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Welcome to episode 20. If I wish you were here today, we're doing a deep dive on the behemoth that is the O.J. simpson case. I was. I'm sure every single one of you knows this case, but I was just talking to my friend and I was like, this is one of the cases where I could talk about it for days. And I'm not even exaggerating. If you put me in a room and locked me in a room and said with a random person and said, you have to make conversation with this person for 72 hours straight, and I would bring up the O.J. simpson case, day one, the first hour, because I know that the conversation would never end because there's just so many things about this case and we have no time to waste. So let's get straight into it. This might be my longest episode yet. This is. I have the most notes on this one. The Epstein one was a long one as well, but this one just might be longer. O.J. simpson was once an NFL football star, an actor, a media personality, but was he also a killer? That is the question that we're going to be asking ourselves throughout the entirety of this video. Because listen, to go from one of the most loved and respected people in America to one of the most hated and most controversial. It really takes a lot. You have to do something cruel for the people of the public to change their mind on you that quickly. But that's the thing some think that O.J. did. So let's get straight into it. Welcome to episode 20 of I Wish you were here. I'm your host, Michelle Cuervo. Thanks for being here. In June of 1994, O.J. simpson was charged with the murder of his former wife, Nicole Brown, and her friend Ron Goldman, a brutal double homicide. This took place in LA at Nicole Brown's house. And the trial, actually, the arrest itself was an entire fiasco. The. But the trial following his arrest was one of the biggest and most controversial trials to this day. And we're going to talk all about it. By the way, feel the need to say, I'm just a girl, I'm not a lawyer. All of this information in this video I found from public information that you can find on the Internet. So don't come for me. I actually have zero legal knowledge. I kind of don't know what I'm talking about, but I'm doing my best. O.J. simpson was 47 years old when this happened, when he was arrested for murder. But he was not new to the public eye by any means, like I mentioned he was an American football player. Not only that, but he was also the first player in NFL history to rush over 2,000 yards in a single season. He played 11 seasons total in the NFL and he was inducted into the Pro Football hall of fame in 1985. Needless to say, the guy was a big deal. He had a ton of money. He, he was continuing to make a ton of money and he was living in a beautiful, massive house in la, what some people would call a mansion. I would call it a mansion. And that in itself was great. He was living such a happy life, but it was even better because he had a beautiful wife to share all of his success with. It was the year 1967 when he married Marguerite Whitley, and the two of them went on to have three children together. By 1977, they were all living as a happy family in this beautiful mansion in la, enjoying this life that the two, the two of them had once dreamed of together. However, sadly for Marguerite, any hope that she once had for growing old with OJ and living happily ever after like they thought that they would, those hopes would be crushed. Because it was also in the year 1977, very shortly after moving into their forever home, that O.J. simpson's attention got redirected elsewhere. That was because he met 18 year old Nicole Brown. He first saw her for the first time when he was at a nightclub that he often frequented. It was called the Daisy. And Nicole worked there as a waitress. And as soon as O.J. laid eyes on her, he wanted her. And O.J. always went for what he wanted. So despite being a married man, he approached Nicole at the nightclub very clearly expressing interest in her and Nicole. She was 18 years old. She thought that he was charming, she thought that he was handsome. She very much reciprocated and she was intrigued. She wanted to know more about this guy, even though she kind of did, because he was famous. Famous after all. But soon the two of them would begin talking more, they would begin seeing each other more, until eventually they were in a full blown relationship. But OJ no matter how big of a celebrity he was, he could not have his cake and eat it too. So OJ Simpson made the decision to divorce his wife Marguerite in March of 1979 with the sole purpose of being able to now get into a real public relationship with Nicole. And, and once Marguerite moved out, she took the kids, Nicole moved in, which is kind of uncomfortable, huh? He practically just kind of like switched out girls. I know that's terrible to say, but he flipped. Marguerite's World upside down, kicked her out, basically, and then moved Nicole in, whatever. That's what he wanted to do. So he did it. In 1985, five years after his retirement from professional football, O.J. proposed to Nicole. The two of them got married, and later on, they expanded their family and had two beautiful kids together. Together. However, the marriage between OJ And Nicole was rocky, to say the least. Put it this way. The police were called out to their house for DV reports on several occasions, and it was Nicole calling to report O.J. she called at least eight times. Like, bare minimum eight times. We know that for a fact, but probably more in the double digits. However, OJ Only really faced consequences once, really out of all those times, which we will talk more about that later. But for Nicole, in her eyes, in the position that she was in, she found it really difficult to be married to this person that was known, not only known by the entire world, but loved by the entire world. They would get into arguments. Things would get really ugly. Nicole would feel scared of her own husband, and she would call the police to report it. But more oftentimes than not, she would take it back, and she would end up dropping it and