CLEVELAND — At the time, it was billed as the "Trial of the Century." The lurid tale which had the rapt attention of this nation had everything at a time when television all-news networks were stretching their arms and widening their scope.
It was the trial of O. J. Simpson, who was charged with the gruesome murder of his ex-wife and her friend. It was a trial filled with murder, sex, race, and celebrity. The trial held the attention of a public which followed those who were part of professional sports and Hollywood stardom. In a trial which went in and out and all around (and perhaps inside-out), the nation watched O. J. Simpson stand trial, and they watched him be found not guilty in a verdict which stunned much of the nation who thought him guilty and caused celebrations in other parts of the nation who thought him not guilty of everything.
The long, arduous O.J. trial spawned a new look for 24-hour, all-news television. The trial was followed day-by-day by millions of Americans.
O. J. Simpson had been one of the most beloved celebrities of American sports. The NFL running back destined for the Pro Football Hall of Fame turned his prominence into the advertising business, becoming a chief spokesman for some companies, including Hertz.
That is until the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ron Goldman, in 1994. On that night, O. J. Simpson, who had been a shining star, took a downfall with his arrest. In a long, drawn-out court case, Simpson's so-called "dream team" of attorneys — led by Johnny Cochran, Robert Shapiro, and F. Lee Bailey — defended him.
Prosecutors could not get a conviction. After months of trial, in short deliberation, the Southern California jury found Simpson not guilty on all counts.
America was divided on the verdict, some of it along racial lines. The image of O.J. Simpson would never be the same.
I interviewed Cochran when he visited Cleveland following the trial. Emphasizing he was a defense attorney, Cochran stood by the fact that prosecution had failed to prove its case in the courtroom, although in the court of public opinion there were varying beliefs.
Still, the golden light that had been on O.J. Simpson — from his days in college football, to his historic accomplishments in the NFL, to the football television broadcast booth, and to his roles in Hollywood movies — had not only dimmed, but went out.
No doubt the sordid tale of murder and of controversy in the court case will be told and studied for generations to come, but certainly there were changes which are still with us today. Live coverage among cases on court TV shows increased, as did coverage on all-news networks. In many ways, television changed when it trained its cameras on the O.J. Simpson saga and the trial in which much of America tuned in.
With his death at age 76, the question of the legacy of O. J. Simpson will long be studied and still argued.