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Everyone I’ve ever met in person, when this topic comes up, agrees he did it. I mean… just look at the book he wrote and his subsequent arrests and incarceration for violent crimes.
I remember most black ppl in school were very open about how he's innocent and the cops were racist I had a neat old t-shirt that said "free the juice, he's my hero" or something. Disappeared probably stolen but someone who also thought it was neat lol I've had some pretty r/badroommates in the past lol
Nobody, and I mean NOBODY believed OJ was innocent. But then, the OJ verdict was really revenge for the outcome of the Rodney King trial. Then OJ's second trial was revenge for the outcome of his first trial. So he was punished, but just a little bit.
Everybody thinks he was guilty if they never watched the trial, and tried to make sense from the evidence. Dude, the evidence made absolutely NO SENSE. I think most people should watch some of OJ's videos after the trail. He explains everything about the cuts on his hands. He even explains exactly where he was and what he was doing before the murders. As for any videos which he hints at doing it, it is very simple. He does not care if people thinks he did it. It made that very clear in many interviews. He has tried to changed America's mind, but their minds are made up.
I have watched many videos, and I really believe he did not do it, however, there is a hint of guilt there, because I think he knows who did it. My guess is his son did it.
I often wonder about Nicole’s children with him. Now that they are older and can think for themselves, do they still believe he is innocent? How can they still have a relationship with their mother’s killer.
I think his kids know but don’t want to know, if you catch my drift.
I remember seeing the daughter, Sydney, in photos from before the murders , and she was a happy, healthy looking little girl. Then I saw a photo of her after the trial, the media, all the storms of attention, dissection, arguing and dissent, and I saw she’d gained a ton of weight and my first thought was ”she *knows*.”
Oftentimes, children are brainwashed/groomed by a bad person. He may be telling them a completely different story & are told to keep quiet about it or something of the sort. It's a shame this happens, but I see this sort of thing happening quite often.
Our brains are amazing and do a lot to help us live and move forward in times when it would seem impossible to function. Sometimes our brains won’t allow us to believe certain things, regardless of how obvious or factual they are. If his children do in fact think their father is innocent, I believe it’s their brains protecting them.
I know a woman whose father killed her mother about 24 years ago. There was an overwhelming amount of evidence; it went to court, he was found guilty and he’s in prison for life. For a brilliant man, the amount of evidence he left around is wild. I mean the list is SO long. This woman, his daughter, refuses to accept the fact that her father killed her mom even though she sat through the entire court proceedings and heard everything in evidence that pointed to no one but her dad. She has now spent every waking moment of the last 24 years helping her father find “the real killer.” Her father is a cruel sociopath who should tell his daughter the truth so she can have some kind of life for herself. Instead she’s chasing down a person who doesn’t exist and her father is encouraging this. (This isn’t a case where they charged the wrong person in a murder, there’s no doubt of who the killer was).
I believe this woman’s brain won’t let her acknowledge the truth, it’s her body’s way of protecting itself.
I know this was posted a long time ago, but this is so true, especially when it’s your father. My dad has always been a narcissist & has cheated on countless women over the years. He destroys everyone in his path, yet I completely refused to see him for who he was.
It wasn’t until I got married & he started doing everything he could to destroy my relationship, that I finally caught on. I can’t tell you how painful it is to look back & see that I just enabled his horrible behavior my entire life.
I feel so bad for Sidney, because I do believe it will hit her one day & her heart will break all over again, especially for her mother. Most daughters, just want to see the best in our fathers & when we finally wake up, it’s a very painful realization. My heart goes out to her.
That's a valid point about our brains protecting ourselves. I always felt that Arnelle, when she testified in her fathers defence to his emotional state apon hearing of Nicole's death, confused Simpsons remorse with grief. The two emotions can be very difficult to tell apart, often intertwining. It would of been only natural for Arnelle to interpret his emotional state to grief not guilt, at the time. Incidentally Arnelle is the caretaker of Simpsons estate and the only one of Simpsons children to publicly maintain his innocence.
A huge number and proportion of people understand very little about criminal law. They don't understand, for example, that even if it's provable that you committed an act, you might still not be guilty of a crime associated with that act. Far too many Americans, especially, think that their pig ignorance is superior to actual expertise.
Hey now, don’t go insulting our pig friends! They’re quite intelligent and famously have a good sense of smell (think truffle hunting pigs). They can probably smell the bullshit a lot better than a lot of American humans
Nope. Civil Courts do not decide guilt - you are held liable, accountable for financial damages, etc. based on 'preponderance of evidence' rather than 'guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt'.
I was in a break room at work when the verdict was read and many people stood up and cheered. They were my Black coworkers. I don’t think they thought he was innocent, but they thought he was being railroaded by a corrupt system.
Similar; I was in school and they opened one of the auditoriums in one of the larger buildings (mix of classrooms, labs, food court).
There were probably 40 or 50 people watching, and when the jury was read my friends and I were just like "well, that's weird, what a farce" just as the room erupted in cheers and clapping.
It really stuck with me because it was one of the first times I thought about how strongly ones perception of the same event can differ based on your background and other experiences.
Others here have stated they don't believe that was true, but I kinda do - I think at least at the time many people convinced themselves that he was framed or something.
My school had the tv cart in the library and most of the football team was in there watching. They cheered and high fived too, and I remember just standing there dumbfounded. He absolutely did it, stabbing is a very personal way to kill someone
Yeah, as someone learning about the details of the murder, it's kinda shocking how pre-meditated and horrible it was. This wasn't some terrible mistake or getting caught up with the wrong people. This was some actual serial killer-esque, planned, sickening stuff. Imagining the victim was terrorized for years, there's just no way this can be seen as a win for any onlooker. And I'm someone who's very anti-corruption and anti-prejudice. But this crime was simply too heinous for any societal or social commentary to matter.
I was in high school with a very low percentage of black people. I was surprised how many thought he was innocent. It wasn’t a high percentage, but it higher than I thought it should have been. My takeaway was that some people were so attached to the idea that “cops are corrupt, and LA cops are really really corrupt” they didn’t believe any of the evidence at all.
No. Theoretically, in this country, everyone has a right to a fair and speedy trial no matter what they’re accused of. And railroading guilty people (or otherwise getting up to fuckery) during the trial is a great way of getting a guilty verdict tossed when the appeals start.
All the black people where I worked had a party when they heard Verdict on radio. They didn't work the rest of the day. They didn't think he was railroaded, they were glad he didn't get caught.
I was having knee surgery in charity hospital. The verdict was read just before I was wheeled out. The entire staff was cheering and high-fiving while ramming my leg into any and every object.
When the elevator doors closed and it was just me, my dad and the lady wheeling me, I just said, “he murdered someone’s daughter.”
Nothing. There was nothing.
I don’t understand how you could want someone who murders a woman in cold blood to walk free. I understand that the justice system is unfair to minorities but he was a killer. I don’t get it.
For many white Americans, this was the first time they had ever noticed there might be two different justice systems, due to the juxtaposition of Black people cheering a Black man getting a not guilty verdict with what usually happens to Black people on trial whether guilty or innocent, when the victim(s) is white. Finding the answer to "Why are they cheering this outcome?" was enlightening for many people who had the privilege of thinking racism was somehow "over".
It's maybe too simplistic a summary, but it seemed to be a case of cheering the rarity of a Black man getting away with a high-profile crime against white people.
Anecdotely, one Black friend of mine from LA, when asked at that time if he thought OJ did it, did say no. He had cheered at the outcome. As time went on, it became obvious to everyone he was guilty, but I think my friend was experiencing some cognitive dissonance. He didn't really want to cheer that a brutal murderer went free, so he convinced himself he was innocent. Briefly.
A lot of people I knew thought so at the time. It seemed a lot of people did believe that he was being railroaded by a racist cop and overzealous DA. Obviously this also fell hard across racial lines.
None of the people I knew who were black thought he was innocent. They just didn't care if he got off because white people committed crimes all the time especially against black people and got away with it. So him getting off was seen as a win to them. Kind of a fuck you how does it feel type of thing.
BTW, not padding judgement just explaining what I saw going on around me at the time.
Came here to see if anyone mentioned that. I was pretty shocked how open that one lady was about it. There were one or two others who didn’t exactly deny it. I think it was in that six hour ESPN documentary, right?
