OJ Simpson – Did he do it?

 

I wonder how many people outside American football fans know what the ‘O.J.’ stands for in Simpson’s name? He was born ‘Orenthal James’ in San Francisco in July 1947. His father was a well-known drag queen in San Francisco who separated from the boy’s mother in 1952. Mr. Simpson would later announce he was gay before dying from AIDS in 1986. OJ suffered from rickets and wore braces on his legs until he was five. He joined a street gang as a boy, but his prowess at football as a teenager earned him an athletic scholarship to the University of Southern California. As a footballer he was known as ‘the Juice’, a running back of exceptional skill and power, the first player in the NFL to ‘rush’ more than 2,000 yards in a season. He played eleven memorable seasons between the years 1969 and 1979, at first with the Buffalo Bills and later with the San Francisco 49ers. After retiring he went into movies and was quite successful there as well, yet in the end it all came to nothing. So what happened?

In 1994 he was charged with the stabbing murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her boyfriend Ronald Goldman. At 12.10 am on June 13, 1994 their bodies were found outside Nicole’s condominium in Brentwood, Los Angeles. They had been dead several hours. In 1995, amid universal dismay, Simpson was acquitted by a jury of both killings and allowed to go free. As if to publicly slam the acquittal, a civil court in 1997 awarded the families of the victims a $33.5 million judgment against him for their wrongful deaths. Simpson’s saga continued in 2007 when he was arrested in Las Vegas and ultimately convicted of armed robbery and kidnapping. In 2008 he was incarcerated for 33 years (a minimum of nine years without parole) and sent to the Lovelock Correctional Centre in Nevada.

OJ and Nicole

A lot has been written about OJ Simpson since then. Some of it might even be true. He was acquitted of the murders partly because the LAPD messed up the evidence, and partly because of the conduct of LAPD officers throughout the 90’s, and especially that of three years earlier with the Rodney King beating. African-American Mr. King was taped being pulled over for a traffic ticket and then being viciously assaulted by several LAPD police officers. That was bad enough, but then the LAPD Rampart Scandal of the late 1990s resulted in 70 officers being implicated in misconduct involving evidence planting, frame-ups, perjury, covering up of evidence and narcotics dealing. Over 100 prior convictions were consequently overturned.

Detective Mark Fuhrman on the stand

The LAPD had a deplorable record regarding minority groups and Detective Mark Fuhrman, the man who allegedly discovered a bloody glove behind OJ’s guest-house, tarnished that reputation even further. It emerged at the trial that he had been seen snooping around Simpson’s house without a warrant. The black glove was the lynchpin of the case against Simpson, yet it did not even fit his hand! Proof of his racist nature, his regular use of the word ‘nigger’ and his open hostility towards African-Americans were revealed on the stand, all of which cast doubt on his entire testimony and on the evidence he had supposedly accumulated. When asked under oath if he had ever used the word ‘nigger’ to describe African-Americans, he said ‘no’ four times. A tape was then played in which he clearly used the word forty times. To every question asked of him by the defense attorney after that he declined to answer, standing on the 5th Amendment every time. He was convicted of perjury and it would be reasonable to say that the prosecution’s case went down the drain with him. Many people, including the jury, felt he could have planted the gloveto strengthen the case against Simpson.

OJ tries on the gloves – a pivotal moment

But Fuhrman wasn’t the only problem. The DNA evidence which looked so strong at the outset of the trial was eventually shown to be tainted – all of it – simply because the chemical EDTA, (used in the lab to preserve blood samples and prevent them from clotting), appeared on every item. All because of shoddy police work. Doubt, serious doubt, on its authenticity was cast. Similarly, ‘chain of custody’ of most of the blood samples had been broken more than once. The prosecution could not account for the whereabouts of all the samples between the day of the murders and the commencement of the trial. This is a basic requirement and the LAPD blew it. Consequently, the possibility that a shady police officer may have switched or tampered with them arose. The FBI forensic expert was accused by a colleague of fabricating evidence to make Simpson appear guilty! A tape was played at the trial in which the lead detective admitted planting evidence. The police were caught planting blood-soaked socks. They showed a photograph of Simpson’s left hand with a cut to one of its fingers; but then argued he was wearing gloves during the killings. There was no cut on the glove! Goldman’s hands were swollen and bruised, indicative of him being able to land some heavy blows on his assailant before he died. Simpson stripped naked and was examined for evidence of having been punched. No such evidence was found anywhere on his body!

