense capitalized on anger among the city's African-American community toward the LAPD, which had a history of racial bias, to convince the majority-Black jury to acquit Simpson.[6][7][8] The trial is often characterized as the trial of the century because of its international publicity. It has been described as the "most publicized" criminal trial in human history.[9]

Following questioning by police detectives, Simpson was formally charged with the murders on June 17 after investigators found a blood-stained glove on his property. When he did not turn himself in at the agreed time, he became the subject of a low-speed police pursuit while riding in a white 1993 Ford Bronco SUV owned and driven by his friend Al Cowlings.[10] TV stations interrupted coverage of the 1994 NBA Finals to broadcast live coverage of the pursuit, which was watched by an estimated 95 million people.[11] The pursuit and Simpson's arrest later on the same day were among the most widely publicized events in American history.

Simpson was represented by a high-profile defense team, referred to as the "Dream Team", which was initially led by Robert Shapiro[12][13] and subsequently directed by Johnnie Cochran. The team also included F. Lee Bailey, Alan Dershowitz, Robert Kardashian, Shawn Holley, Carl E. Douglas, and Gerald Uelmen. Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld were two additional attorneys who specialized in DNA evidence.

While Deputy District Attorneys Marcia Clark, William Hodgman, and Christopher Darden believed they had a strong case against Simpson, Cochran and the defense team persuaded the jury that there was reasonable doubt concerning the DNA evidence in this case.[3] They contended that the blood sample had been mishandled by lab scientists and technicians[14] and that the case against Simpson had been tainted by LAPD misconduct related to racism and incompetence, in particular noting actions and comments of Detective Mark Fuhrman. Using DNA evidence in trials was still new, and many people did not understand how to evaluate it.

The trial was considered historically significant for the wide division in reaction to the verdict by the public.[15] Observers' opinions of the verdict were largely related to their ethnicity; the media dubbed this the "racial gap".[16] A poll of Los Angeles County residents showed that most African Americans thought that the "not guilty" verdict was justified, while the majority of whites thought it was a racially motivated jury nullification[17][18] by the mostly African-American jury.[19] More recent polling shows this "gap" has narrowed since the trial. In 2013, more than half of polled black respondents said that they believed Simpson was guilty.[20] In 2017 on an episode of The Jury Speaks, three of the jurors who acquitted Simpson said that in retrospect they would still vote to acquit. One said he would vote to convict.[21]


Key Players

O.J.
Simpson

Former National Football League (NFL) player, broadcaster and actor. Tried and acquitted for the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman

Nicole
Simpson

Ex-wife of O.J. Simpson. Murdered.

Ron
Goldman

American restaurant waiter and friend of Nicole Brown Simpson. Murdered.

Johnnie
Cochran

Led O.J. Simpson's high-profile defense team. The team also included F. Lee Bailey, Alan Dershowitz, Robert Kardashian, Shawn Holley, Carl E. Douglas, and Gerald Uelmen.

Marcia
Clark

Deputy District Attorneys Marcia Clark, William Hodgman, and Christopher Darden believed they had a strong case against Simpson


Background

Nicole Brown met O.J. Simpson in 1977[23] when he was 30 and she was 18 and working as a waitress at the Daisy (a Beverly Hills private club).[24][25] They began dating although Simpson was married. Simpson filed for divorce from his first wife in March 1979.

He and Brown married on February 2, 1985.[26][27][28] Brown and Simpson had two children together, daughter Sydney (b. 1985) and son Justin (b. 1988).[29] According to Lenore Walker, the Simpson–Brown marriage was a "textbook example of domestic abuse".[30][31][32] Brown signed a prenuptial agreement and was prohibited from working while married.[33]

Brown wrote that she felt conflicted about notifying police of the abuse because she was financially dependent on Simpson.[30] Brown described an incident in which Simpson broke her arm during a fight; in order to prevent him from being arrested, she had told emergency room staff that she had fallen off her bike.[34] She wrote about him beating her in public, during sex, and even in front of family and friends.[35] Of the 62 incidents of abuse, the police were notified eight times, and Simpson was arrested once.[36][37][38] On February 25, 1992, Brown filed for divorce, citing "irreconcilable differences".[39]

Brown said that Simpson stalked and harassed her after they divorced – an intimidation tactic meant to force the victim to return to the abuser.[40][41] She documented an incident in which he spied on her having sex with her new boyfriend.[42] Afterwards, Brown said she felt her life was in danger because Simpson had threatened to kill her if he ever found her with another man.[43] She drafted a will.[44] Brown telephoned Sojourn, a women's shelter, on June 8, 1994.[45][46] She was considering staying at the shelter because she was afraid of what Simpson might do to her, as she was refusing his pleas to reconcile their marriage.[47] She had reported a set of keys missing from her house a few weeks earlier. The keys were later found on Simpson when he was arrested for the murders of Brown and Ron Goldman.[48]


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.