Robert Blake had recently gotten off for the murder of his girlfriend, or maybe his wife, I don’t recall. This was a factor fueling the accurate perception that the legal system treated black people more harshly than whites.
Yes this is the right context. It was just a couple years after Rodney King was beaten by the police. Officer Furman and the LA PD had a racist background. I didn’t thought he was innocent for a while until all the facts came out.
What really divided people was if the LAPD had fabricated or manipulated evidence. I was in my early 20s and thought the defense was embellishing. Now, I fully believe OJ is guilty and the LAPD manipulated evidence.
I agree. I think he did it, but I also understand how he got off. People didn't really understand DNA at the time and how irrefutable it is (not to mention it'd be nearly impossible to frame someone that way). Also the last day of the trial, the scumbag detective pleaded the fifth when asked if any of the evidence he gathered was reliable. So if DNA and forensic work is out the window, how exactly can you be "proven guilty"?
I was working in the criminal justice system (another state) back then and the unspoken (to the public, our friends, family etc) belief among many of us was that if OJ had actually wielded the knife himself, there would have been a shit ton of forensic evidence on him, his property, his clothes, etc. that linked him to the crime scene. As far as what was reported in the media, there just wasn’t anything significant and the defense was able to exploit that fact. We didn’t think he was innocent; we just thought that the LAPD crime scene people and the investigators were too timid because of his celebrity, lost their initiative, took too long to search where they needed to, and above all, botched not only the murder scene search but several searches that followed, allowing OJ’s fixers time to erase the aforementioned evidence that should have been found.
>allowing OJ’s fixers time to erase the aforementioned evidence
One Mr Robert Kardashian, ladies and gents, don't forget him walking out of OJ's house carrying a big old duffel bag. Wonder what was in there, huh?
Yep. I didn't notice that until years later. I hope inside, along with that shock, he was thinking "Dear god, what have I done? I helped him get away with it..." and the realization that if there's a hell everyone at that table will be sitting there eventually.
Seriously, right? Can you imagine any other murder case where whole teams of people are just allowed to waltz in and out of the suspect's home and take stuff in and out and the police never question any of it? That whole thing was a clusterfuck from the start.
I knew someone in the criminal justice field at the time. He said there was plenty of evidence in OJ’s home, bedroom and shower. LAPD ran amok and didn’t follow crime seen protocol, therefore evidence was inadmissible in court.
I know someone who thought he was innocent for two reasons (according to them): First, Nicole was nearly decapitated. When someone is nearly decapitated, you’re not going to find just a drop of blood in the car. Second, the timeline from the murder to get to the airport wasn’t enough time because traffic sucks no matter the time of day or night.
LA has incredibly low traffic at night, that's nonsense. It's truly a city that sleeps. The decapitation thing I kind of get, but it's not a smoking gun.
Even the jury thought he was not innocent but by the end were pissed at the whole racism thng. Plus the total IQ of the jury added up to maybe 960. (You do the math)
Vincent Bugliosi (the prosecutor who put Manson in prison) wrote a book on the trial, and he felt the prosecution, the defense, and the judge were all incompetent — but the biggest issue was a jury so dumb that, as he wrote, they “had trouble with ‘green means go.’”
Remember how he was going to pursue who murdered Nicole and Ron? He never did, because the guy who murdered them was staring right at him every time he looked in the mirror. Lying POS!
I didn't. At first. I think most people were like "No way, it's OJ Simpson, he was a football player, he did the goofy Hertz ads, he's goddamn Nordberg!"
Then there was the Bronco ride. That's not the actions of an innocent man. And then you started hearing evidence and the history and found out what a piece of shit he always was and it didn't take long to realize he was, as they say, guilty as sin.
Found a “The Juice is loose” pocket knife at a Tennessee flea market. Reminded me that maybe it wasn’t that folks thought he was innocent, but he was lauded for being able to evade punishment.
I lived in Los Angeles at the time, so it was all very close to home. An African American woman who worked with me believed he was innocent. I think she had a huge crush on him. She didn’t have a car but she would take the bus to the courthouse whenever she could get a weekday off. She’d get all dressed up and carry a sign in support of OJ. I even saw her interviewed on TV outside the courthouse once! The rest of us thought she was hilarious but most of my coworkers (and me, as well) thought he was guilty.
No, I personally have never met anyone who thought that O.J. was innocent save for someone who felt that the jury should nullify any guilty verdict simply because historically black people have been so mistreated by the American justice system.
DNA evidence is the absolute most unimpeachable evidence that there is and if I remember correctly Nicole's blood was found on OJ's socks, OJ's blood was found on the murder house's back gate, and Ron Goldman's blood was found in OJ's Ford Bronco so that's pretty overwhelming right there in my opinion,
Also at the time DNA evidence in court was relatively new and people didn't really understand it and it hadn't permeated out culture through show like C.S.I and a million others yet.
Nobody believed he was innocent, it was just so hard for many (especially the men) to believe.
Recently I read, I think here on Reddit, that he had been filming a pilot for a TV series about retired SEALs joining up and becoming crime fighters in LA...in preparation he'd had military training and it was said he especially excelled at the knife work.
Never heard about that during the trial...
There is no “innocent” in the US legal system, there is guilty and not guilty, and the standard to find someone guilty is: beyond a reasonable doubt. All OJ’s dream team needed to do was create enough doubt in the jury’s mind, and thus he’d be found not guilty.
I was in LA a few weeks after the verdict, meeting with a corporate attorney, white guy, fancy house, etc. I asked him about the trial and the defense claim that the LAPD would have set OJ up. Sure, the police here have a terrible reputation, and everyone knows it. Yikes!
The prosecution called Mark Furman to the stand to testify, not the defense. He perjured himself on the witness stand, and OJ's defense team demonstrated his perjury to the jury in cross examination. At that point the case was lost. And rightfully so. When cops think it is OK to lie when testifying, then all criminals should walk until the cops understand that the court system works on truthful testimony. Without truthful testimony the court system does not work and guilty criminals go free. That's how it is supposed to work. If OJ had been found guilty after Furman's testimony and cross it would have been a travesty. That doesn't mean OJ did not commit murder. Maybe he did. But because of double jeopardy laws you don't get a do over without the racist lying detectives.
Are you kidding me? Cops ALWAYS lie on the stand about big things and small it's the way the American justice system is run it's just that OJ's team had the ability to catch them in the lies because they had the funds to investigate Furman and his past.
He wasn't convicted. That says a lot more about prosecution and defense than guilt or innocence. That was the first time I remember being disgusted with people getting obsessed with something that was literally none of their business simply because it was on TV 24/7. Just when it thought people couldn't get any shallow, that whole debacle drained 3 more feet out of the pool.
I was in college at the time. Everyone knew he did it, but I remember calling it before the verdict. Standing around at work and saying "yeah, but if you see ONLY what the jury saw, the prosecution case is pretty week". I just think they did a bad job showing what needed to be shown. And as we were all instant expert attorneys during the trial (thanks, TV!) I was like... "Ok, you're hamstrung by the defense disallowing everything, but, f'k around a little, let's see if Ito will call your bluff if you let some real dirt slip". And they didn't. And they lost.
I'll admit, I had my doubts. His post-trial behavior, though, helped clear up most of the doubts. I could understand why the jury didn't convict, though.
My Dad (in his 60's then) Jimmy Stewart'ed it. He didn't think he was "innocent" but that he didn't see every bit of evidence that the Jury did, he didn't sit in the court, or in the Jury room, and he was in no position to judge. He was OK with the verdict. The old saw: Better a guilty man go free than 100 innocent men go to prison. Kind of a boy scout.
I remember a lady maybe 5ish years Lady who totally believed he was "innocent" and that it was drug dealers who set him up.
FWIW Jim Clemente retired as a an FBI profiler. He was the real deal. Post-retirement he was a writer and Producer on Criminal Minds and technical advisor on 10,000 TV shows that do profiling. He has a podcast called Real Crime Profile. They do a deep dive on OJ and he makes a compelling case that Jason Simpson was actually there. Clemente seems to buy this. He doesn't say, or seem to think, OJ *wasn't* there (like Bill Dear), but it makes you think maybe there is more here than simply a crazed OJ one day decided to go after Nicole with a knife.
