OJ Simpson
Back in 1994, OJ Simpson was accused of murdering Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman outside of Goldman’s condominium home. The murder trial was considered to be one of the most prolific in modern history and had the nation captivated every night as they received updates from the proceedings every night on their local and national news. They deemed it the “trial of the century”. OJ Simpson hired a team of high-profile lawyers, including Johnnie Cochran and F. Lee Bailey. Simpson’s lawyers were successful in giving the jurors reasonable doubt that he was responsible for their murders. As a result, his lawyers were successful in helping Simpson be found not guilty of the murders.
Following the not guilty verdict, Simpson was slapped with a civil law case. The civil law case stated that he was responsible for the wrongful death of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman. He was found guilty and he was forced to make payments to his children and the Goldman family.
1. The criminal case details:
Simpson spared no expense when hiring his group of lawyers to represent him in the criminal case, as the costs exceeded about three million dollars. Simpson’s lawyers included a team that was highly trained in DNA evidence presented in courts. These lawyers’ job was to find a way to discredit the DNA evidence that was presented and demonstrated by the prosecutors. The lawyers’ main claim was that the police handled the evidence in a sloppy manner and thus the evidence should be considered invalid.
Simpson’s lawyers also presented evidence that the police that handled the crime scene planted evidence that led to the conviction of OJ Simpson. There was a lot of conclusive evidence to support this claim, leading Simpson and his team of lawyers to a victorious not guilty verdict.
2. The civil law case:
There was a great deal of aftermath and fallout that occurred, however, following the criminal trial. A civil law case was immediately brought upon Simpson by the parent’s of Ron Goldman, Fred Goldman and Sharon Rufo. The civil law case was presented for wrongful death of Nicole and Ron and took about four months to complete. Daniel Petrocelli was the lawyer for Goldman and Bob baker was the lawyer that represented OJ Simpson. Evidence was brought upon Simpson by Goldman’s lawyers, such as the polygraph test the Simpson failed conducted the Los Angeles Police Department. Eventually, the jury in the civil law case against Simpson awarded the Goldman family and Simpson’s children, Sydney and Justin, $12.5 million.
3. The aftermath:
OJ Simpson came under a lot of criticism following the criminal and civil law case. For instance, OJ Simpson was accused of dodging the payment of the civil law verdict of $12.5 million. Also, after the civil law case had been completed, Simpson vowed to help find the “real killers” of Nicole Simpson and Ron Brown. Simpson has since showed little interest in finding the real murders or proof that he ever took any steps to do so.