decided to not pursue further action, to not press any charges. Nicole would express to her close friends that she wouldn't want to call the police because, one, obviously, nobody wants that, right? It's terrifying to feel stuck in a toxic relationship like that. But two, Nicole was scared of what would happen to her family if she was ever to take legal action against OJ And. And it wasn't something that she really was willing to risk because she was incredibly financially dependent on her husband. I mean, she was 18 years old when they met. OJ on the other hand, was 30, with an already very much successful career. On top of that, anytime the cops did get involved in their disputes, chances were that the cops would already know who O.J. simpson was. And the chances that they were fans of his were pretty high. After a very unhealthy marriage of seven years in 1992, O.J. simpson was actually the one to put a stop to it. He was the one who filed for divorce, and Nicole ended up moving out. She took the kids with them, and she got their own house. And despite their differences, they both agreed that they wanted to behave in the children's best interest. The children were still pretty young, so they were gonna give it their best go at this co parenting thing, and they agreed to be civil and nice to each other for the children's sake. That brings us to June 13th of 1994, right after midnight when Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman would be found stabbed to death right outside of Nicole's house. The night prior, on June 12th of 1994, Nicole and OJ had both attended their daughter's dance recital. And according to the people that saw them interact that night, be around each other, they looked to be pretty civil. Nothing was alarming, right? It was a pretty normal interaction. Nicole's parents were also there. Once the dance recital was over, Nicole, along with her parents and the kids, they left to go to a restaurant to grab a bite to eat. One of the waiters at that restaurant was Ron Goldman. So they sit down, they eat dinner, they pay, they leave the restaurant. But shortly after leaving, Nicole's mom realizes that she forgot her glasses at the restaurant. So they call, they get a hold of Ron Goldman, Nicole's friend who worked there. Actually I don't know if I would say they were friends, they were more acquaintances I guess, but they were friendly with each other, they knew of each other. So Ron tells Nicole that once he left work, once his shift was over, he could just stop by her house and drop the glasses off to her. His shift ended around 9:50 to 10pm And Nicole says, oh, so nice of you. Perfect. Okay, cool. That would be great, thanks. Everyone is back home and that's that. At around 10.55pm, a couple is walking around in Nicole's neighborhood and, and they see a dog. Immediately they notice that this dog is barking a ton. He's really agitated and most importantly, he's alone. So the couple sees this dog and they try to calm him down for a little bit, but they are unable to do so. No matter what they do, this dog will not stop barking. So they think, okay, let's just walk him around the neighborhood, let's just see if that either chills him out for a bit because maybe he's trying to get back home, maybe he accidentally got out, or maybe he just has a ton of energy that he needs to let out. So they're walking this dog around when the dog abruptly all of a sudden stops right outside of Nicole Brown's house. And it's dark out. Keep that in mind. It's late at night, so it takes a second. But soon after the couple realizes that what the dog was alerting to was a terrible crime scene. 35 year old Nicole Brown was deceased, lying by her front steps, face down, barefoot and in a pool of her own blood. Just from finding her in that way, it wasn't clear obviously what had happened but one thing was clear, that she had been brutally murdered. That couple called police immediately and when they arrived, they started taping off the entire area as a crime scene. And again, keep in mind, it's laid out, it's dark out, so they're walking around with flashlights and they didn't notice it straight off the bat. But when they continued to walk around the scene, they find a second body, the dead body of 25 year old Ron Goldman. He was more off to the side on the front lawn and Ron, as we know, was planning to stop by after his shift. He had been in contact with Nicole about dropping off these glasses. So chances were that he was that that was the reason why he was at Nicole's house. He went to go drop off the glasses and he likely saw the attacker, the attacker likely noticed him as well and did not want to have him as a witness. So in a horrific act of violence, Ron Goldman must have been caught between the crossfire and then killed as well. Both victims had been brutally stabbed to death. Both had stab wounds on their heads, on their necks, on their arms. And because of the way the blood evidence was found, the story that it told investigators was that Nicole was likely killed first, Ron was likely second, and authorities believe that the both of them must have been killed sometime around 10pm Nicole's largest wound was an injury across her neck and it was so deep and it had been done with so much force that you were able to see her voice box that had been cut in two. Whoever did this was one strong, but two angry. Other evidence that investigators found while walking around the crime scene were a hat, bloody footprints that led from the bodies in the front yard towards a back alley and then disappeared. This suggesting and making it easy for them to assume that the killer probably got in a vehicle to flee the crime scene. Alongside the footprints, they also found a trail of blood drops, a left hand, extra large leather glove, as well as the pair of glasses that Ron had brought from the restaurant to return to Nicole. Those were in a little white envelope, I believe. So officers make their way inside the house, but there is not one drop of blood or anything really signifying that anything happened inside. On top of that, when they showed up, the front door was also found wide