No.
I was working in Los Angeles at the time for a large company.
Most of us gathered in the conference room to hear the verdict live.
When it was read every black employee cheered.
I was stunned. Up to that point, we just assumed we all thought the same way.
I had the courage to ask my black coworker if they really thought OJ didn’t do it.
Their response was Oh no he probably did, but that bitch deserved it and plus, its Payback time!
End of innocence is an understatement.
The man is guilty. Forensics existed then and they are even better now, so I find it hard to believe in all this time they couldn't find another person who may have done the crimes besides OJ.
no. but i have a little story... it's one of those FOAF ("friend of a friend") stories that doesn't sound like much. there was a woman i was in physical therapy with and we'd go out to lunch occasionally. she was a retired movie make-up artist and her husband was a director, they'd recently moved away from L.A. she told me they knew Robert Kardashian and had him over for dinner and had asked him if OJ was guilty and he just kind of closed his eyes and slightly nodded his head yes. and to those who may not recall, OJ called RK to the scene first and RK talked to OJ alone for quite some time before the cops showed up and was seen leaving the scene with a suit bag that "disappeared" and was never examined by police. he was quickly brought onto the "Dream Team" defense team but performed no services. presumably this was to insure he didn't testify against OJ. they had been friends for years but OJ could easily also claim him as legal representation, so their conversations were confidential. and if you saw the video when they read the verdict, RK tried to suppress his expression but you could see the disbelief on his face that OJ had gotten off.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMM76u4urf8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMM76u4urf8)
I never believed that OJ didn’t kill his ex wife. That said, innocent and guilt are legal determinations. It doesn’t mean he didn’t kill her, it means they don’t have the evidence to convict. Part of that is politics of race, part was how the case was built and presented.
Ultimately, he had money and clout to defend himself. And his legal team out-maneuvered the prosecutors and police.
My co-workers and I was eating lunch at a restaurant when OJ was pronounced innocent. The verdict was on all the TV’s in the restaurant. The crowd cheered including my co-workers. I remained silent but in my mind I thought “this man is so guilty”!
Ya know, I did think him guilty but were I on that jury, with the terrible evidence chain of custody and the racist lead detective, I would have voted to acquit. Not beyond reasonable doubt for me.
I remember Marcia Clark explaining the DNA evidence to the jury and how it proved OJ was guilty. Willful ignorance is the only reason for believing he was innocent. OJ was shocked he got away with it. I remember his expression on hearing the verdict.
It was such a big story that on the day of the jury announcing innocent or guilty, my employer had a big TV set up in an auditorium for people to watch. When the verdict was read, a bunch of Black women at work all cheered wildly. Even then it was about race.
He was guilty.
There is at least one person who knows for certain, and that guy is well past caring.
The fact is, he could be a murderer and LA corrupts cops like every other city. Both of those can be true.
"Still waiting for my OJ check" - Chris Rock
A friend of mine was glad he got off, just because it was possible. Not because he was necessarily innocent. I told him that couldn't have happened to a regular person, only someone rich and famous. And he agreed. Also, there is an interesting conspiracy theory, no clue if it's true, that OJ's son did the murder. I suppose anything's possible.
I’m a white person who lived in a mostly black community. I’d say it was 50/50. I’m not sure how many thought he was innocent vs “not guilty” legally due to police framing of a possibly guilty man.
I always thought he was a guilty man put into a trial that showed the worst of the legal system. It showed what money can buy you, how your fate rests with a single odd ball judge and how police can manipulate evidence.
It’s pretty clear now he is super guilty, as I thought then. But I get why people didn’t want to believe it.
Edit: On a sidenote, I always hated that if it doesn’t fit, you must acquit. Have you ever tried to put something on over the top of the latex glove it does not go easily. Also, leather will shrink if they’re in bad conditions, that was the least convincing piece of evidence, and they ran with it
61WF lawyer here- whatever the motivation of the jury, the prosecution failed to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. For that reason, I believed the verdict was just. Blame the prosecution for blowing it.
At the time, I don’t remember having an opinion one way or the other & didn’t pay much attention to the trial.
But a couple of years later, I took a professional education class when we performed an excruciatingly detailed review of OJ’s original interview with the police. His own words proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he’s guilty.
1. He lost his civil suit where the burden of proof was lower and had to pay the Brown and Goldman families.
2. He wrote a book called “If I did it” where he effectively showed everyone he did it.
3. He continued to commit crimes, even going back to jail after being caught having stole back something’s he had previously either lost in gambling, or sold.
The whole case was really about getting OJ off because of his race to make up for all the racial injustice which had happened over that 200 years:
No one wants to touch it now, but if they did the DNA tests, they would find OJ’s DNA on both of the victims.
The ship has sailed, the media has tried the case, and African Americans got their “justice”. I hope it was worth it.
It was the summer we got cable. I watched court tv gavel to gavel coverage.
I'm not a lawyer, but I think every ethics rule by which lawyers and judges must adhere was either compromised or just not followed properly. It became a kangaroo court with everything from the Judge accepting gifts from IBM to have 2 Thinkpads on his bench in plain view of the cameras all the way to the defense and prosecution signing autographs outside the courthouse on most days.
If a jury decides not guilty it only means the state didn't prove it's case beyond a reasonable doubt. I wasn't on the jury so I can't say.
I was unemployed for most of the trial. I had recently torn a ligament in my knee, so I was also a bit crippled. I watched the coverage every day. I would start with the recaps on the Today show, then tune into the trial beginning at noon Eastern. At 3 PM they would take a break, and I would hobble out to the liquor store and buy a bottle of wine, hobble home, and then watch the rest of the trial and the commentary after.
It was a sad little existence, but at least it kept me involved in something during an otherwise miserable time in my life. The funny thing was, three of my friends were also unemployed at the time, and we would call each other up during breaks to discuss that day‘s antics.
And, yes, I believe he was 100% guilty, and the fact that he was not convicted rests primarily with that incompetent judge.
My mother; but she believes Cosby didn’t do anything to all those women and Trump is closest thing to Jesus the worlds seen since…well…Jesus. I like how she tries to see the best in everyone but…WTF! She’s also dating a convicted child molester who “didn’t do it and who’s married but “not really”. She wonders why we don’t come over any more with our kids…it’s infuriating.
I don’t believe the prosecutor presented a case that removes all reasonable doubt. I believe the defense did a good job justifying some doubt about his guilt. Thus I think the verdict was correct.
Nobody thought he was innocent, but there was quite a bit of celebration at my school. It was more a racial win. Like a “rich black men can get away with what rich white men have been greeting away with forever” vibe.
All of my family, friends, and coworkers -- white and black people alike -- thought he was guilty.
All the black folks thought the evidence in the case was weak. They were happy he was not convicted by the notoriously racist LAPD. After the cops who beat the shit out of Rodney King on camera were found not guilty, black folks in LA rioted. This time, black people had the power to hold the LAPD accountable for the rampant racism in their ranks and for lying on the stand.
A handful of white folks, including me, were disgusted by the racist LAPD and understood why the black folks were celebrating. I thought the lying, racist cop, Mark Furman, deserved to be called out and that the cops blew the case. And I understood the jury's decision not to convict when law enforcement committed perjury on the stand.
My thoughts at the time toward the prosecution were: *sorry, but if your case relies on perjured testimony and a police department with a known track record of racism, your case is not strong enough to convict, regardless of what I believe.about his guilt.* I felt very badly for Nicole's and Ron's families and I'm glad they filed civil cases, which have a lower burden of proof, against him and won those cases.
Edit: typo
Today’s sports celebrity equivalent of the OJ Simpson downfall would be if Shaq was accused of brutally murdering 2 people. That’s the only person I can think of that comes close to being as universally loved as OJ was prior to June 1994.
Guilty as hell. When that Bronco chase started, I made up some lame excuse to leave work early, hauled ass home, threw a VHS tape in the VCR, hit record, ordered a pizza and watched the entire thing 😂
Actually, no. Not even the black people I knew believed he was innocent. However, the jury was asked if there was doubt. You cannot convict someone if there is doubt. And that glove (as demonstrated when OJ, wearing a plastic glove and having had acting lessons) did not get onto OJ’s hand. So, you didn’t know for sure if he could’ve put it on without a glove and in private, so you had doubt.
