He reached the top in American football, became a famous film actor after his role in “The Naked Gun” and lost everything after being accused of a terrible murder. tells the crime story of O. J. Simpson, one of the most famous athletes and criminals in the United States.
Friend of the Kardashians In the early morning of June 13, 1994, police found Simpson's second wife Nicole and her young lover Ronald Goldman brutally murdered. The football player immediately became the main suspect. O.J. and the blonde girl who worked as a waitress the day they met lived together for seven years and had two children. In 1992, after her husband’s numerous infidelities and abuse on his part, Nicole filed for divorce.
According to the court decision, she received 433 thousand dollars, an expensive car and an apartment. Simpson was ordered to pay monthly alimony in the amount of ten thousand dollars. An ordinary case, by American standards. And for Simpson such payments were not significant. Only he, according to the ex-wife, continued to pursue her. Nicole constantly complained to her mother.
During the questioning of witnesses, one of them recalled how, at a New Year's party in 1989, Simpson publicly threatened to kill his wife. After the massacre, blood stains were found on the path near the house. Experts have determined that it is identical to Simpson's own blood type. All the evidence was against him.
There were rumors that lawyers convinced O. Jay voluntarily surrender and admit everything. On the morning of June 17, about a thousand reporters gathered at the police station, but instead of Simpson, his friend and lawyer Robert Kardashian, the father of the well-known reality TV star and actress, appeared. He read out a letter from the accused, which many considered a farewell letter before committing suicide.
Only O. Jay did not think of giving up. He tried to escape in a car driven by ex-footballer Allen Cowlings. On that day, June 17, the NBA finals match and the start of the World Cup were scheduled in the United States, but the opening match between Germany and Bolivia was no longer of interest to any American television viewers. 95 million people watched live as police tried to apprehend OJ Simpson. The broadcast ratings were outrageous.
The trial of the suspect became a major event in the United States. Through mediation, Kardashian Simpson was defended by the best lawyers in America. They built their line of defense on the fact that the prosecutor's office brought all the charges against O. Jay solely on racial grounds. The collected evidence was enough for a death sentence, which was imposed in California, but the lawyers harnessed themselves and worked off the fees.
They claimed that the Los Angeles Police Department was racist and that the information obtained at the crime scene was misinterpreted by them. Particularly hard on Detective Mark Fuhrman, who allegedly found a glove with traces of the victims’ blood in Simpson’s house. The defense argued that the police planted other important evidence to frame their client.
So America split into supporters and opponents of the death penalty. Public opinion polls showed that 73 percent of US citizens agreed with the accusation. Only in the African-American environment the proportions were exactly the opposite. Simpson's fate was decided by a jury. Of the 12 people, nine were African-American, one was Hispanic, and only two women were white.
The jury acquitted O. Jay, and the verdict became a real holiday for black America. It was after the Simpson case that trials were considered with the “race problem” in mind. It doesn't matter whether black people were the accused or the victims. Many believe that it was that trial that became the impetus for the emergence of the BLM movement.
America has become different forever. Simpson himself, after the acquittal, said that he would make every effort to catch the real killer. True, he then wrote a book in which he described his “imaginary” actions in the event of Nicole appearing in the house, where her lover was. Many considered this a confession of committing a double murder. Kardashian’s lawyer some time later expressed doubts about his friend’s innocence. This briefly alienated him from Simpson, but before the lawyer's death they reconciled.
The courts involved O. Jay several more times in various processes. In 1997, relatives of his ex-wife got Simpson found guilty of domestic violence. The court ordered the family of the deceased to pay $33.5 million. True, they received only a small part.
In 2007, Simpson was arrested for illegally entering a hotel room in Las Vegas. He claimed that he only intended to return the sports awards that were stolen from him. But at the same time he took the hotel staff hostage and threatened them with a weapon. In October 2008, the court sentenced him to 33 years in prison, but in 2017 O. Jay was released on parole.
In recent years, he felt unwell due to advanced cancer, and since the end of 2023 he has not left the hospice . Simpson died at the age of 76. Many Americans remain convinced that he never received the punishment he deserved for the double murder. Although black Americans still associate all accusations against O. Jay only with the color of his skin.
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