Pleading not guilty to the murders of ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman, which occurred on June 12, 1994, Simpson hired a "dream team" defense, which included lead attorney Robert Shapiro Robert Leslie Shapiro is an American civil litigator, cofounder of RightCounsel.com, and senior partner in the Los Angeles-based law firm Glaser Weil Fink Jacobs Howard Avchen & Shapiro, LLP. He is most recognized for being part of the Dream Team that successfully defended O. J. Simpson i… Johnnie Lee Cochran, Jr., J.D., B.A. was a high-profile lawyer and civil activist best known for his leadership role in the defense and criminal acquittal of O.J. Simpson for the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. He defended his client with rhymes lik…Robert Shapiro
Johnnie Cochran
The attorneys representing Simpson, known as the “Dream Team,” included F. Lee Bailey, Robert Blasier, Shawn Chapman Holley, Robert Shapiro, and Alan Dershowitz; Johnnie Cochran later became the defense team's lead attorney.
Famed attorney F. Lee Bailey, who defended O.J. Simpson, dies at age 87. F. Lee Bailey, the flamboyant defense lawyer best known for his key role in O.J.
O.J. Simpson (centre) and his attorneys F. Lee Bailey (left) and Johnnie Cochran reacting to the not-guilty verdict at Simpson's criminal trial, October 3, 1995.
Given that during the trial, Simpson was represented by at least 10 attorneys, if you do the math ($500,000 x 10), you get a similar estimate: about $5 million. The $5 million estimate was confirmed during the Simpson civil trial three years later.
The O.J. Simpson case is costing Los Angeles County taxpayers about $800,000 a month; the total as of April 30 had reached $4.99 million--a number that is expected to double by the time the trial is completed, perhaps in September.
Simpson assembled a legal "dream team" of lawyers that reportedly cost him an estimated $50,000 a day, which Simpson reportedly paid for in part by selling football memorabilia. The dream team was headed by Johnnie Cochran along with Robert Kardashian, Robert Shapiro, Barry Scheck, Alan Dershowitz and F. Lee Bailey.
In the two decades since the trial, several members of the Dream Team have passed away, while other key lawyers have left the legal profession entirely. Some, like Alan Dershowitz, remain fixtures in the political scene. Simpson himself later did jail time for armed robbery.
Alcohol seemed to be one of Bailey's weaknesses. The first lines of his 1975 memoir read, "Heavy trials make me thirsty." Ignoring his friends advice to cut back, Bailey claimed that "it's my fuel." Bailey's lust for the spotlight made the Simpson trial quite enticing.
The O.J. Simpson trial was the criminal trial in which former gridiron football star O.J. Simpson was tried for the 1994 murder of his ex-wife Nico...
The attorneys representing O.J. Simpson included F. Lee Bailey, Robert Blasier, Shawn Chapman Holley, Robert Shapiro, and Alan Dershowitz. Johnnie...
On October 2, 1995, the jury for the O.J. Simpson trial began deliberating, and its members reached a verdict in less than four hours. Judge Lance...
After O.J. Simpson's 1995 trial, which was a criminal case, the victims’ families sued Simpson for wrongful death. The civil trial began in October...
Following the Simpson circus, defense attorney Johnnie Cochran, he of the famous phrase “If it doesn’t fit you must acquit," went on to represent Haitian immigrant Abner Louima, winning him an $8.75 million settlement in his police brutality case against New York City.
Of the defense "Dream Team" of Johnnie Cochran, Robert Kardashian, Robert Shapiro and F. Lee Bailey, only two are still alive.
Clark is working on the third installment in her book series, “Guilt By Ambition,” and there is talk of turning the novels into a television series.
On June 12, 1994, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman were found stabbed to death outside Nicole's condo in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles. Simpson was a person of interest in their murders. Simpson did not turn himself in, and on June 17 he became the object of a low-speed pursuit by police while riding as a passenger in the white 1993 Ford Bronco SUV owned and driven by his longtime friend Al Cowlings. TV stations interrupted coverage of the 1994 NBA Finals to broadcast the incident live. With an estimated audience of 95 million people, the event was described as "the most famous ride on American shores since Paul Revere 's".
