On Oct. 3, 1995, former NFL player Orenthal James (O.J.) Simpson of the Buffalo Bills and the San Francisco 49ers was acquitted on two counts of murder. His trial lasted eleven months and was known as the ‘trial of the century,’ due to the trial’s international publicity. Simpson was a highly trained running back and Heisman Trophy winner who had Robert George Kardashian as his lawyer. 

On June 12, 1994, his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman were stabbed to death in the front yard of Brown’s condo in Brentwood, Los Angeles. All the evidence pointed to Simpson, from blood DNA matches to a glove outside his home matching one found at the crime scene. Despite this, Simpson still pleaded not guilty after his arrest when he was faced in front of a judge. 

Simpson’s trial was the longest trial to ever be held in California. The expensive defense lawyers Simpson had under his belt made a case that he was being framed by racist police officers and that he was just another African American victim of the white judicial system. 

“I was not born yet during the O.J. Simpson trial, but throughout my life I have heard many stories about it and what a big investigation it was,” said senior Alyssa Pompano. 

“I have also watched a few episodes of ‘The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story’ because I was curious to know more about it. It seems as though everyone believes that he is guilty, but the show did a good job making the director’s or actor’s opinion on if O.J. in fact did or did not impact the storyline with biases.”

That particular Oct. 3 was a big day — the day when the verdict was delivered and over 140 million Americans tuned in to either television or radio to be informed on the long-awaited decision.