Two bloody gloves. One was found at the scene of a murder and the other at the number one suspect’s home. It seemed like an easy case to close. The problem, the gloves didn’t fit the man they thought was the killer. One of America’s greatest athletes, became the center of one of the most controversial trials of our time.
Orenthal James, or OJ Simpson, was born in 1947 in San Francisco, California. He was an All-City football player in high school. He had the talent to play at a university, but he didn’t have the grades. He attended a junior college where he could play football while focusing on his academics. In 1967, he was able to transfer to the University of Southern California. A childhood dream come true, he was a Trojan. He was determined to make it to the pros and wanted to be famous. He got the nickname “The Juice”. Not only because his name was OJ, although that did help, but because he was so energetic. He went on to set records, be an MVP, win the Heisman Trophy, and in 1969 at the NFL Draft, he was selected first by the Buffalo Bills. He became one of the greatest running backs of all time.
He had also achieved success off the field. He secured sponsors and his face was often seen promoting their products. He married his teenage love, Marguerite, and by 1977, they were expecting their third child. He was on top of the world. But his world was about to turn upside down. He went to a nightclub in Beverly Hills called The Daisy. It was there that he met 18 year old waitress, Nicole Brown. She was not only beautiful, she was smart and compassionate. Even though Simpson was married, and his wife was pregnant, Nicole and OJ began dating.
Over the next few years, Simpson got divorced, he retired from the NFL and by 1985, that nightclub waitress was his wife. OJ and Nicole went on to have two children of their own. They were an attractive family and full of charisma. People were drawn to them. Everywhere they went, they were photographed. They seemed so happy together… until they didn’t.
In 1992, they got divorced stating irreconcilable differences. So what happened? OJ and Nicole had a tumultuous relationship. He abused her physically, verbally and emotionally. Those closest to them knew the truth and cringed when arguments would start. They seemed to know what was coming. The police had been called to the Simpson residence multiple times. Once actually resulting in an arrest in 1989. When Nicole called the police she told the operator she thought he was going to kill her. OJ pleaded not guilty to spousal abuse even though the police found Nicole in the shrubs near their home, half naked, bloody and beaten. Supposedly she dropped the charges against him after being encouraged to seek reconciliation. But things did not get better, and divorce seemed the only way out.
They shared custody of their two children. And even after their divorce, they tried to rekindle the relationship. Sometimes after someone is gone, we tend to embrace the memories of the good times… forgetting about the bad. But it wasn’t long before Nicole was reminded of all the bad times. She called the cops after OJ was at her place and found a picture of a man she dated after their divorce. He was in a fit of rage and she wanted the police to make him leave. Nicole had told her mother that OJ was stalking her. She would be getting gas or shopping for shoes, and he would be there… watching her.
On June 12th, 1994, Nicole took her daughter, a friend, and her mother out to dinner after a dance recital. Nicole’s mother forgot her glasses at the restaurant. Ron Goldman, Nicole’s friend, was not their waiter that night but he did work there. So she called him and asked if he could find the glasses and just drop them off after work. He lived within walking distance from Nicole’s home. Although the 25 year old Ron was currently working as a waiter, he had plans to open his own bar. He was learning all he could about running a business and he was excited for the future. Unfortunately, he would never get to open his bar. He was killed that night in June. So was Nicole.
The police weren’t sure if when he went to drop off the glasses he walked up on Nicole being attacked, or if the two of them were talking when the attacker approached them. A neighbor reported hearing a man yelling, “Hey. Hey. Hey.” Nicole was stabbed multiple times in the neck and the head. She had a gash across her throat that had severed both carotid arteries. It was so deep that she was nearly decapitated. She had defensive wounds on her hands and she was found in the fetal position in a pool of blood right outside her Brentwood home in Los Angeles. Ron’s autopsy showed signs of struggle and 25 stab wounds.
There was a bloody leather glove at the scene. The glove was later found to have blood from Nicole, Ron and OJ. When the police went to OJ’s house that night, they found the match to that bloody glove there. It was also covered in the same blood. On June 17th, OJ agreed to turn himself in. When he didn’t show up, one of the most famous car chases in American History took place. His white Ford Bronco was spotted, only he wasn’t driving it. His friend was and OJ was in the back with a gun pointed under his own chin. They weren’t speeding, in fact, it was called a low speed pursuit. News stations all over the country covered the chase live, even interrupting the 1994 NBA finals to air it. Over 95 million people tuned in to see what would happen.