Orenthal James Simpson (born July 9, 1947), nicknamed " The Juice ", is an American former football running back, broadcaster, actor, advertising spokesman, and convicted felon. Once a popular figure with the U.S. public, he is now best known for being tried for the murders of his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman.
To the millennial people, Robert Kardashian is now famous as the father of celebrities and global heartthrobs Kim, Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian. But the 90’s saw him as a celebrity on his own right. He began his career in the late 1960s as a lawyer.
It was around 1973 that he met O.J. Simpson, a football star of that time, and developed a friendship. The friendship soon turned into a professional relationship, with the two setting up a music video company and a frozen yogurt shop and hiring criminal defense attorney.
Following Simpson’s acquittal, the relationship between the two once-close friends soured. In 1996, Robert Kardashian mentioned to ABC News that he was suspicious of the innocence of Simpson. He clearly said that he had doubts with the blood evidence.
After prosecutor Darden made the mistake of demanding Simpson try on the ill-fitted bloody gloves, Cochran uttered the famous phrase: "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit.".
After losing the Simpson case, Clark resigned from the L.A. District Attorney's office.
However, the blow that removed Shapiro from his lead status was when Cochran won Simpson's favor by visiting him in jail — something Shapiro preferred not to do with any of his clients. Once Cochran took over as lead counsel, Shapiro was vocally critical and attempted to distance himself from his team's chosen strategies. He would later tell Barbara Walters that "not only did we play the race card, we dealt it from the bottom of the deck."
Although Darden floundered at the start of the trial and was purportedly intimidated by Cochran, he gained momentum as events progressed. However, he made a consequential mistake when he demanded that Simpson try on the infamous bloody gloves, which ended up being too small for the accused's hands.
Having moved up the legal ranks in L.A.'s criminal division, Cochran went on to represent some of the biggest names in Hollywood, including Michael Jackson and James Brown. In 1994, he was considered one of the best trial lawyers in the nation, and it was Simpson himself who asked Shapiro to bring Cochran onto the team.
Pleading not guilty to the murders of ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman, which occurred on June 12, 1994, Simpson hired a "dream team" defense, which included lead attorney Robert Shapiro, Johnnie Cochran (who later took over as lead counsel), F. Lee Bailey, Barry Scheck, Robert Kardashian and Alan Dershowitz.
On the prosecution side, Marcia Clark served as lead counsel, supported by Christopher Darden. Lasting close to a year, the trial and the events surrounding it were considered the most publicized events the world had ever seen. To many, it became a media circus full of colorful characters, opportunists and courtroom dysfunction ...
From an original jury pool of 40 percent white, 28 percent black, 17 percent Hispanic, and 15 percent Asian, the final jury for the trial had ten women and two men, of whom nine were black, two white and one Hispanic. The jury was sequestered for 265 days, the most in American history.
J. Simpson was tried and acquitted for the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald "Ron" Goldman.
Fears grew that race riots, similar to the riots in 1992, would erupt across Los Angeles and the rest of the country if Simpson were convicted of the murders. As a result, all Los Angeles police officers were put on 12-hour shifts. The police arranged for more than 100 police officers on horseback to surround the Los Angeles County courthouse on the day the verdict was announced, in case of rioting by the crowd. President Bill Clinton was briefed on security measures if rioting were to occur nationwide.
The two lead prosecutors were Deputy District Attorneys Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden. Clark was designated as the lead prosecutor and Darden became Clark's co-counsel. Prosecutors Hank Goldberg and William Hodgman, who have successfully prosecuted high-profile cases in the past, assisted Clark and Darden. Two prosecutors who were DNA experts, Rockne Harmon and George "Woody" Clarke, were brought in to present the DNA evidence in the case and were assisted by Prosecutor Lisa Kahn.
Alternative theories of the murders, supposedly shared by Simpson, have suggested they were related to the Los Angeles drug trade, and that Michael Nigg, a friend and co-worker of Goldman, was murdered as well. Simpson himself has stated in numerous interviews that he believes the two had been killed over their involvement in drug dealing in the area, and that other murders at the time were carried out for the same reason. Brown, Simpson believed, had been planning to open a restaurant using proceeds from cocaine sales. Mezzaluna was reportedly a nexus for drug trafficking in Brentwood.