open. So it's assumed that everything that did go on happened outside and outside only. However, what they did find when they were inside were family pictures of the kids and of O.J. simpson, which is when they realized that the house that they were in that had now been taped off is this massive Crime scene must have children sleeping upstairs. And they realized that the victim must be O.J. simpson's ex wife and the children must be his. Everyone knew who O.J. simpson was. He was a huge celebrity. There was not a human being in LA who did not know who O.J. simpson was. Right? So now it's all hands on deck to try and get in contact with O.J. simpson. Not because they suspected him of anything at this point, but, but because they just needed to talk to him, to one, inform him about what had happened, to let him know that his ex wife had been brutally murdered. Importantly as well, they needed him to come and pick up his kids. So police officers head off to his house. They pull in, they start knocking on the front door, and while they're waiting for OJ to come to the door, they start also taking a peek outside. They're using flashlights, walking around. Of course, it's still dark out, and. And they find a drop of blood on the outside of the driver's door of OJ's vehicle. Their immediate thought is, oh, no, someone killed Nicole Brown. What if the same person had it out for OJ as well? And what if he has also been targeted and potentially killed too? So considering this possibility, authorities make the decision to enter the house. Keep in mind, without permission, without a search warrant. They obviously have not spoken to oj, but they claim to be concerned, so they walk inside. When they walk inside, they do not find OJ. However, they find OJ's roommate, Kato Kaelyn. Well, I say roommate, he did live there, but he lived in one of the two guest houses in the back. So he didn't live in the main house with oj, but he lived on the premises. Kato Kaelin was a friend of, of course, oj, but also he was really good friends with Nicole, and Kaedo is the only one at the house. So he starts talking to officers, and Cato lets them know that they were not going to find O.J. because O.J. wasn't home. In fact, he wasn't even in town. He had taken a flight and flown out to Chicago the night prior. Officers are still hanging around for a little while. They're talking to Kada Moore, asking him about the events of the night, asking him if he heard anything or saw anything or just could provide more information as to what could have happened. He tells them that OJ had a flight that was due to leave at 11:45pm on June 12, and that he had a limo scheduled to come and pick him up at his house to take him to the airport. We later find out that the limo driver had arrived at the house at 10:25 to pick up OJ. But when the limo driver rang the doorbell to let OJ know that he was there, he didn't immediately come to the door. So he just stayed outside. The driver did, waiting for him to come out. While he was waiting for him, the limo driver saw what he describes to be a shadowy figure outside of the house in the bushes, kind of like off to the side of the house near a window. The limo driver claimed that the figure was around the size and the height that OJ was. However, he couldn't really say for sure if it was him because it was dark, he couldn't really see where it came from, who exactly it was, and honestly, it seems like he wasn't necessarily stressed about it. He was, he was there to do his job, which was to pick OJ up. So he didn't really ask any questions. However, he did see that shadowy figure, whoever it was, walk in through the front door. This would later be brought up in court. So remember that. Back to the cops talking to Kato. In Kato, Kaelin tells the officers that the night prior, because now we're getting into the early hours of the next morning, he had heard a few what sounded like thump sounds outside of his window. And he was like, oh, that's a little bit odd, I wonder what that sound is. So he went outside, but he didn't really see anything. All he saw was that the limo driver was there waiting for oj. Shortly after that, OJ Simpson appeared, got in the limo with his luggage, and left with the driver to the airport to make his way flight. So that's where he is now. He's in Chicago, but the cops are out of his house. So they decide while they're there, may as well walk around and see if they find anything. They go specifically to look outside of the house further, but in the area or at least the general direction of where Cato said that he heard those weird thump sounds. And there, guess what they find. A right hand, extra large leather glove. There was obviously no way to tell for sure then, but the glove looked to be the exact kind of glove that was found at the crime scene back at Nicole's house. The one at Nicole's house was a left hand glove. The One found at OJ's house was a right hand glove, both sized XL. Naturally they start wondering, could OJ Simpson be our guy? Could OJ Simpson be the person responsible for murdering his ex wife and her friend? Maybe he did. Maybe he took longer than expected because he could not have accounted for a second person being there. He wasn't aware that Ron Goldman would be at the house. Ron got caught in the middle, but perhaps he killed Nicole, he killed Ron, got hurt somewhere in the process, or got at least a cut on him. Walked towards the back of the house, leaving behind a trail of blood. Got in his car, accidentally leaving a drop of blood on his driver's side door. Got home, snuck into the front door, being the shadowy figure that the limo driver saw, gathered up his belongings, and then got in the limo and flew to Chicago to give himself an alibi. The possibility of that being the case, it looked pretty promising in the eyes of the detectives right off the bat. And even more so when they notice a trail of blood drops leading into OJ's house. That really, that was the moment, I think that was the switch flipped for them and they were like, OJ could be the killer that we're looking for, he could be the one. Authorities manage to get a hold of OJ in Chicago. After he lands. It's now closer to 6 in the morning on the 13th, they call him to inform him that Nicole Brown was dead and that he needed to come home immediately to come and pick up his kids. OJ on the phone, hears him out, tells him that he will take the first flight back as soon as he could. However, during that entire phone conversation on the phone, not one time did OJ Simpson ask how his ex wife died, how Nicole died. He didn't ask how or why. They told him that his ex wife was dead, and he really had no further questions. Which is interesting when you realize that before he arrived back in la, OJ made it a point to make arrangements to meet with a criminal defense attorney before he was told that it was a murder, before he was told that she had been killed, he contacted an attorney. But for all that he knew, Nicole could have died in a horrible car accident. He didn't know because he didn't ask, so they didn't tell him. But he did make sure to lawyer up before he even had time to land back in la. By the way, by this point, this was already all over the news, right? Not only because it's a heinous double homicide in la, but also because one of the victims was OJ Simpson, Simpson's ex wife. That in itself made this case incredibly high profile, whether OJ was a suspect or not. Once he was back in town, he was taken to the police station to be questioned, and some of his answers to the question seemed sus, to say the least, at the times when he was answering it honestly. Kind of felt like he wasn't even sure of what he was saying. He just kept going back and forth on his statements, visibly nervous, I would think. To give you an example, he tells officers that the night of the murders he did see Nicole at the dance recital. We know that. He says that afterwards he went back home and he's asked, okay, what time did you get back home? And he says, quote, I got back at seven something. Yeah, I'm trying to think, did I leave? You know, I always, I had to run and get my daughter some flowers. I was actually doing the recital, so I rushed and I got her some flowers and I came home and then I called Paula, my girlfriend, as I was going to her house and she wasn't home. I mean, I, anytime I was, whatever time it took me to get to the recital and back, to get the flower shop and back, I mean, that's the time that I was really out of the house. End quote. What? Sorry, Hello? Didn't really answer the question. Pretty strange, right? So they asked him in a different way what time he got home and he says, quote, eight something, Seven, eight, nine o', clock, I don't know, right in that area, end quote. Okay, so his story is that he was home right in that area, that three hour area. Investigators, during that conversation, during that questioning process, they also did notice that OJ seemed to have a cut on his left hand, his left finger, and back at the crime scene, if you remember, because of the way that it was all positioned, all the evidence, investigators thought that the drop of bloods left behind in a trail leading to the back alley from Nicole's house were likely from the killer's left hand because there were bloody footprints and there were blood drops to the left of it. So I think it's safe to assume it was from the killer's left hand. So they see this cut on OJ's left hand, they ask him where he got it from, and he just says, yeah, I have a cut, but I don't know how it happened or where it came from. They then tell him that they also found blood on his car and he says, oh, yeah, I'm an athlete, I just, I bleed all the time. Okay, fishy, right? OJ Simpson, during that interview process that only lasted 32 minutes, by the way, said so much, yet nothing at the same time. By the very next day, it was clear that authorities suspected O.J. simpson as their killer. I don't know if they formally had named him as a suspect yet, or if he was informed that he was. But by the next day, following his first and only interview, mind you, OJ already had his high profile defense team picked out. This team of his is commonly referred to as the Dream Team. The Dream Team was initially read by Robert Shapiro. He was well known as one of the lawyers for the Menendez brothers. Actually, ironically enough, as well as Robert Kardashian, he was also on the Dream Team. Rob Kardashian, the dad, obviously not the brother. But he was also known to be a very, very good, high profile attorney in the LA area. And he was also very, very good friends with oj and he was going to be on the team no matter what, because they were friends. Quick recap. The murders took place the night of June 12th, going into June 13th in 1994. June 17th of 1994 was a Friday. That day, police officers get in contact with OJ's lawyer, Rob Shapiro, to inform him that OJ had a warrant out for his arrest for the murders of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman. However, again, keep in mind, OJ Simpson, he's famous, he's a celebrity. So they had to treat this case differently than they usually would because they wanted to avoid any interaction with paparazzi as much as they could. That would just make things messier. It wouldn't be beneficial for anyone. You guys know how the media gets. So their protocol, I guess you could say, or the routine that they were to follow when they had a celebrity involved in a murder case or in any criminal case, was to send the arrest warrant out to their lawyer so that OJ could then turn himself in. Instead of being arrested and getting paparazzi involved and creating more chaos and making the arrest a whole public thing, it made more sense to do it privately. For now. They wanted to give him the opportunity for him to come and turn himself in. So that's exactly what they do. Officers get in contact with Shapiro and they let him know that O.J. simpson has until 11 in the morning to turn himself in. Afterwards, he would be held in police custody up until his trial and there would be no bailing him out. That was around 9 in the morning when they told Shapiro. By 11 in the morning, and at Rob Kardashian's house was Rob Kardashian, OJ Simpson, Rob Shapiro, and the entire other