gun, they backed off but continued to follow the
Bronco in a slow-speed chase. News helicopters fol-
lowed Simpson and the police, televising the pursuit
live on national television. The National Broadcast-
ing Company (NBC) interrupted coverage of the
1994 NBA Finals to show images of the Bronco trav-
eling along the freeway with a squad of police cruis-
ers trailing behind it. Hundreds of spectators
packed overpasses along the freeway. Some of them
held signs in support of Simpson. The slow-speed
chase ended at Simpson’s Brentwood home, where
he surrendered to authorities.
The Trial of the Century Covered and televised by
Court TV, the Simpson murder trial began on Janu-
ary 24, 1995. Television exposure made celebrities
of many of the figures in the trial, including Judge
Lance Ito and lead prosecutor Marcia Clark.
Simpson’s legal defense, dubbed the “Dream Team”
by the media, consisted of high-profile attorneys
that included Johnnie Cochran and Robert Shapiro.
Prosecutors presented blood samples and DNA
evidence, which was still a relatively new form of evi-
dence to use in trials, to place Simpson at the scene
of the crime. On June 15, in one of the key moments776 Simpson murder case The Nineties in America
In his closing statement at the criminal trial of O. J. Simpson, lead defense attorney Johnnie Cochran appealed to the
jur y’s sense of racial injustice and distrust of the police investigation:The Defendant, Mr. Orenthal James Simpson, is
now afforded an opportunity to argue the case, if
you will, but I’m not going to argue with you, la-
dies and gentlemen. What I’m going to do is to try
and discuss the reasonable inferences which I feel
can be drawn from this evidence....
From the very first orders issued by the LAPD
so-called brass, they were more concerned with
their own images, the publicity that might be
generated from this case than they were in doing
professional police work.... Because of their
bungling, they ignored the obvious clues....
We think if they had done their job as we have
done, Mr. Simpson would have been eliminated
early on....
And so as we look then at the time line and the
importance of this time line, I want you to remem-
ber these words. Like the defining moment in
this trial, the day Mr. Darden asked Mr. Simpson
to try on those gloves and the gloves didn’t fit,
remember these words; if it doesn’t fit, you must
acquit....
And when you are back there deliberating on
this case, you’re never going to be ever able to rec-
oncile this time line and the fact there’s no blood
back there....They don’t have any mountain or
ocean of evidence. It’s not so because they say so.
That’s just rhetoric. We this afternoon are talking
about the facts. And so it doesn’t make any sense.It just doesn’t fit. If it doesn’t fit, you must ac-
quit....
Then we come, before we end the day, to De-
tective Mark Fuhrman. This man is an unspeak-
able disgrace. He’s been unmasked for the whole
world for what he is....Andthey put him on the
stand and you saw it. You saw it. It was sicken-
ing.... Then Bailey says: “Have you used that
word, referring to the ‘n’ word, in the past ten
years?...Iwant you to assume that perhaps at
some time since 1985 or ’86, you addressed a
member of the African American race as a nigger.
Is it possible that you have forgotten that act on
your part?”...
Let’s remember this man.... Why did they
then all try to cover for this man Fuhrman?...
This man could have been off the force long ago
if they had done their job, but they didn’t do their
job. People looked the other way. People didn’t
have the courage. One of the things that has
made this country so great is people’s willingness
to stand up and say that is wrong. I’m not going to
be part of it. I’m not going to be part of the cover-
up. That is what I’m asking you to do. Stop this
coverup. Stop this coverup. If you don’t stop it,
then who? Do you think the police department is
going to stop it? Do you think the D.A.’s office is
going to stop it? Do you think we can stop it by
ourselves? It has to be stopped by you.If It Doesn’t Fit...