The Most Memorable Moments from the O.J. Simpson Murder Trial, Three Decades Later
From a glove that "doesn't fit," to leaked nude photos, and shocking recordings of an LAPD detective using a racial slur, there were many unforgettable moments from the "Trial of the Century."

The murder trial of O.J. Simpson both polarized and gripped a nation, leaving an impact that reverberates 30 years after it began on January 24, 1995.
The late NFL star and Hollywood actor stood accused of the June 12, 1994, double homicide in which Simpson’s ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, 35, and her friend, Ron Goldman, 25, were viciously stabbed outside Brown Simpson’s condo in the quiet Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles. Less than one year later, cameras would be permitted inside the courtroom, giving the public a front-row seat to case that became known as the "Trial of the Century.”
The circus-like nature of the case kicked off when Simpson failed to turn himself in to the Los Angeles Police Department and led authorities on a now-infamous Bronco police chase. At the time, 95 million people watched the live spectacle as it interrupted regular TV programming, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Then, for eight long months, between January and October of 1995, a public divided over Simpson’s culpability fastened themselves to a trial filled with shocking testimony and jaw-dropping revelations. Topics that rose to the forefront ranged from racism to police corruption, domestic violence, and the fast-growing concept of DNA evidence in courtroom proceedings.
It all led to a controversial verdict being handed down, that alone attracted an audience of 150 million.
Here are eight of the most noteworthy moments from the Simpson, in order of their date.
1. O.J. Simpson writes a book behind bars while awaiting trial
While awaiting trial behind bars, Simpson signed a $1 million book deal for his memoir, I Want to Tell You: My Response to Your Letters, Your Messages, Your Questions. Published on January 7, 1995 — two months after jury selection and a little over two weeks before the trial began — Simpson responded to the burning questions from hundreds of thousands of received letters, addressing issues of alleged racism and spousal abuse while giving his version of life with Nicole Brown Simpson and their children.
The purported tell-all sold more than 650,000 copies and was viewed by many as Simpson’s attempt to get ahead of any evidence against him in the upcoming trial, according to E! News. Media outlets, including Time, criticized the publication as a means for Simpson to fund his star-studded defense “Dream Team."
At the time, Son of Sam laws — a statute named after notorious New York City serial killer David Berkowitz that prevents criminals from profiting off their crimes — did not extend to Simpson because he had not been convicted of the 1994 murders.
However, Son of Sam laws did apply after Simpson’s post-acquittal book, If I Did It. As part of a 2007 wrongful death suit filed by Ron Goldman’s family, in which the Goldmans’ were awarded $39 million, the plaintiffs won the rights to the pulled book, according to Fox News. They later republished it with an amended title, If I Did It: Confessions of a Killer.
2. Denise Brown's emotional and shocking testimony about alleged abuse
Nicole Brown’s sister Denise Brown gave heart-wrenching testimony in the first week of February 1995, mainly involving allegations that Simpson verbally and physically abused Brown Simpson during their marriage, which lasted from 1985 to 1992. In one alleged incident from the late 1980s, Denise said the defendant physically lifted Brown Simpson, threw her into a wall, and then tossed her out of their home, according to The New York Times.
Denise also said that Simpson called his wife a “fat pig” when she was pregnant and, in a separate 1989 incident, grabbed his wife while Simpson, Brown Simpson, and Denise were “having a great time” at a crowded bar.
“At one point, O.J. grabbed Nicole's crotch and said, 'This is where babies come from. And this belongs to me,’” Denise Brown testified, according to The New York Times. “And Nicole just sort of wrote it off like it was nothing — like, you know, like she was used to that kind of treatment. I thought it was really humiliating, if you ask me."
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In 1989, Simpson admitted to police that law enforcement had responded to eight previous domestic violence calls before a New Year’s Day altercation in which police found Brown Simpson bruised and scratched in the bushes, claiming Simpson threatened to kill her, according to the Los Angeles Times. Simpson eventually pleaded no contest to charges of spousal abuse for that incident.
Allegations of intimate partner violence were supported later in the trial when the court heard excerpts taken from two 911 calls placed on October 25, 1993. In them, Brown-Simpson cried that Simpson had broken down the door and was “f-----g going nuts,” according to The New York Times. She said she feared staying on the line because, “He’s going to beat the s--t out of me,” while Simpson could be heard shouting in the background.
When dispatchers asked if similar incidents had happened in the past, Brown Simpson answered, “Many times.”
3. Naked photos of attorney Marcia Clark leaked
Deputy District Attorney Marcia Clark was scrutinized for everything from her hair to the clothes throughout the trial, as previously covered by Oxygen.com. Not only was Clark’s role as a single mother and her looks attacked, but a 1995 op-ed in The Washington Post stated: "Men call her a hopeless flirt, a screeching wife, a bad mom, a shrill litigator. But she eludes them all, vividly contradictory — so sexy, so uptight, so serene, so snappish, so tired, so busy.”