members of the Dream Team. If you think about it, this was their one and only chance to have one last talk altogether before OJ would be in custody. And before every single conversation from then on would be recorded. It feels very like. I don't know what the feeling is, but it feels very hush hush, very calculated, which obviously they're allowed to do that, right? They're allowed to talk. He's not in custody yet, but I don't know. I, like, get an adrenaline rush. I don't know what the feeling is. Just thinking of them all gathered up at Rob Kardashian's house, sitting in a big table, discussing what their game plan was going to be, how they were going to handle this situation, and giving OJ One last chance to tell them anything that they might need to know. 11am passes. O.J. simpson is nowhere to be seen at the station. The. The cops call up Shapiro, and they're like, dude, what are you doing, man? What's going on? It's past 11. O.J. isn't here. He's supposed to be here. Get him here now. Shapiro says, yeah, yeah, quote, I will do my best to get him there. And quote, the cops are like, no, dude, you're not. I don't think you're comprehending. We're. This. This is not optional. It's like a courtesy. We're giving you. We're giving OJ the chance to turn himself in to avoid an even bigger media spectacle by arresting him in public. But you need to get him here now. It's not like you can choose not to know. You have to. O.J. simpson doesn't go. So the cops are like, all right, this guy's not coming. They get in their patrol cars and they go to arrest OJ Themselves at Rob Kardashian's house. When they get there, Shapiro steps out. He steps out to meet them outside, and he's like, listen, OJ Is inside, but he's doing very bad mentally. Please give us more time to talk to him before you take him. And the cops, I guess, say, yeah, okay, make it fast. Hurry up. Rob Shapiro walks back inside of the house, and guess what? O.J. gone. He's gone. He's not there. He's gone. He's no longer in the house. Apparently, in the time that Shapiro was outside talking to the cops, he had escaped through a window and only left behind a handwritten note. The note started with, quote, first, everyone understand I had nothing to do with Nicole's murder. I loved her. Always have and always will. Then he goes on to mention their separation and writes, quote, despite our love, we were different. And that's why we mutually agreed to go our separate ways. End Quote, he also mentions his first wife as well as his most recent girlfriend, saying, quote, marguerite, thanks for the early years. We had some fun. Paula, what can I say? You are special. I'm sorry, I'm not going to have. We are not going to have our chance. God brought you to me. I now see, as I leave, you will be in my thoughts, end quote. And then he continues to say, quote, I can't go on. No matter what the outcome, people will look and point. I can't take that. I can't subject my children to that. I've had a good life. I'm proud of how I lived. I treated the people the way I wanted to be treated. I've always tried to be up and helpful, end quote. The letter was very, very clearly his way of saying goodbye, right? Saying, this is too much. I'm too hurt. I can't take this. I feel like my life is ruined. And he just did not want to go on anymore. He made it clear. The letter ended with, quote, don't feel sorry for me. I've had a great life, great friends. Please think of the real OJ and not this lost person. Thanks for making my life special. I hope I helped yours. Peace and love, OJ End quote. And that was that. He had managed to leave, leaving this letter behind. Nobody knew where he was. That same day, a few hours later, I believe Rob Shapiro got home. He greets his wife. He tells her that OJ has escaped, that they don't know where he is, that this is a big disaster. And his wife says, actually, I know where he is. I found him. He's on the TV right now. She turns on the tv, she turns on the news and on the screen is what is known today as the Bronco chase, a live high speed car chase down the highway. O.J. simpson was inside of that car, inside of his white Bronco being driven by one of his teammates, Al Cowlings, driving with up to 20 police cars following behind them. The car chase itself lasted well over an hour. Everyone was watching. It was broadcasted the entire time. More than 95 million people were tuned in looking at this car chase live on their TV screens. During this absolute chaos that was this car chase. Police cars were eventually able to catch up to the white Bronco where OJ Was with AC Driving him. But AC Is frantic. He starts yelling at the police, saying that O.J. simpson was in the backseat in the vehicle and he was pointing a weapon at his head because they did not want anyone to get hurt. Officers back off, they slow down, they Fall behind them again, and they all continue driving back inside of that car. AC dials 911. He calls the police, and he says, quote, this is ac. I have OJ in the car. We're all okay, but you have to tell the police to back off. He's still alive, but he is the weapon pointing to his head. Right now. Everything is okay, but he wants me to get him to his mom, end quote. And authorities, I guess, are like, okay, fine. They slow down and A.C. keeps driving until they get to O.J. simpson's mom's house. When they get there, another group of officers are there at the house to meet them. Right? Since Obviously he said, AC said on the 911 call that that's where they were headed. And once they are all there, it is clear, it is evident that OJ is in bad shape. I mean, he was about to take his own life. He said he was, quote, the only one who deserved to get hurt, end quote, and was, quote, just going to go with Nicole, end quote. At his mom's house, he starts pleading with the officers, starts begging them to please allow him to talk to his mom. He's even crying, I think, to one of the officers, saying that he was so, so sorry for putting them through this. Authorities allow him to talk to his mom. And then O.J. simpson was finally taken in police custody. And now we get to the trial. Oh, my. Can you believe we haven't even started on the trial and this video is probably already 50 hours long. The trial, buckle in. We're nowhere near done. The trial itself lasted 11 months. 