30 years on, OJ Simpson’s acquittal in Nicole Brown Simpson, Ron Goldman murders still haunts

Thirty years have passed since the verdict landed, and the case still will not let go. On October 3, 1995, O.J. Simpson was acquitted in the double homicides of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ron Goldman. The murders themselves remain unsolved, according to abcnews.com. The trial was so large it earned a name — the “Trial of the Century” — and its shadow has only lengthened with time.

Nicole Brown Simpson, 35, and Ron Goldman, 25, were found stabbed to death at her Brentwood, Los Angeles home around midnight on June 12, 1994. abcnews.com reported that Goldman, a waiter at a restaurant where Brown Simpson and her family had dined that night, had gone to her home to return glasses her mother had left behind.

Simpson was in Los Angeles that evening but took a late flight to Chicago. When he returned the next day, police interviewed him, but he was not immediately arrested, abcnews.com reported.

The case turned television into a shared national experience. On June 17, 1994, prosecutors ordered Simpson to surrender, but instead he fled in a white Ford Bronco driven by his friend Al Cowlings, according to abcnews.com. Police followed in a slow-speed chase that was broadcast live. Millions watched a celebrated sports figure become the focus of a criminal investigation.

Simpson eventually surrendered and pleaded not guilty. His criminal trial began in January 1995. Prosecutors argued that forensic evidence connected him to the killings, according to timesofindia.indiatimes.com. His defense team challenged the evidence and raised questions about the police investigation, including the conduct of detective Mark Fuhrman.

Fuhrman, a retired LAPD detective, played a critical role in the investigation, according to ew.com. He had responded to a domestic violence call involving the couple in 1985, which resulted in Simpson’s 1989 arrest for spousal abuse, ew.com reported. He became a pivotal figure in the prosecution’s case, but it backfired when the defense produced the so-called “Fuhrman Tapes” — recordings documenting Fuhrman’s aggressive and long-held racist beliefs, ew.com reported.

Because Fuhrman had declared under oath that he had never used the n-word while on the force, he was convicted on perjury charges, making him the only individual involved with the Simpson trial to be convicted on criminal charges, according to ew.com.