25 YEARS ON
IN 1994,
TWO
MURDERS
LAUNCHED
THE TRIAL
OF THE
CENTURY
Photo of OJ now: twitter.comOJ Simpson famously tried on
the pair of gloves used as
evidence against him to prove
they didn’t fit his hands.lawyers, Robert Shapiro and
Johnnie Cochran.THE TRIAL
JANUARY 25, 1995
During OJ’s widely televised
murder trial, everyday
Americans watching were
exposed to an entirely new
phrase: “domestic violence”.
Evidence given at the trial
accused the 6’1” [185cm]football star of abusing his
ex-wife Nicole, including frantic
recordings of 911 calls she
had made to police during their
seven-year marriage. In one
incident, Nicole had called for
help and hid in the bushes while
waiting for police to respond.
She famously told an officer:
“You guys have been up here
eight times before, all you do
is talk to him, you never do
anything. He’s gonna kill me.”HE’S ACQUITTED
OCTOBER 3
After the trial of the century,
which spanned 10 months,
on October 3, 1995, OJ Simpson
was acquitted on two counts of
murder. The jury deliberated for
less than four hours and came
back with the shock verdict: not
guilty. It took an epic 252-day
trial and an endless media circus- but OJ was finally a free man.
Despite this, no other suspect
has ever been formally identified
in the Nicole Brown and Ron
Goldman murder case.BACK TO THE
COURTROOM
SEPTEMBER 13, 2007
While he escaped conviction
for the 1994 murders of Nicole
and Ron, OJ was back facing
a criminal trial in 2007 for
kidnapping and robbing. On
September 13, Simpson was
the ringleader in a group of men
who broke into a Las Vegas
hotel room and stole sports
memorabilia while holding
dealer Bruce Fromong at
gunpoint. In October 2008,
Simpson was found guilty on
12 charges and was sentenced
to 33 years behind bars, with
eligibility for parole after nine
years. In October 2017, OJ was
freed on parole.‘THE PEOPLE V
OJ SIMPSON’
FEBRUARY 2016
In 2016, OJ’s famous trial
inspired a new television series,
American Crime Story: The People
v. OJ Simpson. Based on Jeffrey
Toobin’s 1997 book of the samename. The episodes chronicled
OJ’s arrest, his infamous Bronco
car chase and the lengthy
trial that ensued. Actor Cuba
Gooding Jr played OJ in the FX
crime series, with big names
David Schwimmer and John
Travolta joining the cast as
OJ’s formidable legal team.
The 10-episode miniseries won
nine Emmy Awards, however
Nicole’s sister Tanya blasted
the show for bringing back
bad memories. “They didn’t take
the families into consideration,”
Tanya told US People magazine.
“Who is defending my sister?”OJ SIMPSON NOW
JUNE 2019
In a bizarre turn of events, OJ,
71, re-emerged in the public
sphere on Twitter in June this
year, 25 years on from Nicole
and Ron’s murders. Within
days, OJ had racked up over
800,000 followers. While he has
stepped back into the spotlight,
OJ’s children he shared with
Nicole – Sydney, now 33, and
Justin, 30 – are very private and
do not speak publicly about
their mother’s death. They were
just 8 and 5 when she died.REAL-LIFE
REAL-LIFE
TV SHOW
TV SHOW