The Jury

District Attorney Gil Garcetti elected to file charges in downtown Los Angeles, as opposed to Santa Monica, in which jurisdiction the crimes took place.[139] The Los Angeles Superior Court then decided to hold the trial in Downtown Los Angeles instead of Santa Monica due to safety issues at the Santa Monica Court house owing to the 1994 Northridge earthquake.[140] The decision may have affected the trial's outcome because it resulted in a jury pool that was less educated, had lower incomes, and contained more African Americans.[141] Richard Gabriel, a jury consultant for Simpson, wrote that more educated jurors with higher incomes were more likely to accept the validity of DNA evidence and the argument that domestic violence is a prelude to murder. Gabriel noted that African Americans were far more likely than other minorities to be receptive to claims of racially motivated fraud by the police.[139]

In October 1994, Judge Lance Ito started interviewing 304 prospective jurors, each of whom had to fill out a 75-page questionnaire. On November 3, twelve jurors were seated with twelve alternates. Over the course of the trial, ten were dismissed for a wide variety of reasons. Only four of the original jurors remained on the final panel.[142]

According to media reports, Clark believed women, regardless of race, would sympathize with the domestic violence aspect of the case and connect with Brown personally. On the other hand, the defense's research suggested that black women would not be sympathetic to Brown, who was white, because of tensions about interracial marriages. Both sides accepted a disproportionate number of female jurors. From an original jury pool of 40 percent white, 28 percent black, 17 percent Hispanic, and 15 percent Asian, the final jury for the trial had ten women and two men, of whom nine were black, two white, and one Hispanic.[143][144][clarification needed]

On April 5, 1995, juror Jeanette Harris was dismissed when Judge Ito learned she had failed to disclose an incident of domestic abuse.[145] Afterwards, Harris gave an interview and accused the deputies of racism and claimed the jurors were dividing themselves along racial lines. Ito then met with the jurors, who all denied Harris's allegations of racial tension among themselves. The following day, Ito dismissed the three deputies anyway, which upset the jurors that did not complain because the dismissal appeared to lend credence to Harris's allegations, which they all denied.[146] On April 21, thirteen of the eighteen jurors refused to come to court until they spoke with Ito about it. Ito then ordered them to court and the 13 protesters responded by wearing all black and refusing to come out to the jury box upon arrival.[147] The media described this incident as a "Jury Revolt" and the protesters wearing all black as resembling a "funeral procession".[148][149][150][151]

Prosecution

The two lead prosecutors were Deputy District Attorneys Marcia Clark and William Hodgman, who was replaced as lead prosecutor by Christopher Darden. Clark was designated as the lead prosecutor and Darden became Clark's co-counsel. Prosecutors Hank Goldberg and Hodgman, who had successfully prosecuted high-profile cases in the past, assisted Clark and Darden. Two prosecutors who were DNA experts, Rockne Harmon and George "Woody" Clarke, were brought in to present the DNA evidence in the case and were assisted by Prosecutor Lisa Kahn.[152][153][154]

Theory

The prosecution argued that the domestic violence within the Simpson-Brown marriage culminated in her murder.[155] Simpson's history of abusing Brown resulted in their divorce and his pleading guilty to one count of domestic violence in 1989.[156] On the night of the murders, Simpson attended a dance recital for his daughter and was reportedly angry with Brown 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.

According to the prosecution, Simpson then drove over to Brown's home in his Ford Bronco to reconcile their relationship as a result and when Brown refused, Simpson killed her in a "final act of control". Goldman then came upon the scene to return some eyeglasses and was murdered as well in order to silence him and remove any witnesses. Afterwards, the prosecution said that Simpson walked to his Bronco and drove home, where he parked it and walked into his house. There, he took off his blood stained clothes, put them in the knapsack (except his socks and the glove), put clean ones on, and left towards the limousine. At the Airport, prosecution said that Simpson opened the knapsack, removed the clothes, Bruno Magli shoes, and the murder weapon, and threw them in the trash before putting the knapsack in one of his suitcases and headed towards his flight.[157][158][159]

Timeline

Los Angeles County Chief Medical Examiner Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran testified on June 14, 1995, that Brown's time of death was estimated as between 10:00 pm and 10:30 pm.[183][184] Kato Kaelin testified on March 22, 1995, that he last saw Simpson at 9:36 pm that evening. Simpson was not seen again until 10:54 pm when he answered the intercom at the front door for the limousine driver, Allan Park.[185][186] Simpson had no alibi for approximately one hour and 18 minutes during which time the murders took place.[187] Allan Park testified on March 28 that he arrived at Simpson's home at 10:25 pm on the night of the murders and stopped at the Rockingham entrance: Simpson's Bronco was not there.[188] He then drove over to the Ashford entrance and rang the intercom three times, getting no answer, starting at 10:40pm.[189]