Simpson’s cut finger

The prosecution struggled to produce a motive for the killings. Why would a man with a 25 year-old beautiful girlfriend (Paula Barbieri) slaughter his 35 year-old, drug-addicted ex-wife and her boyfriend on the doorstep of her home where his children might have seen him do it? It made no sense. However, it is believed that Paula left a 30 minute message for Simpson on the morning of the murders, telling him she was leaving him for singer Michael Bolton. OJ has maintained he never got that message. But what if he had? How would it have affected his mind-set? In a later interview Miss Barbieri muddied the waters even more by stating that she broke up with him after his acquittal.

Paula Barbieri

And what about the second set of unidentified footprints at the murder scene? They were not a match in size for Simpson’s. It still remains a mystery regarding just who made them. There was a large amount of OJ’s blood found all over the murder scene, yet no injury was discovered on his body that could possibly account for such a quantity of blood. So how did it get there? Could it have been planted? No murder weapon was ever found either. Neither were any blood-soaked clothes belonging to the accused.

Simpson claimed he was at home practicing his golf swing at the time the murders were committed. Despite the police altering the time of death a number of times in an attempt to connect his whereabouts to it, they were never able to establish a time-line to prove it. The prosecutor claimed that OJ had a history of beating Nicole. She was said to have written about his violence in her diary, even recording fears for her life. Maybe he did beat her, but he was never charged, arrested or convicted of doing so, and that was in a state where police policy was to search thoroughly for even the slightest evidence of this whenever they were called to domestic disputes.

Nicole’s drug habit, past and present, suggested to some that she and Goldman may have been professionally ‘hit’ by drug dealers. The killings, they say, were not the work of an amateur or a love-crazed jealous husband. Goldman, for instance, a 7th degree black belt, had an artery in his leg and a nerve severed prior to death. Nicole had been given what appeared to be a classical Colombian necktie. Furthermore, Goldman’s best friend Brett Cantor had suffered a similar fate just a year earlier. Nicole was known to have frequented the nightclub where he worked. Michael Nigg, another friend, had his throat slashed and had been shot in the head four years ago. A co-worker’s car had been blown up and two others had gone missing. All of these people were believed to have been involved in the drug trade one way or another.

Ron Goldman – the forgotten man

Another fascinating possibility exists, albeit an unproven one. Simpson’s son Jason had a history of knife crime. In fact, he was taught knife combat at the army and naval academies. A photograph exists showing him wearing a dark-colored knit cap, just like the one found at the murder scene. The cap at the scene bore African-American hairs as well as dog hairs. Jason had a dog. It is visible in that same photograph. Investigators found skin and blood under Nicole’s fingernails that did not match OJ’s. Is it possible that OJ saw what happened (or arrived soon afterwards), and knew (or suspected) that his son was involved? Is it possible he took off in his Bronco to give the appearance of guilt, to draw attention to himself? Was Jason questioned and eliminated as a possible suspect, or was he never under suspicion? There also exists a photograph taken at the instant OJ was pronounced innocent of murder. Jason’s response to the verdict is in direct contrast to that of other family members alongside him. Why?

Jason Simpson in court as the verdict is read

In what could be described as one of the great casting ironies in the history of the American Cinema, OJ Simpson missed out on portraying The Terminator in the 1984 blockbuster movie of that name because the producers considered him to be ‘too nice to be taken seriously as a cold-blooded killer.’ Three years after his acquittal he appeared on The Ruby Wax Show where he surprised his host at the end of the show by pretending to stab her with a banana while mimicking the music from the 1960 thriller Psycho! She believed it was his sick idea of a joke! Miss Wax has since publicly called him a murderer on television. If he didn’t commit the murders he was fast becoming his own worst enemy with thoughtless actions like that.