11 months. Almost an entire year. That being said, keep in mind, please, that I'm trying to summarize 11 months worth of information into one video. So bear with me. And again, want to clarify, I'm not a lawyer, just a girl. This is one of the most controversial trials to date. I'm not going to be mentioning any of my own personal opinions. I'm only going to be trying to state, stick to the facts, honestly, because I have limited time and I don't want this video to be 27 hours long. Also, there are a ton of sensitive topics also being spoken about within the walls of this courtroom. So be aware. Keep that in mind. Let's get into it. O.J. simpson is asked to repeat his plea in court for everyone to hear loud and clear. And he pleads not guilty. His exact quote being, quote, absolutely 100% not guilty, unquote, quote. So far, OJ's leader in the Dream Team was Rob Shapiro, along with Rob Kardashian and a few others. But right before the trial, Shapiro suggested that O.J. maybe just accept a plea deal, plead guilty. He thought maybe it would be in his best interest to just accept a plea deal and to walk away with that. Well, O.J. simpson was not happy with that comment. He didn't like that, and he did not agree with it whatsoever, because in his eyes, he felt like Shapiro was suggesting that he wasn't confident in them being able to win because he was kind of suggesting that they would just accept defeat by accepting a plea deal. So Shapiro, because of that, he was knocked off as team leader. And the dream team would now be led by Johnny Cochran. Johnny was also a well known attorney. He was specifically known for cases involving police brutality and civil rights. On the other side, the prosecutor fighting to prove that he was guilty would be Marcia Clark. Marcia Clark, the woman that she is, she is a very determined woman when it came to her job. She is not one to mess around with. But of course, before the trial began, they had to find a jury. And the jury selection in this case is a whole mess in itself because usually when people are chosen to be in a jury, they normally have to know nothing about the case, nothing about the people involved in the case, and have to have no prior knowledge, so their end vote is not swayed. But as you can imagine, in LA, also, people that did not know about this case one, but also didn't know who O.J. simpson was, were hard to find. Eventually they were able to narrow it down to a group of potential jurors of 300 people. And then both the prosecution and the defense were able to meet every single person and basically interview them to then be able to give their opinion on if they would be suitable to be in the jury or not. So that was a mess that took a very long time. But eventually they did have a jury from the jury that was chosen because they had to fill out some sort of questionnaire, a set of questions. This is why we have this information. But some facts about the jury chosen based on their answers from that questionnaire are that only two of them had graduated college. None of them read the newspaper regularly. Five of them said that they or a family member had negative experience with law enforcement. Five thought that it was acceptable to use force on a family member. And nine out of the 12 thought that O.J. simpson was less likely to murder his wife due to him excelling at football. The trial began January 24th of 1995, seven months after the murders. And again, this would last 11 months, which is insanity. In opening statements, the defense talks about how loved and respected OJ Was, about how much he loved Nicole, and about how they were obviously going to be proving that OJ Simpson was not the person responsible for these murders. Because O.J. simpson was a hero. He was a successful athlete, respected and adored by so many people, and he could never be capable of murder. The prosecution tells the jury that they are going to expose them to the other side of O.J. simpson, the side that they've never met before, and that when they look at his face after all of this, all they will see will be the face of Nicole and Ron's killer. In their statement, they said that OJ Controlled Nicole using aggression and violence throughout their entire relationship. They said that O.J. simpson took Nicole's youth, freedom, and her self respect, and that just as she tried to break free, OJ Simpson took her life in what amounted to be his final and his ultimate act of control. And in his final and terrible act, Ron Goldman was viciously and senselessly killed. A really big point initially that the prosecution was going to try and make with all this information was that Nicole was scared of OJ that she feared him, because we know that Nicole called the police on him numerous times. And out of the eight times that they actually did go out to their house, OJ Was only arrested once. That time Nicole called, officers were dispatched, and when they arrived, they saw Nicole looking very disheveled, with bruises all over her face, with an imprint of a hand marked on her neck. She was hiding in the bushes, but as soon as she saw the officers, she ran to them screaming, quote, he's going to kill me. He's going to kill me. End quote. They asked her who, and she said, O.J. that night they spoke to her further, and Nicole told the officers, quote, you guys never do anything. You come out, you've seen so many times, and you never do anything about him, end quote. That was the one and only time that O.J. was arrested. But as she usually did, Nicole dropped the charges against him. O.J. was ordered to pay some fees, and he was on probation for 24 months. But other than that, he didn't really face any other consequences. Worth it to note that O.J. simpson had a lot of good friends that were LAPD officers. There were a lot, a lot of situations of OJ Behaving like this. One of the times Nicole described OJ to law enforcement saying, quote, he gets a very animalistic look in him, all his veins pop out, and his eyes are black