O.J. Simpson Verdict, October 3, 1995: How the Trial Ended

The O.J. Simpson verdict was read at 10:07 a.m. Pacific time on October 3, 1995: not guilty of murdering Nicole Brown Simpson and not guilty of murdering Ronald Goldman. The jury had deliberated for about four hours after a trial that opened on January 24, 1995. History.com estimates that 150 million Americans watched on television or listened on the radio.

The Not Guilty Verdict on October 3, 1995

The jurors finished their work on the afternoon of October 2, but Judge Lance Ito held the announcement until the following morning. When a court clerk read the two verdicts, Simpson was standing and facing the jury.

Across the country, offices, schools and stores stopped to watch or listen. Long-distance telephone volume reportedly dropped 58 percent while the verdict was read, and trading volume on the New York Stock Exchange fell 41 percent. One estimate put the cost of lost work at $480 million.

The Killings and the Chase That Led to Court

Nicole Brown Simpson, Simpson’s former wife, and her friend Ronald Goldman were stabbed to death outside her Los Angeles condominium on the night of June 12, 1994. Simpson, a former football star, became the focus of the investigation within days.

On June 17, 1994, instead of surrendering as arranged, he rode in a white Ford Bronco that police followed at low speed along Southern California freeways. Networks broke into Game 5 of the NBA Finals to show the chase, and around 95 million people watched it unfold.

Twelve jurors and twelve alternates were seated on November 3, 1994. Ten original jurors were dismissed during the trial, and the final panel had ten women and two men: nine Black jurors, two white jurors and one Hispanic juror.

Inside the Trial of the Century

Prosecutors Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden built their case on two pillars. The first was a history of domestic violence that they said showed motive. The second was physical evidence, including 108 exhibits and 61 drops of blood that they said linked Simpson to the scene through DNA testing.

The defense, led in its final phase by Johnnie Cochran, did not need to prove another suspect. It argued that the Los Angeles Police Department had mishandled the evidence and that the prosecution had not proved guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Court TV carried much of the trial live through a single remote-controlled camera, so millions of viewers followed the testimony day by day.

The Glove Demonstration

On June 15, 1995, Darden asked Simpson to put on the leather gloves found at the crime scene and at his home. Lead prosecutor Marcia Clark reportedly opposed the idea. Simpson struggled to pull the gloves past his knuckles while the jury watched. Cochran later turned the moment into the rhyme “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit,” which he repeated in his closing argument.

The Detective Mark Fuhrman Tapes

Detective Mark Fuhrman testified that he found the second glove on Simpson’s property. The defense then produced audio recordings in which Fuhrman used a racial slur, after he had testified that he had not used the word in the previous ten years. Judge Ito allowed jurors to hear portions of the tapes. On September 6, 1995, Fuhrman returned to the stand and invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, including when asked whether he had planted or manufactured evidence.

Timeline of the Simpson Case

Date	Event
June 12, 1994	Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman are killed
June 17, 1994	Simpson fails to surrender; white Bronco chase
November 3, 1994	Jury and alternates seated
January 24, 1995	Opening statements begin
June 15, 1995	Glove demonstration in court
September 6, 1995	Fuhrman invokes the Fifth Amendment
October 3, 1995	Not guilty verdicts read
February 4, 1997	Civil jury finds Simpson liable

How Americans Reacted to the Simpson Verdict

The reaction split sharply, and much of the division followed racial lines. A Los Angeles County poll found that most Black respondents considered the verdict justified, while most white respondents believed the jury had acquitted for reasons other than the evidence. Commentators tied the defense’s success to long-standing distrust of the LAPD among many Black residents of Los Angeles.

Views did not stay fixed. In polling in later years, more than half of Black respondents said they believed Simpson was guilty. The case remained a reference point in debates about policing, race, celebrity justice and cameras in the courtroom. From 1994 to 1997 it filled 2,237 news segments.

The Civil Trial, Las Vegas and Simpson’s Death

The Goldman and Brown families sued Simpson for wrongful death. On February 4, 1997, a civil jury found him responsible for both deaths under the lower civil standard of a preponderance of the evidence, and he was ordered to pay $33.5 million in compensatory and punitive damages. The families collected little of it. The 1997 calendar shows how that verdict landed just over 16 months after the criminal acquittal.

On October 3, 2008, exactly 13 years after his acquittal, a Las Vegas jury convicted Simpson of 12 charges, including armed robbery and kidnapping, over a 2007 confrontation with sports memorabilia dealers in a hotel room. He received a sentence of up to 33 years and was paroled on October 1, 2017. Simpson died of cancer in Las Vegas on April 10, 2024, at age 76.

To see where the trial’s key dates fell, open the full 1995 calendar or measure the gap between the killings and the verdict with the days between dates calculator. The same year also brought the Oklahoma City bombing, which dominated national news in the spring while the trial was underway.