- OJ Simpson, NFL star acquitted in ‘trial of the century’, dies aged 76.
OJ Simpson, the former American football star turned actor who was controversially cleared of double murder, has died aged 76.
San Francisco-born Orenthal James Simpson rose to fame in college before playing in the NFL.
In 1995, he was acquitted of the murder of his former wife Nicole Brown and her friend in a trial that gripped America.
In 2008, he was sentenced to 33 years’ imprisonment on unrelated charges of armed robbery. He was released in 2017.
Diagnosed with prostate cancer, Simpson had been receiving chemotherapy treatment, the Pro Football Hall of Fame said in a statement.
According to his family, he died “surrounded by his children and grandchildren”.
In 1994, he was arrested as a suspect in the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman. The pair were found stabbed to death outside Ms Brown’s home in Los Angeles. Simpson became an immediate person of interest in the case.
On the day he was due to turn himself in, he fled in a white Ford Bronco with a former teammate, and led the police on a slow-speed chase through the Los Angeles area.
That chase engrossed audiences in the US and abroad as it was broadcast live on “rolling” 24-hour news channels still in their relative infancy.
In the ensuing court case, dubbed the “trial of the century” by US media, prosecutors argued Simpson had killed Ms Brown in a jealous fury. Evidence included blood, hair and fibre tests linking Simpson to the murders.
The defence argued Simpson had been framed by police motivated by racism.
In one of the trial’s most memorable moments, prosecutors asked Simpson to put on a pair of blood-stained gloves allegedly found at the scene of the murder, but Simpson struggled to fit his hands into them. It led to one of Simpson’s lawyers, Johnnie Cochran, telling the jury in his closing arguments: “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.”
The jury ultimately sided with Simpson, who had declared he was “absolutely 100% not guilty”. The acquittal proved hugely controversial.
The families of Ms Brown and Mr Goldman did not give up – they pursued a civil case against Simpson in 1997 and a jury found Simpson liable for the two deaths. He was ordered to pay $33.5m (£25.8m) in damages to their families.
In 2006, Simpson sold a book manuscript, titled If I Did It, and a prospective TV interview, giving a “hypothetical” account of the murders he had always strenuously denied.
Public objections ended both projects, but Mr Goldman’s family secured the book rights, added material imputing guilt to Simpson and had it published.
Simpson’s final disgrace came in 2008, when he was convicted of armed robbery for breaking into a Las Vegas hotel room with four accomplices, holding two sports memorabilia dealers at gunpoint and stealing items related to his NFL career.
He was sentenced to 33 years in jail, but was granted parole after serving the minimum of nine years.
Before his legal problems, Simpson was well-liked, known as an athlete, actor and the face of several major companies.
He was a college football star at University of Southern California before signing with the Buffalo Bills in 1969, where he played until 1977.
He became one of the greatest ball carriers in NFL history. In 1973, he was the first NFL player to “rush” – running to advance the ball for his team – more than 2,000 yards in a season.
He retired in 1979 to concentrate on a career in film and television. His credits include roles in the Towering Inferno, Capricorn One and the Naked Gun series.
Broadcaster Bob Costas, who worked with Simpson on NBC’s American football coverage, said that while he was not the first African American star, “he was the first to do it in a big way, an African American who broke through”.
The Heisman Trophy organisation, which names college football’s player of the season, said in a tweet that it mourned the 1968 winner and extended sympathies to his family.
Attorney Carl Douglas, who represented Simpson alongside Robert Kardashian and Johnnie Cochran, said that he was “shocked and surprised” to learn of the football star’s death. The attorney said that his and Simpson’s names would “forever be linked together in some way”.
Outlining Simpson’s achievements as an NFL player, the Pro Football Hall of Fame said records of those contributions would be preserved in its archive.
Fred Goldman, Ronald’s father, described Simpson’s death as “no great loss”.
“The only thing I have to say is it’s just further reminder of Ron being gone all these years,” he told NBC News. “It’s no great loss to the world. It’s a further reminder of Ron’s being gone.”
David J Cook, an attorney for Mr Goldman told the BBC that Simpson had “died without penance” and that the family might explore new ways to get money from the estate.
Gloria Allred, an attorney who represented Nicole Brown Simpson’s family during the murder trial, said that Simpson’s death served as a reminder that the justice system failed abused women and allowed “celebrity men to avoid true justice”, according to a statement obtained by CNN.
Caitlyn Jenner, an athlete turned TV reality star once part of Simpson’s social circle, echoed Fred Goldman, posting two words on Twitter/X: “Good riddance.”
