Looking Back 30 Years to When O.J. Simpson Was Acquitted

On October 3, 1995, the jury in O.J. Simpson‘s high-profile murder trial emerged from the deliberation room in Downtown Los Angeles, announcing their verdict of not guilty for the former football icon.

Decades later, the evidence surrounding the case, the media frenzy, and the controversial verdict continue to resonate with the public, and we have compiled every notable photo from the trial for a complete recap.

O.J. Simpson and Nicole Brown Simpson were married from 1985 until their divorce in 1992, after which Nicole and her date, Ron Goldman, were found murdered outside her Brentwood condo by an unknown assailant.

O.J. was planning to surrender shortly after the bodies were discovered, but on June 17, 1994, he infamously attempted suicide in the back of a white Ford Bronco, driven by his friend and former USC teammate Al Cowlings. This low-speed chase became a national spectacle, halting traffic on the I-405.

The trial, overseen by Judge Lance Ito, started in January 1995 and culminated in a verdict on October 3, 1995.

The jury had actually reached their decision a day earlier but deliberated for only four hours before the announcement was postponed by the judge until the next morning.

The “not guilty” verdict left many astonished, particularly those who believed the considerable DNA evidence was irrefutable. The racial composition of the jury, featuring eight African American members, raised questions about its influence on the outcome.

Simpson consistently proclaimed his innocence and vowed to uncover the true murderer of Nicole. Yet, a civil court ultimately found him responsible for the deaths and imposed a $33.5 million restitution, growing to over $100 million with interest.

After serving nine years for robbery and kidnapping charges, O.J. Simpson passed away in 2024. Our founder, Harvey Levin, who reported on the trial at the time, expressed on “TMZ Live” his belief that Simpson was responsible for the deaths of his ex-wife and Goldman.

O.J. Simpson’s trial inspired the first season of the anthology series “American Crime Story,” featuring Cuba Gooding Jr., along with numerous documentaries, including our own retrospective “TMZ Presents: O.J. How He Really Did It,” now available for free streaming on Tubi.