Current location:Stellar Space news portal > politics
O.J. Simpson, football star turned celebrity murder defendant, dies at 76
Stellar Space news portal2024-05-21 16:20:15【politics】5People 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
- Storms damage homes in Oklahoma and Kansas. But in Houston, most power is restored
- Cruise ship industry poised for new golden era
- Xi Calls on Returned Scholars Association to Pool Talent, Strengths for Development
- Xi Focus: Key Takeaways from Xi's Meetings with Foreign Guests
- Company wins court ruling to continue development of Michigan factory serving EV industry
- Healthgen embraces biotech breakthrough
- China's auto exports cruising in top gear
- Theatrical play in Athens unveils life after cancer
- Here comes the char
- Local Spring festival Sechselauten held in Zurich, Switzerland
Popular articles
Recommended
Yvette Fielding says her Most Haunted co
Huawei Indonesia opens 5G center to boost digital transformation technologies
Healthgen embraces biotech breakthrough
Fueled by visa
Strictly star Giovanni Pernice's former partner Rose Ayling
China's securities regulator tightens delisting regulation
Xinjiang leads growth in express deliveries
Country set to step up R&D of future
Links
- CBS says its daytime show 'The Talk' will end its run in December after 15 seasons
- April 8 solar eclipse: What you need to know before you watch
- 'Monkey Man' review: Dev Patel's film is a political allegory bathed in blood
- 2025 Oscars: Academy Awards announces March 2 date
- Book Review: Hampton Sides revisits Captain James Cook, a divisive figure in the South Pacific
- SpaceX launches 4 astronauts to the ISS for a 6
- Making cement is very damaging for the climate. One solution is opening in California
- 'Civil War' review: A haunting portrait of a crumbling United States
- Movie Review: ‘STEVE! (martin)’ looks at past, present in a lovely, intimate 2
- If you're retired or about to retire, think carefully about your tax strategy