The world in general has pretty much condemned the jury that acquitted Simpson as being either corrupt, cowardly or incredibly stupid, (even all three), but what else could they have done, given the prosecution’s abysmal handling of the case? Many critics consider their verdict to be an indictment of the jury system in the USA, but I disagree. It was more an indictment of sloppy, biased, possibly corrupt police procedures, compounded by legal ineptitude. If anything, the verdict they handed down endorsed the jury system, for no-one should be convicted on evidence as shoddily presented as that in the Simpson case. Did he do it? I honestly don’t know. I thought I did until I delved deeper into his farcical trial. Like most people, I suppose if pushed I would say, ‘yes, he did it’, but there remains that nagging doubt. And doesn’t the law insist on proof of guilt ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’? The bottom line is that investigators have an obligation to do their jobs correctly if they wish to get a conviction. In the case of OJ Simpson that simply did not happen.

16 Comments

  1. My boyfriend is mine again after 2 months of breakup, Greatly appreciated. …………………………………………

  2. Really interested in your “take” on something been thinking about for decades; that’s, kinda, sorta, related in one particular way to Simpson , race – Noticed as an LA native, with no active part, that the entertainment industry usually “crowns” only one (seldom two) black men & women per decade. Noticed, again for decades, these entertainers seem to “self-destruct” to a much higher percentage of, say, their white peers. Do you think I’m totally “off base” in my assumption?

    Reason asked is the recent Will Smith “dust-up” at the Academy Awards. This is a man who has been a respected member of the entertainment community for decades. Exactly like Simpson, publicly perceived as “A Good Guy, Likable Personality”… I have no delusions as to media created public personas, but how does someone in that rarified atmosphere attend the industries most prestigious annual event, & nominated for a best Actor Oscar, physically assault a fellow performer in front of millions of people & then not immediately leave being immensely ashamed & embarrassed by their behavior? To then show up, less than two hours afterwards, at the Vanity Fair party acting as if he “owned the room”…. No shame, no acknowledgment of his major transgression…. EXACTLY as I saw OJ in that jury room… Not a care in the world…..they’ve done nothing wrong.

    What is it about Hollywood that seems to “produce” such individuals? Does the massive fame, wealth, fawning public, etc., so warp a normal person’s mental balance that it’s inevitable? And why does it seem to me that a disproportionately higher percentage seem to be black entertainers?

    This is NOT a political, racial or any way discriminatory question. You’ve got a generation’s “ahead-of-me” perspective as well as vastly more “Hollywood” knowledge than I. Any clue as to why someone like Smith would “explode” so unnecessarily like that, knowing the consequences?

  3. I have another take on your premise the verdict was politically motivated – Born in LA & was lucky enough to pleasure travel 4 continents by age 16…. Been around & not impressed by fame, wealth, appearance, etc. If you’re famous & an arrogant jerk, you’re just a famous arrogant jerk in my book.

    I think the verdict was based on “stardust” in the jury’s eyes. OJ’s celebrity status got him off is my sincere take. Do you think if OJ was a non-famous (black) person he would have been acquitted? Internet was new when this occurred & read then crime scene photos posted, with bodies “in situ” on the internet…… Read Nicole’s head was nearly decapitated along with implants removed…. Declined to view…These gruesome murders speak to me of a passionate homicidal rage & a jury “blinded” by OJ’s celebrity status.

    So glad your website is back up, was worried about you!

    • The more I think about it, Matt, I am inclined to agree with you. Jurors are a funny lot. Easily star-struck. History tells us they let an obviously guilty Errol Flynn off those sex offences with minors, and I doubt very much if Lana Turner’s daughter Cheryl killed her mum’s gangster boyfriend. Lana batted her eyes, wept a little and everyone fell for it. We in Australia have no real idea just how famous (and loved) OJ Simpson was. The guy was a demi-God to a lot of people. And he knew how to play on it. I appreciate your concern, mate. Whenever I don’t hear from someone for a week or two, I start wondering if COVID’s got ’em! Take care.

  4. In the late ’70s to mid ’80s while walking on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills immediately recognized OJ Simpson in a top down Rolls Corniche stopped in front of private club “The Daisy” talking to someone seated on the outdoor patio. Immediate impression? ‘Narcissist’ demanding everyone’s attention. Seated next to him was a breathtaking beautiful blond, whom I later realized was Nicole….