and just black. I mean, cold, like an animal. I mean, very, very weird. And when I see it, it just scratches, scares me, unquote. In the courtroom, we also find out that five days before she was killed, Nicole had gone to a women's shelter and confided in someone there, telling them that she thought that OJ was stalking her. 5 days, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5 days before she was killed at the front steps of her own house. However, all of that to say, the prosecution completely dropped their DV portion of their case months into the trial on June 20th of 1993. Initially, their intention was to use OJ's history of DV against Nicole Brown to show the very clear pattern of abuse, to argue that her murder was not random, but instead was a result of years of escalating violence. But they ended up pulling that part of their argument back for multiple reasons, which that will kind of make more sense as we go on. But long story short, the prosecution decided that they had to shift their focus and rather start paying more attention or talking more about the forensic evidence to try and keep the jury's attention on that. Now, one of the tactics that OJ's dream team was going to try and take in regards to the physical evidence, because they knew how much physical evidence the other side had, was that they were going to try and do basically anything in their power, anything in their ability to try and get that evidence inadmissible in court, meaning unable to be used to in court, and if not, that they were going to try and twist it around in a way that would make it very hard for the prosecution to use the evidence in the exact ways that they planned to. In other words, the Dream Team was going to try and make Marcia Clark's job as hard as they possibly could. One of the main things that they fought against using in court was a lot of the evidence that was seen when the officers first went into OJ's house the night of the murders. The remember, well, his team is claiming that that was illegal because when they went, they only went to inform OJ of the murder of his ex wife. But instead, as we know, they ended up entering the house without permission, without a warrant. And again, like I mentioned, they broke in because they found blood outside. And it was their argument that because of that they thought that OJ could possibly be hurt or in trouble inside, so they let themselves inside the house. Whatever the case, the Dream Team was saying that that was illegal, that that was wrong, and that they should not be allowed to use anything from that in their Arguments. But with that, let's touch on some of the evidence that was found. To recap, the DNA evidence that was collected was DNA found from the blood drops next to the bloody footprints near the victims at Nicole's house that was tested. And the chances of that DNA not being OJ's was 1 in 9.7 billion. DNA found from the blood outside of the door and inside of OJ's car that was believed to be OJ's as well as Nicole's and Ron's. The chances of that not being their blood was 1 in 21 billion. DNA found from blood on a pair of socks inside of OJ's bedroom. The chances of that not being Nicole's blood was 1 in 6.8 billion. DNA found on the bloody glove found outside of O.J. s house had both Nicole and O.J. 's DNA on it and in a hat found at the crime scene. Actually, this is a good example of OJ's dream team making it so difficult for Marsha and her team to prove something. By the way, in that hat there were hairs found. Marsha wanted to get a hair sample from OJ to prove that it was his hair. The hat that was found at the crime scene, and the standard practice for providing a hair sample is providing 100 hairs. Well, the Dream Team didn't want to do that. They were willing to give one hair, one single strand. That was a whole thing. The judge eventually ordered that he give 10 hairs, but it was OJ's hair. By the way, the DNA matched. But that gives you an idea of the forensic evidence that was found. Back to the defense. One of their main points, if not their biggest point, that they were going to try and fight and focus on, was the unfairness of from police against black people. It is a very popular opinion and it is a very, very real big thing that has affected many criminal cases. And the defense was going to try and make that a point. The defense was going to argue that it was their belief that officers and investigators, from the start, from day one, before the investigation really got underway, they believed that they had already decided that O.J. simpson was guilty because of his race and racism playing a part in this case. By the way, it has been prominent since the start, I'm just now mentioning it, but since the trial even started, since before the trial started, this was a big discussion. For example, when picking out the jury, the Dream Team was bringing up the fact that Marcia Clark's team was picking who they wanted to be in the jury in a very strategic way to only benefit them. Rob Shapiro made a public statement saying that the other side was, quote, unquote, trying to get black jurors removed for cause, because they are black, because they have black heroes, and because O.J. simpson is one of them, end quote. Now, to bring that back around into the courtroom, into the arguments in the courtroom, all of the DNA evidence that was found that I just talked about, that was found at O.J. simpson's house was primarily found by Detective Mark Fuhrman. And the defense put Mark Fuhrman on the standard. But the defense's strategy here was that they were going to be shining a light on Mark Fuhrman in hopes of making the jury question his credibility, in hopes of painting OJ Simpson to be the face of a victim of racism. The defense make Mark Herman swear under oath that he had not made any racial slurs in the last 10 years, and Mark swore that he hadn't. Following that literally right after that, the defense then played tapes of Mark Fuhrman making many racist comments in the last 10 years, proving that he had just lied under oath, proving that he could have ulterior motives for wanting to pin OJ Simpson as their