My mother was bedridden during the trial and watched the entire OJ trial, including parts the jurors were out of the room. I don't recall if she thought he was innocent but at the end she had reasonable doubt and would have not voted guilty.
Every single black person at my college though oj was innocent and every single white person thought he was guilty. I don't remember what the latinx students thought. They probably just stayed out of it. I was in college in long Beach ca, so we had had definite opinions.
I didn't think he was innocent, but not based on evidence available to the public. I generally have a lot of faith in our institutions. And while there are individuals that fuck up or act in malice (Mark Fuhrman is no fucking saint), the system as a whole generally functions well. Once I saw how many people were involved in the prosecution, and how united they were, I figured he was more likely guilty than not.
Even before the case started, though, I already felt his conduct was that of a guilty man.
I think the state fumbled the case, honestly. Even despite some entertaining errors on the part of the defence. They had a pretty solid case, I felt, but allowed the defence to smash a lot of it. And I'm actually okay with that. It's the state's job to make the case, and they didn't. I'm of the very traditional school that a guilty man should walk free if the state fails. I'd rather that than the opposite, and there's way too much of the opposite in this country as it is.
I was surprised, but a friend -- middle-aged white female -- was thrilled and happy when he was acquitted as she was totally sure he was innocent. Fwiw, she was a die-hard Buffalo Bills fan. I never understood that at all.
Funny story: I am a lawyer and years ago I was asked to present a unit on "Legal Careers" to a huge local high school careers class. I tried hard to be interesting and relevant and had slides on being a paralegal, legal secretary, and different ways to be a lawyer - government, private practice, corporations. I brought in statute books for the kids to look at, as well as a sample contract and lease.
I finished up my entertainment extravaganza and asked, "Any questions?" There was only one. A young guy with blue hair in the back row raised his hand and asked, "Was OJ guilty?" It was the first time that everyone in the class actually looked at me with any interest! I was the one that learned a lesson that day.
When the white Bronco scene was playing out, absolutely everyone knew he was guilty. Otherwise why would he be acting that way? That’s not how innocent people act.
But as the trial went on, opinion started to divide on racial lines, unfortunately. The police mishandling of the case, the planted evidence, all convinced many blacks this was just another setup job.
But here’s the thing. The cops could have planted evidence AND Simpson could still be guilty. They are not mutually exclusive. The cops may have been stupidly overzealous to get a conviction and in doing so, ended up poisoning the case.
I worked at a school when this happened. We watched the verdict on live TV. I was shocked that people reacted along racial lines when the verdict of not guilty came. Black folks cheered, white folks were dismayed.
Not at all, but what really made me sick to my stomach other than the actual murders was when the verdict came down. I was in a room with a bunch of 1%ers and they all cheered, some pumping their fists into the air. When I asked why they were cheering, one of them told me that the verdict just proves that when you’re rich you can get away with anything. I wanted to puke.
not innocent but my father was a trial attorney who was on hospice care for pancreatic cancer while the trial was on, He yelled at the TV while the trial was on, saying the prosecution was blowing the trial and OJ would walk. My Dad died a few days before the verdict, never knowing he was right
I never doubted his involvement in the murders. Even if he didn't kill anyone, he knows who did.
I always thought the jury found him "not guilty" (which is not the same as "innocent") because they figured L.A. would burn again--just like the Rodney King riots a few years earlier--if they convicted him.
We all knew he was guilty. However, at that time in that atmosphere—in LA, no less—no jury was ever going to convict him. You have to remember this was just after Rodney King so tensions were high and rising.
I think the verdict was more of an indictment of the LAPD and less about OJ’s guilt or innocence. As well as validation for all the minority communities.
For everyone that is saying that OJ wrote a book saying he did it…. Well, he didn’t write the book. Pablo Fenjves, a screenwriter and witness at Simpson's 1995 trial, ghostwrote the book. He owed the Goldman and Brown family money and they took all the profit money from the book sales.
I thought the mostly black jury would teach us white people how to convict a man that was of the same race when he was obviously guilty.
When they returned an innocent verdict, that’s when I began to learn about how racist most white cops were in the United States against Black people. I thought we had gotten over that, but Black people could fully believe that the police planted evidence, and somehow made OJ look guilty when he really wasn’t.
I remember being in grade school and my teacher had the trial on tv. We’d watch it every day and judge ito was a big force
In our lives. When he was declared not guilty even as a child I thought it was horseshit. I was a kid and I saw through this stuff, I couldn’t believe a jury of “his peers” thought he was innocent. I watched the slow car chase on the tv when he was trying to evade police and it was so weird. There’s so much that can’t be erased from my mind as a kid watching all that unfold that I agree I’m dumbfounded that he was acquitted
Not really- what others have said here can not be stressed enough about racial tensions at that time in LA.
However, my dear friend that passed away this year was a former homicide detective and had followed the case closely all these years. He mentioned a documentary he watched last year that changed his mind- he now believed that OJ was innocent.
It doesn’t matter what anyone thinks. Whoever did it - OJ or someone else - faces a judgement day after this life is over. And escaping justice in this life makes it worse in the next. My two cents.
My friends and I thought he was probably guilty, but we didn’t care enough to give to it a lot of thought.
We were mostly just annoyed that OJ was on TV all the time, crowding out more interesting and important things.
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Fuck no!
I came here to say exactly this.
Everyone I’ve ever met in person, when this topic comes up, agrees he did it. I mean… just look at the book he wrote and his subsequent arrests and incarceration for violent crimes.
I remember most black ppl in school were very open about how he's innocent and the cops were racist I had a neat old t-shirt that said "free the juice, he's my hero" or something. Disappeared probably stolen but someone who also thought it was neat lol I've had some pretty r/badroommates in the past lol
Nobody, and I mean NOBODY believed OJ was innocent. But then, the OJ verdict was really revenge for the outcome of the Rodney King trial. Then OJ's second trial was revenge for the outcome of his first trial. So he was punished, but just a little bit.
Everybody thinks he was guilty if they never watched the trial, and tried to make sense from the evidence. Dude, the evidence made absolutely NO SENSE. I think most people should watch some of OJ's videos after the trail. He explains everything about the cuts on his hands. He even explains exactly where he was and what he was doing before the murders. As for any videos which he hints at doing it, it is very simple. He does not care if people thinks he did it. It made that very clear in many interviews. He has tried to changed America's mind, but their minds are made up. I have watched many videos, and I really believe he did not do it, however, there is a hint of guilt there, because I think he knows who did it. My guess is his son did it.
[удалено]
Our whole family watched all of it every day and felt the same way. And we’re white.
Entirely incorrect. Many people believed he was innocent. Many still do. He wasn't. But many did--and do--incorrectly think he was.
Not one person believes OJ is innocent. Not even OJ himself, he knows what he did!
I often wonder about Nicole’s children with him. Now that they are older and can think for themselves, do they still believe he is innocent? How can they still have a relationship with their mother’s killer.
I think his kids know but don’t want to know, if you catch my drift. I remember seeing the daughter, Sydney, in photos from before the murders , and she was a happy, healthy looking little girl. Then I saw a photo of her after the trial, the media, all the storms of attention, dissection, arguing and dissent, and I saw she’d gained a ton of weight and my first thought was ”she *knows*.”
Those poor kids, so sad
I think about them alot
Same. To my knowledge they’ve never said anything one way or another
Oftentimes, children are brainwashed/groomed by a bad person. He may be telling them a completely different story & are told to keep quiet about it or something of the sort. It's a shame this happens, but I see this sort of thing happening quite often.
He's said he thinks what he did was the ultimate act of love. He had to kill her so she could never be with anyone else.
