Current location:Culture Crossroad news portal > style
O.J. Simpson, football star turned celebrity murder defendant, dies at 76
Culture Crossroad news portal2024-05-21 18:25:00【style】4People have gathered around
IntroductionWashington —O.J. Simpson, the American football star and actor who was acquitted in a sensational 19
O.J. Simpson, the American football star and actor who was acquitted in a sensational 1995 trial of murdering his former wife but was found responsible for her death in a civil lawsuit and was later imprisoned for armed robbery and kidnapping, has died at the age of 76.
Simpson, cleared by a Los Angeles jury in what the U.S. media called "the trial of the century," had died on Wednesday after a battle with cancer, his family posted on social media on Thursday.
Simpson avoided prison when he was found not guilty in the 1994 stabbing deaths of former wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman in Los Angeles. Simpson later served nine years in a Nevada prison after being convicted in 2008 on 12 counts of armed robbery and kidnapping two sports memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in a Las Vegas hotel.
Nicknamed "The Juice," Simpson was one of the best and most popular athletes of the late 1960s and 1970s. He overcame childhood infirmity to become an electrifying running back at the University of Southern California and won the Heisman Trophy as college football's top player. After a record-setting career in the NFL with the Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Simpson parlayed his football stardom into a career as a sportscaster, advertising pitchman and Hollywood actor in films including the "Naked Gun" series.
All that changed after Nicole Brown Simpson and Goldman were found fatally slashed in a bloody scene outside her Los Angeles home on June 12, 1994.
Simpson quickly emerged as a suspect. He was ordered to surrender to police but five days after the killings, he fled in his white Ford Bronco with a former teammate - carrying his passport and a disguise. A slow-speed chase through the Los Angeles area ended at Simpson's mansion and he was later charged in the murders.
What ensued was one of the most notorious trials in 20th century America and a media circus. It had everything: a rich celebrity defendant; a Black man accused of killing his white former wife out of jealousy; a woman slain after divorcing a man who had beaten her; a "dream team" of pricy and charismatic defense lawyers; and a huge gaffe by prosecutors.
Simpson, who at the outset of the case declared himself "absolutely 100 percent not guilty," waved at the jurors and mouthed the words "thank you" after the predominately Black panel of 10 women and two men acquitted him on Oct. 3, 1995.
Prosecutors argued that Simpson killed Nicole in a jealous fury, and they presented extensive blood, hair and fiber tests linking Simpson to the murders. The defense countered that the celebrity defendant was framed by racist white police.
The trial transfixed America. In the White House, President Bill Clinton left the Oval Office and watched the verdict on his secretary's TV. Many Black Americans celebrated his acquittal, seeing Simpson as the victim of bigoted police. Many white Americans were appalled by his exoneration.
Related articles
- Election 2024: Biden and Trump bypassed the Commission on Presidential Debates
- Watch: Auckland teens rescued from rocks as water 'rapidly' rose around them
- VOX POPULI: ‘Dandara’ puns still entertain amid destroyed shops of Wajima
- VOX POPULI: LDP lawmakers’ remarks about political funds create a paradox
- Here comes the char
- Second dog infected with rare parasite babesia gibsoni
- VOX POPULI: Leadership skills of the past are missing in the politics of today
- US Treasury Secretary Yellen visits China for high
- Supreme Court declines to hear challenge to Maryland ban on rifles known as assault weapons
- LAUSD investigating inappropriate photos being shared amongst students at Fairfax High School
Popular articles
Recommended
Supreme Court declines to hear challenge to Maryland ban on rifles known as assault weapons
VOX POPULI: Young texters have rendered punctuation marks obsolete
Thousands of Russians join Navalny
VOX POPULI: Some celebrate while others ponder time and space on leap day
Philippines blames China for loss of giant clams in disputed shoal and urges environmental inquiry
Minister 'not convinced' Fire and Emergency needs further levy boost
Gay Games Hong Kong unfazed by potential censorship, organiser says
VOX POPULI: Use of honorifics complex at times and not always appropriate
Links
- Whoopi Goldberg fights back tears as The View host defends 'mad' student protesters
- Climate change could virtually disappear in Florida — at least according to state law
- Arkansas' elimination of 'X' for sex on driver's licenses spurs lawsuit
- Efficient Real Madrid making an art form of scoring when least expected
- Abuse allegations against former Olympic rower, coach found to be credible, US Rowing probe says
- Some North Carolina abortion pill restrictions are unlawful, federal judge says
- Former Naval officer to challenge Matt Gaetz in upcoming GOP primary
- Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews out for potential elimination matchup with Bruins
- Noah Cyrus keeps it casual in wintry pajamas
- Brewers call up hot