    Had a bad feeling about the pair. OJ essentially demanding everyone’s attention & Nicole looked as if she wanted to melt into the floorboards. She was hunch down as low as possible & as far away from OJ as possible. Only remember 2 occasions where I had a “Danger, Will Robinson” celebrity couples encounters. This was the first; the second was Robert Pastorelli & Charemon Jonovich….

    Believe it or not, actually knew OJ stood for Orenthal James. Recall him way back when. His dulcet vocal tones were due to diction lessons. He originally spoke like the San Francisco version of Sylvester Stallone in “Rocky”; which was how Stallone actually spoke, until he too took diction lessons. Your post listed vast incompetence on the part of the LAPD hadn’t heard before. Not really a surprise… Some of the interesting scuttlebutt I’d come across that was seldom reported. OJ reportedly met Nicole at “The Daisy”, where she then worked. Allegedly the waitstaff was of the “private hire” (if you get my drift) variety – Aaron Spelling was also rumored to have met future wife Candy at The Daisy, where she then worked….

    The reason the infamous gloves didn’t fit was because they’d shrunk from being wet outdoors AND it was later determined OJ had stopped taking some kind of medication (anti-arthritic?) which made his hands swell up. On the stand Simpson stated he’d never worn “ugly-ass” Bruno Magli shoes whose tread pattern was found at the crime scene (in blood). After his acquittal (surprise, surprise) photos found of Simpson wearing Bruno Magli shoes with that tread pattern.. Also seem to recall video of Robert Kardashian taking a suitcase from Simpson & leaving with it when all this was unfolding. Later speculation was Kardashian was removing the murder weapon.. Had an in the know friend who lived in Chicago. He relayed that the hotel Simpson was staying at was in a bad area & one you could rent rooms by the hour. That was the location Simpson stated he got the cut on his hand from a broken water glass… Also read Simpson’s Brentwood estate was “sanitized” in that all the white celebrity photos normally found everywhere were removed & only Black family & friend’s photos were viewed by the jury during their inspection.

    Irrespective of my “bad taste” Rodeo Drive encounter, my verdict? He did it – Based solely on reading that the killer cut out Nicole’s breast implants. Read OJ was fond of publicly grabbing Nicole’s breasts & announcing to all & sundry present “I paid for these”. This killing was personal – whom else would take the time, or have the motivation, to cut out a woman’s implants? Son Jason, hardly likely.

    Cherry on the cake summary? Called for jury duty & was part of the pool interviewed for prospective jurors of Simpson’s trial…. I saw Simpson & his “Dream Team” up close & personal while this was unfolding. From my observations in that room, one would think Simpson was at an autograph convention of rabid fans. All smiles & glad-handing everyone present. Such was his psychopathic personality –

    In the late ’70s to mid ’80s while walking on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills immediately recognized OJ Simpson in a top down Rolls Corniche stopped in front of private club “The Daisy” talking to someone seated on the outdoor patio. Immediate impression? ‘Narcissist’ demanding everyone’s attention. Seated next to him was a breathtaking beautiful blond, whom I later realized was Nicole….

    Had a bad feeling about the pair. OJ essentially demanding everyone’s attention & Nicole looked as if she wanted to melt into the floorboards. She was hunch down as low as possible & as far away from OJ as possible. Only remember 2 occasions where I had a “Danger, Will Robinson” celebrity couples encounters. This was the first; the second was Robert Pastorelli & Charemon Jonovich….

    Believe it or not, I actually knew OJ stood for Orenthal James. Recall him way back when. His dulcet vocal tones were due to diction lessons. He originally spoke like the San Francisco version of Sylvester Stallone in “Rocky”; which was how Stallone actually spoke, until he too took diction lessons. Your post listed vast incompetence on the part of the LAPD hadn’t heard before. Not really a surprise… Some of the interesting scuttlebutt I’d come across that was seldom reported. OJ reportedly met Nicole at “The Daisy”, where she then worked. Allegedly the waitstaff was of the “private hire” (if you get my drift) variety – Aaron Spelling was also rumored to have met future wife Candy at The Daisy, where she then worked….