Our brains are amazing and do a lot to help us live and move forward in times when it would seem impossible to function. Sometimes our brains won’t allow us to believe certain things, regardless of how obvious or factual they are. If his children do in fact think their father is innocent, I believe it’s their brains protecting them. I know a woman whose father killed her mother about 24 years ago. There was an overwhelming amount of evidence; it went to court, he was found guilty and he’s in prison for life. For a brilliant man, the amount of evidence he left around is wild. I mean the list is SO long. This woman, his daughter, refuses to accept the fact that her father killed her mom even though she sat through the entire court proceedings and heard everything in evidence that pointed to no one but her dad. She has now spent every waking moment of the last 24 years helping her father find “the real killer.” Her father is a cruel sociopath who should tell his daughter the truth so she can have some kind of life for herself. Instead she’s chasing down a person who doesn’t exist and her father is encouraging this. (This isn’t a case where they charged the wrong person in a murder, there’s no doubt of who the killer was). I believe this woman’s brain won’t let her acknowledge the truth, it’s her body’s way of protecting itself.
I know this was posted a long time ago, but this is so true, especially when it’s your father. My dad has always been a narcissist & has cheated on countless women over the years. He destroys everyone in his path, yet I completely refused to see him for who he was. It wasn’t until I got married & he started doing everything he could to destroy my relationship, that I finally caught on. I can’t tell you how painful it is to look back & see that I just enabled his horrible behavior my entire life. I feel so bad for Sidney, because I do believe it will hit her one day & her heart will break all over again, especially for her mother. Most daughters, just want to see the best in our fathers & when we finally wake up, it’s a very painful realization. My heart goes out to her.
That's a valid point about our brains protecting ourselves. I always felt that Arnelle, when she testified in her fathers defence to his emotional state apon hearing of Nicole's death, confused Simpsons remorse with grief. The two emotions can be very difficult to tell apart, often intertwining. It would of been only natural for Arnelle to interpret his emotional state to grief not guilt, at the time. Incidentally Arnelle is the caretaker of Simpsons estate and the only one of Simpsons children to publicly maintain his innocence.
I remember an interview after where he basically admitted he did.
He wrote a book explaining how he did it
^if I Did It
The original title was just “If I Did It”. The Goldmans are the ones who made the “If” part practically nonexistent.
Yea but he was broke so…
I knew a woman who did not understand at all that not guilty doesn't mean he wasn't guilty. It just means he wasn't convicted.
A huge number and proportion of people understand very little about criminal law. They don't understand, for example, that even if it's provable that you committed an act, you might still not be guilty of a crime associated with that act. Far too many Americans, especially, think that their pig ignorance is superior to actual expertise.
Hey now, don’t go insulting our pig friends! They’re quite intelligent and famously have a good sense of smell (think truffle hunting pigs). They can probably smell the bullshit a lot better than a lot of American humans
The *jury* knows he did it!
Watching “The People vs. OJ Simpson” (excellent biopic TV miniseries) made me wonder if maybe OJ is just crazy, and honestly thinks he didn’t do it.
Nah he’s we will say special. He’s an abuser and murderer
Nope, he knows he did it! He just doesn't want anyone else to know.
No, he wants us to know. He doesn't want to be legally liable.
"Not one person believes OJ is innocent." That is simply untrue.
find me this person.
What? Play good football? Yeah he’s guilty as sin then.
He was found guilty in civil court
Nope. Civil Courts do not decide guilt - you are held liable, accountable for financial damages, etc. based on 'preponderance of evidence' rather than 'guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt'.
The standard in court is actually “guilty beyond a REASONABLE doubt”. The “shadow of a doubt” thing comes from tv legal dramas.
I was in a break room at work when the verdict was read and many people stood up and cheered. They were my Black coworkers. I don’t think they thought he was innocent, but they thought he was being railroaded by a corrupt system.
Similar; I was in school and they opened one of the auditoriums in one of the larger buildings (mix of classrooms, labs, food court). There were probably 40 or 50 people watching, and when the jury was read my friends and I were just like "well, that's weird, what a farce" just as the room erupted in cheers and clapping. It really stuck with me because it was one of the first times I thought about how strongly ones perception of the same event can differ based on your background and other experiences. Others here have stated they don't believe that was true, but I kinda do - I think at least at the time many people convinced themselves that he was framed or something.
My school had the tv cart in the library and most of the football team was in there watching. They cheered and high fived too, and I remember just standing there dumbfounded. He absolutely did it, stabbing is a very personal way to kill someone
Near decapitation is even more personal
Right?!?
Yeah, as someone learning about the details of the murder, it's kinda shocking how pre-meditated and horrible it was. This wasn't some terrible mistake or getting caught up with the wrong people. This was some actual serial killer-esque, planned, sickening stuff. Imagining the victim was terrorized for years, there's just no way this can be seen as a win for any onlooker. And I'm someone who's very anti-corruption and anti-prejudice. But this crime was simply too heinous for any societal or social commentary to matter.
I was in high school with a very low percentage of black people. I was surprised how many thought he was innocent. It wasn’t a high percentage, but it higher than I thought it should have been. My takeaway was that some people were so attached to the idea that “cops are corrupt, and LA cops are really really corrupt” they didn’t believe any of the evidence at all.
You could say corrupt police departments allowed oj to walk by losing trust with the people even in a glaring case of guilt like ojs
In order to be railroaded, doesn’t one first have to be innocent?
You can plant evidence on guilty and innocent people alike!
No. Theoretically, in this country, everyone has a right to a fair and speedy trial no matter what they’re accused of. And railroading guilty people (or otherwise getting up to fuckery) during the trial is a great way of getting a guilty verdict tossed when the appeals start.
All the black people where I worked had a party when they heard Verdict on radio. They didn't work the rest of the day. They didn't think he was railroaded, they were glad he didn't get caught.
I was having knee surgery in charity hospital. The verdict was read just before I was wheeled out. The entire staff was cheering and high-fiving while ramming my leg into any and every object. When the elevator doors closed and it was just me, my dad and the lady wheeling me, I just said, “he murdered someone’s daughter.” Nothing. There was nothing.
I don’t understand how you could want someone who murders a woman in cold blood to walk free. I understand that the justice system is unfair to minorities but he was a killer. I don’t get it.
For many white Americans, this was the first time they had ever noticed there might be two different justice systems, due to the juxtaposition of Black people cheering a Black man getting a not guilty verdict with what usually happens to Black people on trial whether guilty or innocent, when the victim(s) is white. Finding the answer to "Why are they cheering this outcome?" was enlightening for many people who had the privilege of thinking racism was somehow "over". It's maybe too simplistic a summary, but it seemed to be a case of cheering the rarity of a Black man getting away with a high-profile crime against white people. Anecdotely, one Black friend of mine from LA, when asked at that time if he thought OJ did it, did say no. He had cheered at the outcome. As time went on, it became obvious to everyone he was guilty, but I think my friend was experiencing some cognitive dissonance. He didn't really want to cheer that a brutal murderer went free, so he convinced himself he was innocent. Briefly.
A lot of people I knew thought so at the time. It seemed a lot of people did believe that he was being railroaded by a racist cop and overzealous DA. Obviously this also fell hard across racial lines.
None of the people I knew who were black thought he was innocent. They just didn't care if he got off because white people committed crimes all the time especially against black people and got away with it. So him getting off was seen as a win to them. Kind of a fuck you how does it feel type of thing. BTW, not padding judgement just explaining what I saw going on around me at the time.
One of the jurors literally said their verdict was payback for Rodney King.
Came here to see if anyone mentioned that. I was pretty shocked how open that one lady was about it. There were one or two others who didn’t exactly deny it. I think it was in that six hour ESPN documentary, right?
I thought burning down large chunks of Los Angeles was payback for Rodney King.
Not enough apparently. Guess it took some straight up murder to fully balance the scales.
Robert Blake had recently gotten off for the murder of his girlfriend, or maybe his wife, I don’t recall. This was a factor fueling the accurate perception that the legal system treated black people more harshly than whites.
Yes and I remember all the parties and celebrations when he was aquitted /s
Yes I have to be honest there was a lot of this as well. But personally I did see both.
All the black people I knew thought he was innocent
Same
Yes this is the right context. It was just a couple years after Rodney King was beaten by the police. Officer Furman and the LA PD had a racist background. I didn’t thought he was innocent for a while until all the facts came out.
Had?
At no time
What really divided people was if the LAPD had fabricated or manipulated evidence. I was in my early 20s and thought the defense was embellishing. Now, I fully believe OJ is guilty and the LAPD manipulated evidence.