The OJ Simpson case was called the Case of the Century. It has spawned movies, television series, books, documentaries and even a “novel” from Simpson himself called If I Did It.
Speaking of the murder weapon, the National Enquirer ran a story in 2012 that OJ Simpson actually kept the murder weapon, which is believed to have been a six-inch German stiletto knife.
The wounds to Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goodman were brutal. When Nicole’s body was discovered outside her house, her neck wound was so extreme that it exposed her larynx and cut all the way into the spine. Goldman was stabbed multiple times in his chest, abdomen and thigh. Nicole Predicted OJ Would Murder Her.
After sitting empty for two years, it was sold for just $200,000 – way off market value for the neighborhood. The new owners extensively remodeled the home and changed the street number in order to deter tourists. In 2006, their investment paid off when the condo sold for $1.72 million.
Sources say OJ went back to Nicole’s condo at 875 S. Bundy Drive just a month after he was found not guilty of the double homicide. OJ Wanted an Alibi. Kato Kaelin testified at the Simpson trial. Kato Kaelin became famous for being a guest who lived in OJ’s pool house.
In the car were extra clothes, his passport, a fake beard, nearly $8,000 in cash, and a loaded .357 Magnum.
Nicole Simpson’s Diaries. Nicole tracked the times OJ beat her. By now we all know that Nicole Brown Simpson had called the police due to beatings by OJ Simpson. However, she also wrote about the domestic violence she experienced at his hand.
Although the details are vague, The Los Angeles Times reported that Simpson was arrested at age 16. According to Simpson himself it was for "fighting," while friends claim the arrest was for stealing beer. Simpson spent the weekend in a juvenile detention center.
Five days after the murders of Brown Simpson and Goldman, Simpson was arrested for first degree murder. As reported by The Los Angeles Times, it was no ordinary arrest — LAPD officials called Simpson's attorney, Robert Shapiro, at 8:30 a.m. and asked him to surrender his client by 11:00 a.m.
The Orlando Sentinel reported that Simpson was arrested on July 4, 2002 for speeding on his powerboat through a manatee zone. The case wrapped up in November when Simpson paid a $130 fine for the incident.
CBS News reported that Simpson was arrested at The Palms in Las Vegas on Sept. 16, 2007. He was charged with armed robbery, assault, and conspiracy and held without bail.
Orenthal James Simpson (born July 9, 1947), nicknamed "Juice", is an American former football running back, broadcaster, actor, and advertising spokesman. Once a popular figure with the U.S. public, he is now best known for being tried for the murders of his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman. Simpson was initially acquitted of the murders in criminal court but …
Born and raised in San Francisco, California, Simpson is a son of Eunice (née Durden), a hospital administrator, and Jimmy Lee Simpson, a chef and bank custodian. His father was a well-known drag queen in the San Francisco Bay Area. Later in life, Jimmy Simpson announced that he was gay and died of AIDS in 1986.
Simpson's maternal grandparents were from Louisiana, and his aunt gave him the name Orentha…
Although Simpson was an All-City football player at Galileo, his mediocre high-school grades prevented him from attracting the interest of many college recruiters. After a childhood friend's injury in the Vietnam War influenced Simpson to stay out of the military, he enrolled at City College of San Francisco in 1965. He played football both ways as a running back and defensive back and was named to the Junior College All-American team as a running back. City College won the Pru…
Simpson began acting while at USC and appeared on Dragnet in an uncredited role as a potential recruit to the LAPD. He became a professional actor before playing professional football, appearing in the first episode of Medical Center while negotiating his contract with the Bills. While in the NFL Simpson appeared in productions such as the television miniseries Roots (1977), and the dramatic motion pictures The Klansman (1974), The Towering Inferno (1974), The Cassandra …
Go, O.J., Go!— Hertz slogan
As a child Simpson earned money by scalping tickets and collecting seat cushions at Kezar Stadium. In high school he organized dances, hiring a band and ballroom and charging admission. Chuck Barnes helped Simpson form business relationships with Chevrolet and ABC early in his football career. By 1971, New York wrote that Simpson was already wealthy enough to "retire this …