He was finally captured. His friend driving said OJ was just not thinking clearly. OJ Simpson was charged with both murders in a highly publicized, extremely controversial trial. The trial started in January of 1995 and lasted 9 months. They showed pictures, called witnesses, played 911 recordings and brought in forensic evidence, including the gloves with dried blood. The country was torn over the case. It became about abuse, it became about race, it became about fame. And the debates got heated. In one of the 911 recordings, Brown can be heard saying “He gets this animalistic look in him. All his veins pop out, his eyes are black, and just black, I mean cold, like an animal.” But perhaps the most memorable line of the trial was spoken by OJ’s defense attorney, “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit”. What was he talking about fitting? The bloody gloves that co-prosecutor Christopher Darden asked OJ to try on. The gloves, left to dry out after the murders, had shrunk… and on top of that, OJ was wearing latex gloves under them. OJ, who suffered from arthritis, was also advised not to take his medicine leading up to that day so his hands would be swollen.
Simpson tried on the gloves in court to prove that they wouldn’t fit his hands. And, big shocker, they didn’t. Whatever the reason, the gloves didn’t fit. And after only four hours, the jury, composed of mostly African American women, acquitted OJ Simpson of the charges. The verdict seemed to divide many people along race lines. His not guilty verdict came on the heels of another racially tense not guilty verdict when several LAPD officers were acquitted of beating unarmed Roday King while another man recorded from his home’s balcony. That case caused public uproar and led to violent riots in Los Angeles.
OJ not only walked out a free man, but he maintained complete custody of his children even though Nicole’s parents fought for them in court. The Browns were not the only ones that took Simpson to court. In 1997, Ron Goldman’s father brought a civil suit against Simpson. Simpson was found liable for wrongful death and the Goldman’s were awarded $33 million dollars. Although there seemed to always be a problem with collecting the money.
In 2007, Simpson finished a book titled, “If I did it”. The original publisher of the book backed out, but not before one of the only people brave enough to interview OJ Simpson got some answers. Judith Regan was the original purchaser of the book’s publication under a parent company. She eventually interviewed Simpson herself. Although she ended up losing her job and the interview wasn’t even aired for ten years, she asked about the topics the country had been discussing.
OJ, referencing the book, said he was also at his daughter’s dance recital that night in June. And noted that Nicole was wearing a short skirt that he did not approve of. While there, he said a friend told him that Nicole had been having wild parties with sex and drugs at her house. He was outraged since his children were there. He went to her house to demand that she stop what she was doing. The next thing he knew there was a pool of blood and his friend Charlie was holding the knife that had been in his car. But when he looked down he was holding the knife. I should note here that there was no evidence of anyone else at the scene, no other footprints leading to or from, no DNA from anyone other than the two victims plus OJ Simpson, and no one knows if a friend named Charlie even existed. The ghostwriter on the book suggested Charlie was a person created by Simpson to remove himself from the murders he mostly acknowledged committing. OJ said he then went home to catch a flight for a celebrity golf tournament and left in a hurry. Leaving a trail of evidence behind.
In the interview, he said if Nicole had been a more stable person, a better spouse, and a more responsible mother, that her murder could have been prevented. Regan said after the 5 hour long interview, “If you listen, he hangs himself on every word. His basic view was that she had it coming and he saw himself as a victim.” When the Goldman’s learned about the book, they saw a way to get their money. They went to court over the unpublished book and won copyrights and movie rights. They changed the title to, “If I did it: Confessions of the Killer”, and had a different company publish it.
OJ Simpson did eventually serve time in prison. In 2008, he was found guilty of armed robbery in Las Vegas. He was released in 2017. In 2023, Simpson announced he had prostate cancer but said he was determined to beat it. He passed away on April 10th of this year. Simpson was remembered by many on social media. Pictures of him at parties with smiles all around were shared. The sports world recognized the loss of a legend. Others, like Ron Goldman’s dad, didn’t have kind words to say. David Zucker, the director of the Naked Gun movies in which Simpson had acted, shared a picture and wrote, “His acting was a lot like his murdering; he got away with it but no one believed him.”