killer, and making Mark Fuhrman no longer trustworthy and no longer at all credible in the eyes of the jury. And when he was questioned about the DNA evidence that he found, Mark just pleaded the Fifth. They asked him flat out if he had planted DNA evidence to pin the murder on oj, to which he responded with, I wish to assert my Fifth Amendment privilege, making him and the prosecution look pretty bad. Now we get to a really important piece of evidence that was found at the crime scene. The gloves, the extra large leather gloves, the left one found at the crime scene covered in blood, and the right one found right outside of OJ's house, they brought out the gloves. The prosecution was going to be arguing that these gloves were OJ's, and that those being found where they were was the link that they needed proving that O.J. simpson committed this murder. The defense wanted O.J. simpson to try on the gloves to prove that they were not his. And he did, and they really did not fit perfectly. This is also a massively controversial topic as well, because leather can shrink, especially if it's frozen for evidence and then defrosted. I guess it can shrink, so that's something to consider. But also the way that OJ was putting these gloves on, it was like he was purposefully positioning his hand in a way to prevent them from fitting. He was, like, opening up his hand like stretching it out almost so that they would not fit. Instead of him trying to, trying to squeeze his hand and to be able to slide them on, but him struggling to put the gloves on. Was the defense's argument that, look, they don't fit him. They're not his. He did not commit this crime. In Johnnie Cochran's closing argument at the end, he again brought up the gloves, saying his famous quote of if it does not fit, you must acquit, end quote. As far as Marcia Clark's closing argument, she made sure to acknowledge the racism and Mark Furman and all of those arguments of the situation, situation with him, because you have to, right? Like, that's huge. That's a huge part of this case. And I'm glad that she addressed it. She said that, yes, Mark Fuhrman was a racist, and that was clear, but that that fact, quote, does not mean we have not proven the defending guilty beyond reasonable doubt. And it would be a tragedy if with such overwhelming evidence, ladies and gentlemen, as we have presented to you, you would find the defendant not guilty in spite of, spite of all of that because of the racist attitudes of one police officer, end quote. Cato Kalin, as well as the limo driver were also witnesses that were called up to testify. And they testified that the night of the murders, before going to the airport, O.J. seemed to be really, really agitated. He was also profusely sweating even though it was not hot outside. The limo driver testified that O.J. was late for his flight pickup. And he talks about what I said earlier about seeing that shadowy figure outside of the house, and then said that within 15 minutes of seeing that shadowy figure, O.J. appeared out of nowhere. The limo driver testified that O.J. loaded four luggage bags into the car that night, one of them being a bag that O.J. simpson would not let him touch, insisting that he be the one to load it into the car and then unload it himself. However, an employee at the airport tested testified that O.J. only checked in three bags that night. So where did the fourth bag that he didn't want anyone to touch, where did it go? And most importantly, what was in that bag? Now, I also want to slightly touch on things that were spoken about in preliminary hearings. First One being that O.J. simpson did not have an alibi. The murders were believed to have taken place at around 10 between 10.30pm OJ was unaccounted for from 9:40 to 11:00pm we know that he was at his daughter's dance recital, but after that, nobody knew where he was or what he was doing for exactly one hour and 18 minutes. A lady witness also came forward claiming that she saw OJ's car, the white Bronco, confirmed by the license plate, driving around Nicole's house during that period of time, placing him in the area around the time of the murders. However, this information could not be used in court. It was not allowed to be used in the actual trial because that witness had sent sold her story to the media before the trial, making it inadmissible in court. And now to the verdict. Keep in mind, the prosecution was obviously fighting to find O.J. guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. If the defense was successful in even planting one tiny, little, small seed of doubt in the jury, O.J. simpson could be found not guilty. The jury deliberated for four hours, and after 11 months of a heavy, tense and agonizing trial, the jury found O.J. simpson not guilty. When the verdict was read out, the Dream Team was overwhelmed with joy. But something that a lot of people noticed was the face of Rob Kardashian. His face was kind of blank. He almost looks shock. And people believe that towards the end of the trial, Rob Kardashian had really started to question whether OJ did it or not. And people believe that Rob thought that he was guilty and that he was not only shocked, but also a little bit disappointed that he was found not guilty. So, yeah, a lot of people believe that O.J. simpson legally got away with murder. But I want to hear what you have to say. Yep, that is my bestest trying to recap this massive case. I'm so eager to for this episode to go live because I want to chat about this. I'm going to talk about it in the Instagram group chat. If you're not in that, go join it. It's so fun in there. Anyway, thank you guys for spending time with me today. Thank you for tuning into this episode of I wish you were here. I hope you guys are having the best day. If not, go do something to make it the best day. Make somebody happy, and I will see you in my next video. Massive kiss on the forehead to every single one of you. Thank you guys so much for tuning into this episode of I wish you were here. As a reminder, you can listen to this episode any way you get. Your podcast video version is also available on YouTube. Love you.