Thirty years ago, on Oct. 3, 1995, a jury in downtown Los Angeles delivered a verdict that would be debated for decades: O.J. Simpson was acquitted in what came to be known as the “trial of the century.”
The trial, televised nationwide, transfixed the country. Simpson, a former football star and cultural icon, stood accused of murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, 35, and her friend, Ron Goldman, 25. Both were found fatally stabbed outside Brown’s Brentwood home in June 1994.
Goldman, who worked at a restaurant, had reportedly stopped by to return glasses Brown had left behind.
Ron Goldman’s sister, Kim Goldman, reflected on the verdict this week. “We never got justice,” she told KTLA’s Kimberly Cheng.
The case captured national attention even before the trial began, including when police pursued Simpson in a slow-speed chase on Los Angeles freeways in a white Ford Bronco before his arrest.
During the trial, prosecutors introduced DNA evidence linking Simpson to the murders. But the defense raised questions about whether Simpson had been framed, pointing to historic racial bias within the Los Angeles Police Department and the role of a lead investigator on the case. The trial came just three years after the beating of Rodney King by LAPD officers and the unrest that followed when distrust of the department was widespread.
Kim Goldman said she has since gained a broader perspective. “I understand it now,” she said. “I understand, you know, all these years later with the opportunity to talk to people and to have a real, deeper understanding of where Los Angeles was at that time in history.”
A turning point came when prosecutors asked Simpson to try on a bloody glove found at the crime scene; the glove, famously, appeared too small on Simpson’s hand. Defense attorney Johnnie Cochran seized on the moment with a line that became one of the most famous in courtroom history: “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.” The glove remains locked away today as part of the trial’s historical record.
Nathan Hochman of the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office noted that the case continues to be studied. “It’s been studied by professors, law students, and D.A. offices across the country — probably even around the world,” he said.
Kim Goldman acknowledged the impact of the trial’s legacy. “In some ways, I appreciate that people are studying this case, that people are still having meaningful conversations about how to change laws, how to impact conversations in the courtroom and outside of the courtroom, how it can impact domestic violence awareness,” she said.
Although Simpson was acquitted in criminal court, a separate civil jury in 1997 found him liable for the deaths and ordered him to pay more than $30 million to the families of Brown and Goldman.
According to Kim Goldman, that amount eventually grew to $140 million with interest, but the family was never able to collect. “It has stopped earning interest now that the killer has passed away,” she said.
Years after the trial, Simpson was convicted in an armed robbery at a Las Vegas hotel room and spent eight years in prison before being granted parole. He died last year at the age of 76.
Kimberly Cheng’s reporting contributed to this article.
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