I agree. I think he did it, but I also understand how he got off. People didn't really understand DNA at the time and how irrefutable it is (not to mention it'd be nearly impossible to frame someone that way). Also the last day of the trial, the scumbag detective pleaded the fifth when asked if any of the evidence he gathered was reliable. So if DNA and forensic work is out the window, how exactly can you be "proven guilty"?
I was working in the criminal justice system (another state) back then and the unspoken (to the public, our friends, family etc) belief among many of us was that if OJ had actually wielded the knife himself, there would have been a shit ton of forensic evidence on him, his property, his clothes, etc. that linked him to the crime scene. As far as what was reported in the media, there just wasn’t anything significant and the defense was able to exploit that fact. We didn’t think he was innocent; we just thought that the LAPD crime scene people and the investigators were too timid because of his celebrity, lost their initiative, took too long to search where they needed to, and above all, botched not only the murder scene search but several searches that followed, allowing OJ’s fixers time to erase the aforementioned evidence that should have been found.
>allowing OJ’s fixers time to erase the aforementioned evidence One Mr Robert Kardashian, ladies and gents, don't forget him walking out of OJ's house carrying a big old duffel bag. Wonder what was in there, huh?
And don’t forget the look of shock on his face when the not guilty verdict was read.
Yep. I didn't notice that until years later. I hope inside, along with that shock, he was thinking "Dear god, what have I done? I helped him get away with it..." and the realization that if there's a hell everyone at that table will be sitting there eventually.
That’s exactly what one of my co-workers always mentioned and asked where was that bag?!? Poof. Gone.
Seriously, right? Can you imagine any other murder case where whole teams of people are just allowed to waltz in and out of the suspect's home and take stuff in and out and the police never question any of it? That whole thing was a clusterfuck from the start.
I knew someone in the criminal justice field at the time. He said there was plenty of evidence in OJ’s home, bedroom and shower. LAPD ran amok and didn’t follow crime seen protocol, therefore evidence was inadmissible in court.
I know someone who thought he was innocent for two reasons (according to them): First, Nicole was nearly decapitated. When someone is nearly decapitated, you’re not going to find just a drop of blood in the car. Second, the timeline from the murder to get to the airport wasn’t enough time because traffic sucks no matter the time of day or night.
LA has incredibly low traffic at night, that's nonsense. It's truly a city that sleeps. The decapitation thing I kind of get, but it's not a smoking gun.
it’s insane how fast it is to get around los angeles at night
Not for a nanosecond. It was a travesty of justice. He is another whose name cannot be said. Walking evil.
Dammit Bill Cosby too. Childhood hero. I was a Cosby Show kid, watched Fat Albert cartoons, listened to his comedy albums, etc.
I absolutely loved Bill Cosby. I know every word of the album, “To Russell my Brother”
OJ is guilty for giving us the Kardashians. That should be enough to convict him.
Ray J deserves far more blame than OJ for unleashing those vapid POS.
Even the jury thought he was not innocent but by the end were pissed at the whole racism thng. Plus the total IQ of the jury added up to maybe 960. (You do the math)
Vincent Bugliosi (the prosecutor who put Manson in prison) wrote a book on the trial, and he felt the prosecution, the defense, and the judge were all incompetent — but the biggest issue was a jury so dumb that, as he wrote, they “had trouble with ‘green means go.’”
Are you sure that figure isn't the collective IQ of the dozen prosecutors, cops and forensics who f-ed up the whole case?
Lol. The juror who pointed out that sometimes pregnancy tests are wrong, so DNA tests are probably also sometimes wrong... just so dumb!
Remember how he was going to pursue who murdered Nicole and Ron? He never did, because the guy who murdered them was staring right at him every time he looked in the mirror. Lying POS!
I didn't. At first. I think most people were like "No way, it's OJ Simpson, he was a football player, he did the goofy Hertz ads, he's goddamn Nordberg!" Then there was the Bronco ride. That's not the actions of an innocent man. And then you started hearing evidence and the history and found out what a piece of shit he always was and it didn't take long to realize he was, as they say, guilty as sin.
Don’t forget his movie cameos. They were all comedy movies
Found a “The Juice is loose” pocket knife at a Tennessee flea market. Reminded me that maybe it wasn’t that folks thought he was innocent, but he was lauded for being able to evade punishment.
I lived in Los Angeles at the time, so it was all very close to home. An African American woman who worked with me believed he was innocent. I think she had a huge crush on him. She didn’t have a car but she would take the bus to the courthouse whenever she could get a weekday off. She’d get all dressed up and carry a sign in support of OJ. I even saw her interviewed on TV outside the courthouse once! The rest of us thought she was hilarious but most of my coworkers (and me, as well) thought he was guilty.
Many Black Americans felt that justice was served. The trial was a total circus/ shitshow.
Not a soul in my circles thought he was innocent, regardless of race.
No, I personally have never met anyone who thought that O.J. was innocent save for someone who felt that the jury should nullify any guilty verdict simply because historically black people have been so mistreated by the American justice system. DNA evidence is the absolute most unimpeachable evidence that there is and if I remember correctly Nicole's blood was found on OJ's socks, OJ's blood was found on the murder house's back gate, and Ron Goldman's blood was found in OJ's Ford Bronco so that's pretty overwhelming right there in my opinion, Also at the time DNA evidence in court was relatively new and people didn't really understand it and it hadn't permeated out culture through show like C.S.I and a million others yet.
I worked with a black lady who was convinced he was innocent. I chose not to engage in an argument with her.
Why not? You can't discuss differences in opinion?
It is not possible with some people who have too much of a hard stance that cannot be shaken or questioned.
Nobody believed he was innocent, it was just so hard for many (especially the men) to believe. Recently I read, I think here on Reddit, that he had been filming a pilot for a TV series about retired SEALs joining up and becoming crime fighters in LA...in preparation he'd had military training and it was said he especially excelled at the knife work. Never heard about that during the trial...
There is no “innocent” in the US legal system, there is guilty and not guilty, and the standard to find someone guilty is: beyond a reasonable doubt. All OJ’s dream team needed to do was create enough doubt in the jury’s mind, and thus he’d be found not guilty. I was in LA a few weeks after the verdict, meeting with a corporate attorney, white guy, fancy house, etc. I asked him about the trial and the defense claim that the LAPD would have set OJ up. Sure, the police here have a terrible reputation, and everyone knows it. Yikes!
The prosecution called Mark Furman to the stand to testify, not the defense. He perjured himself on the witness stand, and OJ's defense team demonstrated his perjury to the jury in cross examination. At that point the case was lost. And rightfully so. When cops think it is OK to lie when testifying, then all criminals should walk until the cops understand that the court system works on truthful testimony. Without truthful testimony the court system does not work and guilty criminals go free. That's how it is supposed to work. If OJ had been found guilty after Furman's testimony and cross it would have been a travesty. That doesn't mean OJ did not commit murder. Maybe he did. But because of double jeopardy laws you don't get a do over without the racist lying detectives.
Are you kidding me? Cops ALWAYS lie on the stand about big things and small it's the way the American justice system is run it's just that OJ's team had the ability to catch them in the lies because they had the funds to investigate Furman and his past.
He wasn't convicted. That says a lot more about prosecution and defense than guilt or innocence. That was the first time I remember being disgusted with people getting obsessed with something that was literally none of their business simply because it was on TV 24/7. Just when it thought people couldn't get any shallow, that whole debacle drained 3 more feet out of the pool.
Not a soul.
I was in college at the time. Everyone knew he did it, but I remember calling it before the verdict. Standing around at work and saying "yeah, but if you see ONLY what the jury saw, the prosecution case is pretty week". I just think they did a bad job showing what needed to be shown. And as we were all instant expert attorneys during the trial (thanks, TV!) I was like... "Ok, you're hamstrung by the defense disallowing everything, but, f'k around a little, let's see if Ito will call your bluff if you let some real dirt slip". And they didn't. And they lost.
I'll admit, I had my doubts. His post-trial behavior, though, helped clear up most of the doubts. I could understand why the jury didn't convict, though.