    The reason the infamous gloves didn’t fit was because they’d shrunk from being wet outdoors AND it was later determined OJ had stopped taking some kind of medication (anti-arthritic?) which made his hands swell up. On the stand Simpson stated he’d never worn “ugly-ass” Bruno Magli shoes whose tread pattern was found at the crime scene (in blood). After his acquittal (surprise, surprise) photos were found of Simpson wearing Bruno Malgi shoes with that tread pattern.. Also seem to recall video of Robert Kardashian taking a suitcase from Simpson & leaving with it when all this was unfolding. Later speculation was Kardashian was removing the murder wepon.. Had an in the know friend who lived in Chicago. He relayed that the hotel Simpson was staying at was in a bad area & one you could rent rooms by the hour. That was the location Simpson stated he got the cut on his hand from a broken water glass… Also read Simpson’s Brentwood estate was “sanitized” in that all the white celebrity photos normally found everywhere were removed & only Black family & friends photos were viewed by the jury during their inspection.

    Irrespective of my “bad taste” Rodeo Drive encounter, my verdict? He did it – Based solely on reading that the killer cut out Nicole’s breast implants. Read OJ was fond of publicly grabbing Nicole’s breasts & announcing to all & sundry present “I paid for these”. This killing was personal – whom else would take the time, or have the motivation , to cut out a woman’s implants?

    Cherry on the cake summary? Called for jury duty & was part of the pool interviewed for prospective jurors of Simpson’s trial…. I saw Simpson & his “Dream Team” up close & personal while this was unfolding. From my observations in that room, one would think Simpson was at an autograph convention of rabid fans. All smiles & glad-handing everyone present. Such was his psychopathic personality –

    • As I have come to expect, Matt, another fascinating insight. If ever a verdict was handed down for political reasons, this one must surely be the most blatant example. I was unaware of the mutilation to Nicole’s body. How awful. No doubt any previous comments regarding his utterances about her implants were suppressed at the trial. Inadmissable? Probably. Thankyou again for your most interesting note.

  5. “OJ Simpson – Did he do it?” Yes he did. S. Allen said it right. He was good boy. The cops love him. They would have never arrested him. He live a white life. Until the trial than he became a black man. OJ said at one time that it would have taken 2 people?? I guess he would know because he did it. I have no doubt. It cost him $50,000 a day and playing the race card to get off. It does look like the son knew something?
    Sorry but this was a good article about OJ. I thought I would learn something new but no.

    • Thank you for your comments. My apologies if I gave the impression that I was about to solve the murders. All my piece aimed at doing was to try to understand how the jury arrived at the verdict it did. There HAD to be conflicting evidence presented in a slip-shod fashion. And there was.

  6. Kato Kaelin. Remember him, OJ’s “house boy?”
    Lots of stuff on internet about him: interviews, court appearances
    during trial. He’s 57 yrs.; has said he thinks OJ did it, but can’t
    prove it. If interested, Kato Kaelin will get you there.

  7. I remember this case well, and thought Simpson guilty based on DNA.
    Was what you have posted brought out at the time? I didn’t follow
    closely.
    At the time of murder, I recall Brown and Goldman were presented as
    friends only. He stopped at her house to return glasses she left at
    restaurant. I think OJ was involved w/ drugs. As to 911 domestic
    abuse calls w/out consequences, perhaps NBS didn’t press charges,
    police weren’t obligated to do anything more, and OJ used his fame
    to “call of the dogs.” [An old 911 call was played, and after NBS gave
    husband’s name, she said something like, ‘I’m sure you know who he is.] What a mess!!

    Anyway, Mark Fuhrman, along w/ others, including prosecutor,
    did Simpson a great favor because of all around sloppiness, etc. etc.

    • Pretty much everyone believes he did it and that the prosecution blew the ‘unloseable case’. I know there was a lot of talk about the expected African-American riots should he be convicted, so were the jury members a little bit relieved when the prosecution and LAPD bungles let them off the hook? Maybe, on his deathbed he will come clean.

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