Park's testimony was significant because it explained the location of the glove found at Simpson's home.[190] The blood trail from the Bronco to the front door was easily understood but the glove was found on the other side of the house. Park said the "shadowy figure" initially approached the front door before heading down the southern walkway which leads to where the glove was found by Fuhrman. The prosecution believed that Simpson had driven his Bronco to and from Brown's home to commit the murders, saw that Park was there and aborted his attempt to enter through the front door and tried to enter through the back instead.[191] He panicked and made the sounds that Kaelin heard when he realized that the security system would not let him enter through the rear entrance.[192] He then discarded the glove, came back and went through the front door.[14] During cross examination, Park conceded that he could not identify the figure but said he saw that person enter the front door and afterwards Simpson answered and said he was home alone. Park conceded that he did not notice any cuts on Simpson's left hand but added "I shook his right hand, not his left".[187]

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Defense

Simpson hired a team of high-profile defense lawyers, initially led by Robert Shapiro, who was previously a civil lawyer known for settling, and then subsequently by Johnnie Cochran, who at that point was known for police brutality and civil rights cases.[228] The team included noted defense attorney F. Lee Bailey, Robert Kardashian, Harvard appeals lawyer Alan Dershowitz, his student Robert Blasier, and Dean of Santa Clara University School of Law Gerald Uelmen. Assisting Cochran were Carl E. Douglas and Shawn Holley. Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld were also hired; they headed the Innocence Project and specialized in DNA evidence. Simpson's defense was said to have cost between US$3 million and $6 million; the media dubbed the group of talented attorneys the Dream Team,[229][230] while the taxpayer cost of prosecution was over US$9 million.[231]

Theory

The defense team's reasonable doubt theory was summarized as "compromised, contaminated, corrupted" in opening statements.[232][160] 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 percent of the "real killer(s)" DNA had vanished from the evidence samples.[233] 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.[234] The remaining three exhibits were planted by the police and thus "corrupted" by police fraud.[235] The defense also questioned the timeline, claiming the murders happened around 11:00 pm that night.[236]

Timeline

The physician Robert Huizenga testified on July 14, 1995[237] that Simpson was not physically capable of carrying out the murders due to chronic arthritis and old football injuries. During cross-examination, the prosecution produced an exercise video that Simpson made a few weeks before the murders titled O.J. Simpson Minimum Maintenance: Fitness for Men, which demonstrated that Simpson was anything but frail.[238] Huizenga admitted afterwards that Simpson could have committed the murders if he was in "the throes of an adrenaline-rush".[239]

Michael Baden, a forensic pathologist, testified that the murders[240] happened closer to 11:00pm, which is when Simpson has an alibi[241][242] and stated that Brown was still conscious, standing, and took a step after her throat was cut[243] and that Goldman was standing and fighting his assailant for ten minutes with a lacerated jugular vein.[244][245]

After the trial, Baden admitted his claim of Goldman's long struggle was inaccurate[246][247] and that testifying for Simpson was a mistake.[248] Critics claimed that Baden knowingly gave false testimony in order to collect a $100,000 retainer[249][250][251] because the week before he testified, John Gerdes admitted[252] that Goldman's blood was in Simpson's Bronco[253] despite Goldman never having an opportunity within his lifetime to be in the Bronco.[254]

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The Verdict

Fears grew that race riots, similar to the riots in 1992, would erupt across Los Angeles and the rest of the country if Simpson were convicted of the murders. As a result, all Los Angeles police officers were put on 12-hour shifts. The police arranged for more than 100 police officers on horseback to surround the Los Angeles County courthouse on the day the verdict was announced, in case of rioting by the crowd. President Bill Clinton was briefed on security measures if rioting were to occur nationwide.

The only testimony that the jury reviewed was that of limo driver Park.[72] At 10:07 am on Tuesday, October 3, 1995, Simpson was acquitted on both counts of murder. The jury arrived at the verdict by 3:00 pm on October 2, after four hours of deliberation, but it postponed the announcement.[130] After the verdict was read, juror number nine, 44-year-old Lionel Cryer, gave Simpson a black power raised fist salute.[340] The New York Times reported that Cryer was a former member of the revolutionary nationalist Black Panther Party that prosecutors had "inexplicably left on the panel".[341]

An estimated 100 million people worldwide watched or listened to the verdict's announcement. Long-distance telephone call volume declined by 58 percent, and trading volume on the New York Stock Exchange decreased by 41 percent. Water usage decreased as people avoided using bathrooms. So much work stopped that the verdict cost an estimated $480 million in lost productivity.[130][better source needed] The US Supreme Court received a message on the verdict during oral arguments, with the justices quietly passing the note to each other while listening to the attorney's presentation. Congressmen canceled press conferences, with Joe Lieberman telling reporters, "Not only would you not be here, but I wouldn't be here, either".[342]