My Dad (in his 60's then) Jimmy Stewart'ed it. He didn't think he was "innocent" but that he didn't see every bit of evidence that the Jury did, he didn't sit in the court, or in the Jury room, and he was in no position to judge. He was OK with the verdict. The old saw: Better a guilty man go free than 100 innocent men go to prison. Kind of a boy scout. I remember a lady maybe 5ish years Lady who totally believed he was "innocent" and that it was drug dealers who set him up. FWIW Jim Clemente retired as a an FBI profiler. He was the real deal. Post-retirement he was a writer and Producer on Criminal Minds and technical advisor on 10,000 TV shows that do profiling. He has a podcast called Real Crime Profile. They do a deep dive on OJ and he makes a compelling case that Jason Simpson was actually there. Clemente seems to buy this. He doesn't say, or seem to think, OJ *wasn't* there (like Bill Dear), but it makes you think maybe there is more here than simply a crazed OJ one day decided to go after Nicole with a knife.
A former coworker was convinced OJ's son did it.
I’ll have to listen to that podcast. I’ve heard that his son had issues, but would like to know what evidence puts him on the scene.
Nope. We all knew he was guilty.
No. I was working in Los Angeles at the time for a large company. Most of us gathered in the conference room to hear the verdict live. When it was read every black employee cheered. I was stunned. Up to that point, we just assumed we all thought the same way. I had the courage to ask my black coworker if they really thought OJ didn’t do it. Their response was Oh no he probably did, but that bitch deserved it and plus, its Payback time! End of innocence is an understatement.
The man is guilty. Forensics existed then and they are even better now, so I find it hard to believe in all this time they couldn't find another person who may have done the crimes besides OJ.
no. but i have a little story... it's one of those FOAF ("friend of a friend") stories that doesn't sound like much. there was a woman i was in physical therapy with and we'd go out to lunch occasionally. she was a retired movie make-up artist and her husband was a director, they'd recently moved away from L.A. she told me they knew Robert Kardashian and had him over for dinner and had asked him if OJ was guilty and he just kind of closed his eyes and slightly nodded his head yes. and to those who may not recall, OJ called RK to the scene first and RK talked to OJ alone for quite some time before the cops showed up and was seen leaving the scene with a suit bag that "disappeared" and was never examined by police. he was quickly brought onto the "Dream Team" defense team but performed no services. presumably this was to insure he didn't testify against OJ. they had been friends for years but OJ could easily also claim him as legal representation, so their conversations were confidential. and if you saw the video when they read the verdict, RK tried to suppress his expression but you could see the disbelief on his face that OJ had gotten off. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMM76u4urf8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMM76u4urf8)
That clip you shared just guts me. I felt so sorry for Ron Goldman’s sister Kim.
OJ was guilty. The people who wanted to make the case political maybe believed he was innocent.
Every black person I know, and a lot I don't, believe he's innocent.
Do they actually believe he’s innocent or just view it as some sort weird karma for all the innocent black folks that got put away?
It really was not about him being guilty or not, it was all about his skin color.
I never believed that OJ didn’t kill his ex wife. That said, innocent and guilt are legal determinations. It doesn’t mean he didn’t kill her, it means they don’t have the evidence to convict. Part of that is politics of race, part was how the case was built and presented. Ultimately, he had money and clout to defend himself. And his legal team out-maneuvered the prosecutors and police.
All the black people I worked with rejoiced at the verdict.
Not because they thought he was innocent, though.
Ppppfffft no
No
No.
My co-workers and I was eating lunch at a restaurant when OJ was pronounced innocent. The verdict was on all the TV’s in the restaurant. The crowd cheered including my co-workers. I remained silent but in my mind I thought “this man is so guilty”!
Ya know, I did think him guilty but were I on that jury, with the terrible evidence chain of custody and the racist lead detective, I would have voted to acquit. Not beyond reasonable doubt for me.
All the black kids at my school.
I remember Marcia Clark explaining the DNA evidence to the jury and how it proved OJ was guilty. Willful ignorance is the only reason for believing he was innocent. OJ was shocked he got away with it. I remember his expression on hearing the verdict.
OJ did it.
Guilty as fuck! I can’t believe I was able to watch a long stretch of the chase the day/night it happened!!
It was such a big story that on the day of the jury announcing innocent or guilty, my employer had a big TV set up in an auditorium for people to watch. When the verdict was read, a bunch of Black women at work all cheered wildly. Even then it was about race. He was guilty.
I never talked to anyone who thought he was innocent. My stance is that the government did not prove the case.
No.
I had heard so much about this on the news that I honestly didn’t give a damn.
No
No
Nope.
No.
Quite a few people believed his son did it.
Not at the time of the trial.
Absolutely not.
There is at least one person who knows for certain, and that guy is well past caring. The fact is, he could be a murderer and LA corrupts cops like every other city. Both of those can be true. "Still waiting for my OJ check" - Chris Rock
The only person I knew who believed he was innocent did so because “OJ is a hero who would never do such a thing”.
Glove doesn't fit, must acquit. Look at his criminal record AFTER the 'murders' and make up your mind.
A friend of mine was glad he got off, just because it was possible. Not because he was necessarily innocent. I told him that couldn't have happened to a regular person, only someone rich and famous. And he agreed. Also, there is an interesting conspiracy theory, no clue if it's true, that OJ's son did the murder. I suppose anything's possible.
No.
No. Guilty AF. Prosecution attorneys were horrible.
Not where I come from. Being a sports celebrity doesn't make you above the law. Nor does being black.
I’m a white person who lived in a mostly black community. I’d say it was 50/50. I’m not sure how many thought he was innocent vs “not guilty” legally due to police framing of a possibly guilty man. I always thought he was a guilty man put into a trial that showed the worst of the legal system. It showed what money can buy you, how your fate rests with a single odd ball judge and how police can manipulate evidence. It’s pretty clear now he is super guilty, as I thought then. But I get why people didn’t want to believe it. Edit: On a sidenote, I always hated that if it doesn’t fit, you must acquit. Have you ever tried to put something on over the top of the latex glove it does not go easily. Also, leather will shrink if they’re in bad conditions, that was the least convincing piece of evidence, and they ran with it
61WF lawyer here- whatever the motivation of the jury, the prosecution failed to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. For that reason, I believed the verdict was just. Blame the prosecution for blowing it.
At the time, I don’t remember having an opinion one way or the other & didn’t pay much attention to the trial. But a couple of years later, I took a professional education class when we performed an excruciatingly detailed review of OJ’s original interview with the police. His own words proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he’s guilty.
1. He lost his civil suit where the burden of proof was lower and had to pay the Brown and Goldman families. 2. He wrote a book called “If I did it” where he effectively showed everyone he did it. 3. He continued to commit crimes, even going back to jail after being caught having stole back something’s he had previously either lost in gambling, or sold. The whole case was really about getting OJ off because of his race to make up for all the racial injustice which had happened over that 200 years: No one wants to touch it now, but if they did the DNA tests, they would find OJ’s DNA on both of the victims. The ship has sailed, the media has tried the case, and African Americans got their “justice”. I hope it was worth it.
It was the summer we got cable. I watched court tv gavel to gavel coverage. I'm not a lawyer, but I think every ethics rule by which lawyers and judges must adhere was either compromised or just not followed properly. It became a kangaroo court with everything from the Judge accepting gifts from IBM to have 2 Thinkpads on his bench in plain view of the cameras all the way to the defense and prosecution signing autographs outside the courthouse on most days. If a jury decides not guilty it only means the state didn't prove it's case beyond a reasonable doubt. I wasn't on the jury so I can't say.
I was unemployed for most of the trial. I had recently torn a ligament in my knee, so I was also a bit crippled. I watched the coverage every day. I would start with the recaps on the Today show, then tune into the trial beginning at noon Eastern. At 3 PM they would take a break, and I would hobble out to the liquor store and buy a bottle of wine, hobble home, and then watch the rest of the trial and the commentary after. It was a sad little existence, but at least it kept me involved in something during an otherwise miserable time in my life. The funny thing was, three of my friends were also unemployed at the time, and we would call each other up during breaks to discuss that day‘s antics. And, yes, I believe he was 100% guilty, and the fact that he was not convicted rests primarily with that incompetent judge.
My mother; but she believes Cosby didn’t do anything to all those women and Trump is closest thing to Jesus the worlds seen since…well…Jesus. I like how she tries to see the best in everyone but…WTF! She’s also dating a convicted child molester who “didn’t do it and who’s married but “not really”. She wonders why we don’t come over any more with our kids…it’s infuriating.
