In 1995, O.J. Simpson was acquitted in the brutal killings of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman.
Here's what happened during the trial:
Simpson pleaded “100% not guilty” and assembled a “dream team” of famous local and national lawyers, including civil rights attorney Johnnie Cochran, star defense attorneys F. Lee Bailey and Alan Dershowitz, and DNA expert Barry Scheck. Also on the team was Simpson’s friend Robert Kardashian, father of the Kardashian sisters.
Lead prosecutors Marcia Clark and Chris Darden focused on the timeline, domestic abuse and the DNA evidence found on the bloody glove discovered at the crime scene and another one at O.J. Simpson’s property.
But the “dream team” raised doubts about the police handling of the evidence and accused one of the lead detectives, Mark Fuhrman, of racial bias. Although Simpson never testified, among the most riveting moments was when prosecutor Darden asked Simpson to put on the infamous gloves – one of which police said was found at the murder scene, the other at Simpson’s property.
Simpson struggled to do so in front of the jurors, making a show of how the gloves didn’t fit. In his summation, Cochran uttered the now famous line, “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.”
The case became a cable news sensation and a nationwide obsession, as tens of millions of viewers tuned in at home and at work.
The trial lasted just over eight months, from opening statements to the verdict.
On October 3, 1995, as the “not guilty to all counts” verdict was read, Cochran turned and yelled, “Yes!”
Kardashian looked stunned. Simpson finally broke into a smile, sighed deeply and mouthed “thank you, thank you” to the jury.
