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O.J. Simpson’s Disturbing and Complex Legal Legacy

Michael McCann
·6 min read

O.J. Simpson, an NFL Hall of Fame running back who became one of most infamous criminal defendants in American history, died Thursday after a bout with cancer.

Simpson, 76, leaves behind a dubious legacy shaped by chilling legal controversies and achievements in sports and entertainment.

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Simpson enjoyed a storied football career at the University of Southern California, where he won the Heisman Trophy in 1968. He later starred for the Buffalo Bills before finishing his NFL tenure with the San Francisco 49ers in 1979 after winning four NFL rushing titles and totaling 11,236 career yards. Simpson was also a recognizable pitchman for Hertz rental cars and eventually turned to acting, including a well-received role in the 1988 hit comedy The Naked Gun.

Simpson then became the defendant in the murder trial of the century.

At approximately 10 p.m. on June 12, 1994, 35-year-old Nicole Brown Simpson and 25-year-old Ronald Goldman, an aspiring actor and waiter who tried to return a pair of prescription sunglasses Brown’s mother had left behind at Mezzaluna restaurant, were murdered outside of Brown’s condominium in Brentwood, Calif. The assailant repeatedly stabbed and slashed Brown, who was Simpson’s ex-wife, and killed Goldman. A neighbor found the bodies shortly past midnight.

Simpson’s whereabouts that evening quickly became a focal point. The recollections of his eccentric houseguest, Kato Kaelin, and limo driver, Allan Park, were crucial to establishing a timeline. Simpson flew to Chicago on an 11:45 pm flight that evening to play in a charity golf tournament.

When LAPD detective Ronald Phillips called Simpson in Chicago to let him know they had found the body of his ex-wife, Simpson oddly didn’t ask how she died or other details. It was the first of many red flags.

The role of race in the Los Angeles Police Department’s investigation also became a focal point. The murders took place two years after the acquittal of four LAPD officers, who had beaten Rodney King, sparked riots. When Simpson returned home from Chicago, officers handcuffed him even though he hadn’t been charged. One of the lead investigators, detective Mark Fuhrman, was shown to have used racist language. Simpson attorney Johnnie Cochran later depicted Fuhrman as a “genocidal racist” and suggested there was a plot afoot to falsely accuse Simpson, a black man.

Simpson’s attorneys had arranged for him to surrender but instead he and a former teammate, A.C. Cowlings, drove off in Cowlings’ white Ford Bronco. That led to a slow-speed “chase” on the Los Angeles freeway, an event watched by approximately 95 million Americans and which interrupted TV coverage of the NBA Finals. Simpson had left behind a suicide note and inside the car was cash, a loaded gun and passport, among other items that suggested an escape plan.

A nine-month murder trial followed, with jurors seeing 1,105 pieces of evidence and listening to 126 witnesses. The 10 women and two men on the jury took just four hours to deliberate, returning a not guilty verdict on Oct. 3, 1995. As 150 million Americans watched on TV, Simpson, 48 at the time, walked out of court a free man.

Many Americans were shocked and outraged. Simpson had a long and violent history of abusing Brown, who also accused Simpson of stalking and harassing behaviors. Simpson’s hair was found on Goldman’s shirt and his blood was found at the crime scene. Bloody footprints consistent with Simpson’s shoe size and distinctive shoe—Bruno Magli—were found both at the crime scene and in his car. Simpson had what appeared to be a defensive wound on a finger, and he changed the explanation for how it occurred. There were many signs pointing to guilt.

But law enforcement and prosecutors also erred in ways that jurors found disturbing. The collection of blood evidence was incomplete and done without proper apparel. There was missing blood, which Simpson’s attorneys suggested could have advanced a plot to incriminate him. Prosecutor Christopher Darden asked Simpson to try on the gloves allegedly used in the murder. The gloves had shrunk by that point, and Simpson was asked to put them on over latex gloves. The result: Simpson made it seem as if the gloves were much too small to fit his hands. Cochran later told jurors, “Remember these words: if it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.”

Although Simpson was found not guilty and, per double jeopardy, couldn’t be retried for a criminal offense, he soon faced a wrongful death civil lawsuit brought by the families of Brown and Simpson.

Unlike prosecutors, who needed to convince jurors beyond a reasonable doubt, attorneys for the families only needed to persuade jurors by a preponderance of evidence (i.e., more likely than not).  Simpson, who invoked his Fifth Amendment right to not testify during his criminal trial, struggled on the stand to explain the incriminating evidence and his supposed timeline. A jury in 1997 found him liable for the wrongful deaths and ordered him to pay $33.5 million.

A court order to pay doesn’t automatically make it happen. Over the years, the Brown and Goldman families reportedly collected less than a percent of what Simpson owed. Simpson was a beneficiary of several legal protections, including the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, which insulated Simpson’s NFL pension from civil forfeiture. Simpson was also advantaged by Florida’s homestead exemption, which he used to keep his 4,233-square foot house (until Simpson stopped paying his mortgage, which caused him to lose the house in 2013). Now that Simpson has died, enforcement of civil judgments against his estate should be possible under certain procedures. However, it’s unclear how much would be recoverable.

Simpson’s freedom didn’t last. In 2008, Simpson led a raid of a Las Vegas hotel room occupied by a memorabilia collector. Simpson sought to retrieve what he believed were his belongings. He was caught and charged with 12 counts including conspiracy, burglary, robbery, kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon. Thirteen years to the day Los Angeles jurors found Simpson not guilty, Nevada jurors convicted him. Judge Jackie Glass imposed a stiff sentence—33 years behind bars. Simpson was released on parole in 2017.

Attorney Alan Milstein, who has represented Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony and other celebrity athletes in legal matters over the years, said Simpson’s troubles “mark the birth of sports law as a discipline.” Milstein, who is 70, reflected the verdict in Simpson’s murder case “is only joined for my generation with the Kennedy assassination, the moon landing, and the fall of the twin towers as a day we all remember where we were and who we were with.”

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