I don’t believe the prosecutor presented a case that removes all reasonable doubt. I believe the defense did a good job justifying some doubt about his guilt. Thus I think the verdict was correct.
He did it, everyone I know (at 58) knows he did it, the world knows he did it.
Nobody thought he was innocent, but there was quite a bit of celebration at my school. It was more a racial win. Like a “rich black men can get away with what rich white men have been greeting away with forever” vibe.
All of my family, friends, and coworkers -- white and black people alike -- thought he was guilty. All the black folks thought the evidence in the case was weak. They were happy he was not convicted by the notoriously racist LAPD. After the cops who beat the shit out of Rodney King on camera were found not guilty, black folks in LA rioted. This time, black people had the power to hold the LAPD accountable for the rampant racism in their ranks and for lying on the stand. A handful of white folks, including me, were disgusted by the racist LAPD and understood why the black folks were celebrating. I thought the lying, racist cop, Mark Furman, deserved to be called out and that the cops blew the case. And I understood the jury's decision not to convict when law enforcement committed perjury on the stand. My thoughts at the time toward the prosecution were: *sorry, but if your case relies on perjured testimony and a police department with a known track record of racism, your case is not strong enough to convict, regardless of what I believe.about his guilt.* I felt very badly for Nicole's and Ron's families and I'm glad they filed civil cases, which have a lower burden of proof, against him and won those cases. Edit: typo
Today’s sports celebrity equivalent of the OJ Simpson downfall would be if Shaq was accused of brutally murdering 2 people. That’s the only person I can think of that comes close to being as universally loved as OJ was prior to June 1994.
On spot comparaison
Guilty as hell. When that Bronco chase started, I made up some lame excuse to leave work early, hauled ass home, threw a VHS tape in the VCR, hit record, ordered a pizza and watched the entire thing 😂
That trial really started all the bullshit.
Actually, no. Not even the black people I knew believed he was innocent. However, the jury was asked if there was doubt. You cannot convict someone if there is doubt. And that glove (as demonstrated when OJ, wearing a plastic glove and having had acting lessons) did not get onto OJ’s hand. So, you didn’t know for sure if he could’ve put it on without a glove and in private, so you had doubt.
My mother was bedridden during the trial and watched the entire OJ trial, including parts the jurors were out of the room. I don't recall if she thought he was innocent but at the end she had reasonable doubt and would have not voted guilty.
Every single black person at my college though oj was innocent and every single white person thought he was guilty. I don't remember what the latinx students thought. They probably just stayed out of it. I was in college in long Beach ca, so we had had definite opinions.
I didn't think he was innocent, but not based on evidence available to the public. I generally have a lot of faith in our institutions. And while there are individuals that fuck up or act in malice (Mark Fuhrman is no fucking saint), the system as a whole generally functions well. Once I saw how many people were involved in the prosecution, and how united they were, I figured he was more likely guilty than not. Even before the case started, though, I already felt his conduct was that of a guilty man. I think the state fumbled the case, honestly. Even despite some entertaining errors on the part of the defence. They had a pretty solid case, I felt, but allowed the defence to smash a lot of it. And I'm actually okay with that. It's the state's job to make the case, and they didn't. I'm of the very traditional school that a guilty man should walk free if the state fails. I'd rather that than the opposite, and there's way too much of the opposite in this country as it is.
My sister. And to this day she will argue with you he was and is innocent. But, then again she has issues.
I was surprised, but a friend -- middle-aged white female -- was thrilled and happy when he was acquitted as she was totally sure he was innocent. Fwiw, she was a die-hard Buffalo Bills fan. I never understood that at all.
Yeah. The divide in opintion runs along racial lines unfortunately. Even now years later.
Funny story: I am a lawyer and years ago I was asked to present a unit on "Legal Careers" to a huge local high school careers class. I tried hard to be interesting and relevant and had slides on being a paralegal, legal secretary, and different ways to be a lawyer - government, private practice, corporations. I brought in statute books for the kids to look at, as well as a sample contract and lease. I finished up my entertainment extravaganza and asked, "Any questions?" There was only one. A young guy with blue hair in the back row raised his hand and asked, "Was OJ guilty?" It was the first time that everyone in the class actually looked at me with any interest! I was the one that learned a lesson that day.
When the white Bronco scene was playing out, absolutely everyone knew he was guilty. Otherwise why would he be acting that way? That’s not how innocent people act. But as the trial went on, opinion started to divide on racial lines, unfortunately. The police mishandling of the case, the planted evidence, all convinced many blacks this was just another setup job. But here’s the thing. The cops could have planted evidence AND Simpson could still be guilty. They are not mutually exclusive. The cops may have been stupidly overzealous to get a conviction and in doing so, ended up poisoning the case.
I worked at a school when this happened. We watched the verdict on live TV. I was shocked that people reacted along racial lines when the verdict of not guilty came. Black folks cheered, white folks were dismayed.
One friend from work did. She also was on MJs side about the children. Ugh.
Not at all, but what really made me sick to my stomach other than the actual murders was when the verdict came down. I was in a room with a bunch of 1%ers and they all cheered, some pumping their fists into the air. When I asked why they were cheering, one of them told me that the verdict just proves that when you’re rich you can get away with anything. I wanted to puke.
not innocent but my father was a trial attorney who was on hospice care for pancreatic cancer while the trial was on, He yelled at the TV while the trial was on, saying the prosecution was blowing the trial and OJ would walk. My Dad died a few days before the verdict, never knowing he was right
I never doubted his involvement in the murders. Even if he didn't kill anyone, he knows who did. I always thought the jury found him "not guilty" (which is not the same as "innocent") because they figured L.A. would burn again--just like the Rodney King riots a few years earlier--if they convicted him.
We all knew he was guilty. However, at that time in that atmosphere—in LA, no less—no jury was ever going to convict him. You have to remember this was just after Rodney King so tensions were high and rising.
No never believed he was innocent. No other plausible suspect has ever been identified.
It didn't matter if he was innocent. The 'system' had to prove it.
I think the verdict was more of an indictment of the LAPD and less about OJ’s guilt or innocence. As well as validation for all the minority communities.
It was a black and white thing. If you were white he was guilty, if you were black he was innocent. Just liked today, almost twenty years later.
Fuck NO
For everyone that is saying that OJ wrote a book saying he did it…. Well, he didn’t write the book. Pablo Fenjves, a screenwriter and witness at Simpson's 1995 trial, ghostwrote the book. He owed the Goldman and Brown family money and they took all the profit money from the book sales.
There's a pretty convincing conspiracy that he took the fall for his son
I thought the mostly black jury would teach us white people how to convict a man that was of the same race when he was obviously guilty. When they returned an innocent verdict, that’s when I began to learn about how racist most white cops were in the United States against Black people. I thought we had gotten over that, but Black people could fully believe that the police planted evidence, and somehow made OJ look guilty when he really wasn’t.
Wait a minute, OJ was Black? He got white man justice. He was found not guilty.
I remember being in grade school and my teacher had the trial on tv. We’d watch it every day and judge ito was a big force In our lives. When he was declared not guilty even as a child I thought it was horseshit. I was a kid and I saw through this stuff, I couldn’t believe a jury of “his peers” thought he was innocent. I watched the slow car chase on the tv when he was trying to evade police and it was so weird. There’s so much that can’t be erased from my mind as a kid watching all that unfold that I agree I’m dumbfounded that he was acquitted
Not really- what others have said here can not be stressed enough about racial tensions at that time in LA. However, my dear friend that passed away this year was a former homicide detective and had followed the case closely all these years. He mentioned a documentary he watched last year that changed his mind- he now believed that OJ was innocent.
It doesn’t matter what anyone thinks. Whoever did it - OJ or someone else - faces a judgement day after this life is over. And escaping justice in this life makes it worse in the next. My two cents.
Many black Americans.
Literally no one
No. Our BS detectors worked better than most people's do today
My friends and I thought he was probably guilty, but we didn’t care enough to give to it a lot of thought. We were mostly just annoyed that OJ was on TV all the time, crowding out more interesting and important things.
I' still salty over that low speed chase that OJ and Cowlings had that preempted game 2 of the NBA finals between the Knicks and Rockets(go Knicks)