Current location:Global Glean news portal > entertainment
O.J. Simpson, football star turned celebrity murder defendant, dies at 76
Global Glean news portal2024-05-21 08:20:41【entertainment】1People 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
- 'The Apprentice,' about a young Donald Trump, premieres in Cannes
- Sophie Duchess of Edinburgh beams as she leaves private members club with friends in Mayfair
- Iowa facility that mistreated residents with intellectual disabilities nears closure
- Dramatic moment cruise passenger is airlifted from 1,000ft Carnival Venezia in 'life
- Iran helicopter crash that killed President Raisi could reverberate across the Middle East
- Wednesday begins production on season 2 with star
- Edmunds: Trade or sell your car? What's best might surprise you
- Jean Smart reveals Harry Styles' cheeky 'hack' for checking into hotels undercover
- Shooting injures 2 at Missouri high school graduation ceremony
- How Kim Kardashian's breathtaking silver corset proves the dangerous centuries
Popular articles
- Verona confirms Serie A status for another year after beating Salernitana
- Nicaragua cancels a controversial Chinese interoceanic canal concession after nearly a decade
- Lionel Messi's Inter Miami named the 18th
- Travis Kelce called out for being 'corny' over reaction to romance with Taylor Swift by Jana Kramer
Recommended
Tom Brady and Jay
Georgia lawmakers vowed to restrain tax breaks. But the governor's veto saved a data
Nicaragua cancels a controversial Chinese interoceanic canal concession after nearly a decade
Algeria's leader demands justice over French colonial
Saudi Arabia is going to sponsor the WTA women's tennis rankings under a new partnership
Brayan Rocchio's RBI hit in the 10th gives the Guardians a 5
New lawsuit renews challenge to Tennessee laws targeting crossover voting in primary elections
Retired pro wrestler who ran twice for Congress pleads not guilty in Las Vegas murder case
Links
- China floods: Beijing records heaviest rainfall in at least 140 years
- Judge rejects Trump free speech challenge to Georgia 2020 election case
- Concorde makes journey along New York's Hudson River
- VOX POPULI: Voters won’t forget ‘politics of oblivion’ in the next election
- VOX POPULI: Nikkei index soars but real economy still feels sluggish
- Russia's presidential vote starts final day with accusations of Kyiv sabotage
- How homeowners are responding to huge insurance premium hikes
- US China updates: Beijing sanctions Lockheed Martin, Raytheon for Taiwan sales
- Concorde makes journey along New York's Hudson River
- Man almost loses leg to sepsis after cut to back of head with barber’s clippers