The O.J. Simpson Trial: A Shocking Verdict

It has been named the Trial Of the Century. Everyone’s eyes were glued to their television screens. Everyone’s jaws were dropped while listening to the radio. And the only thing they wanted to know; was O.J Simpson guilty? The talented running back turned TV personality was being tried for two murders. In the end O.J. was acquitted. It came as a shock to many, as well as a victory to others. With a handful of evidence against him, some thought there was no way he could be found not guilty. O.J. Simpson’s “dream team” was able to win the case because the prosecution did not evaluate the evidence close enough before presenting it in trial. On June 12, 1994 the bodies of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were found outside of

Fuhrman was the first officer to arrive at the scene. “It was Fuhrman who found the bloody glove that didn’t fit” (Downey). Fuhrman caused lots of speculation within the jury because the defense was able to find old tapes of Fuhrman using racial slurs. He had sworn that he had not used any derogatory language towards people of color in the past ten years. As Dominick Dunne said in How O.J. Simpson’s “Dream Team” Played The Race Card and Won, “The tapes of Fuhrman using racial slurs like nothing, played a huge part because whatever evidence he had a part of, all of a sudden

As said before, Fuhrman had a history was racism. Because of this, the jury believed evidence found could not have been planted, contaminated, “mixed or stored together” (Gallagher). The prosecution also presented the case of Simpson domestically abusing Nicole in 1989, six years before the murder case. This introduced a violent past of jealousy and uncontrollable anger. “This was a murder trial, not domestic abuse” (Egan). The biggest issue the jury had with the evidence was the glove. A glove expert said he was 100% sure the glove found at the scene was the same style as ones he had worn previously (Dunne). “It was Fuhrman who found the bloody glove that didn’t fit Simpson, and the defense managed to convince the jury that Simpson didn't commit the murders, because he was framed by a racist cop who didn’t even use the right sized glove” (Downey). The jury did not think there was enough liable evidence to convict Simpson. The tension between the black community and the Los Angeles Police Department caused eyes to be on the true intentions of the police on the case. Only three years before the Simpson trial, Rodney King had a trial of his own. King was pulled over by four police officers then beat. The four police officers were found not guilty. The colored community was enraged. “After almost a week of rioting, the city was still rebuilding when the Simpson trial began” (Bates). The fact that a wide