The negative portrayal only heightened when, in early February of 1995, the National Enquirer published a 1979 photo in which Clark posed topless alongside her then-husband, Gabriel Horowitz, during a St. Tropez vacation. It was later revealed that Clark’s ex-mother-in-law, Clara Horowitz, sold the photo to the tabloid, according to Vanity Fair.
In Clark’s 1997 memoir, Without a Doubt, she wrote: “In my mind’s eye, I could see Gaby and me and our Italian train conductor friend. We were playful and giddy. I’d shed my top. It was so innocent ... I later learned that a private eye, hoping to curry favor with the Dream Team, had tracked [Clara Horowitz] down in Israel and put her in touch with the Enquirer.”
4. Kato Kaelin named a “hostile witness”
On March 28, 1995, Clark requested that Kato Kaelin — the aspiring actor who lived in the guest house at the Simpson's Rockingham residence — be declared a “hostile witness,” according to The New York Times. Judge Lance Ito granted the request, a shocking move since Kaelin was called as a witness for the prosecution.
Clark believed Kaelin was being evasive on the stand, contradicting earlier testimony in which the Milwaukee-born witness said Simpson was in a rage after seeing his wife in a tight dress at their daughter’s dance recital on the day of the murders, growing angrier when Brown then tried to limit Simpson’s presence that day.
Not only did Ito’s permission allow Clark to be more aggressive in her line of questioning, but it also barred the defense from making their repeated objections, according to the the Chicago Tribune.
The strategy catapulted Kaelin’s fame so much that after the trial, a poll showed that three times as many Americans could identify him over then-Vice President Al Gore, according to Slate.
“My opinion was I think he’s guilty; I have that opinion, and I still believe that today,” Kaelin said in a 2024 episode of Jesse Watters Primetime, according to Fox News. “On his deathbed, I don’t know if he said a penance or not — but I really believe he is guilty."
5. O.J. Simpson tries on gloves in court
Perhaps the prosecution’s best shot at securing Simpson’s guilt was a pair of leather gloves believed to belong to the killer. The left glove was found near the bodies, and its right match was found at Simpson’s Rockingham estate, according to People. The one on Simpson’s property contained blood belonging to the victims, enough for the LAPD to secure a warrant for Simpson’s arrest.
On top of that, investigators concluded that fibers from Simpson’s Ford Bronco, as well as hairs from Brown Simpson’s Akita dog, were also found on the fabric, further pointing to Simpson being in possession of the gloves.
However, on June 15, 1995, Simpson was asked by the prosecution to try the gloves on in court, but he seemed to struggle to put them on over the latex gloves he was handed.
Lead defense attorney Johnnie Cochran later used the opportunity to utter the now-famous line, “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit,” during his closing arguments.
Different theories have since attempted to explain why the gloves may not have fit, including swollen hands, fabric shrinkage caused by exposure and dried blood, and Simpson allegedly manipulating his hands to make the gloves appear ill-fitting.
6. Marcia Clark requests Judge Lance Ito recuse himself
One of the central debates in the trial was whether recordings of LAPD detective Mark Fuhrman would be allowed in as evidence. Thirteen hours of audio tapes, which included Fuhrman’s using racial slurs in a conversation with a North Carolina screenwriter, contained Fuhrman bad-mouthing police Captain Margaret "Peggy" York, who was not only the highest-ranking woman with the LAPD, but Judge Lance Ito’s wife.
“I love my wife dearly, and I am wounded by criticism of her, as any spouse would be,” Ito told the court, according to the Los Angeles Times. “And I think it is reasonable to assume that that could have some impact.”
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Clark didn’t believe it was plausible that Ito recused himself from two issues raised by the tapes, including the decision over their introduction as evidence and York possibly being called to the stand. Therefore, on August 15, 1995, she requested Ito withdraw entirely from the case.
One day later, Clark retracted her request, stating, “Although our review of the case law indicated that we are entitled under the law to seek the court's full recusal, we have determined that it is not the only course," according to The Seattle Times.
The prospect of Ito recusing himself could have significantly impacted the trial, possibly resulting in a mistrial.
7. Detective Mark Fuhrman tapes played in court
During a March 15, 1995, cross-examination by defense attorne F. Lee Baily, Fuhrman denied ever using a specific racial slur in the past decade. However, when 61 excerpts of Fuhrman recordings were played in court on August 29, 1995 by the defense, Fuhrman was heard using the slur a whopping 41 times, according to The New York Times.
Fuhrman bragged about using police brutality, heard in court just a few years after the 1991 LAPD beating of Rodney King and the 1992 L.A. Riots.
In one audio clip, Fuhrman was heard saying, “You’ve got 200 (racial slur)s who are trying to take you prisoner. You just chase the guy, and you beat the s--t out of him.” Fuhrman also bragged about fabricating evidence and lamented the number of Black individuals on the police force, according to the Los Angeles Times.
On top of his vitriol about Black people, he also said that women in the force, as well as liberals, should be bombed. He later pled the Fifth when questioned on the stand about whether he planted evidence in the Brown-Simpson/Goldman murders, though he denied that accusation in public interviews after the trial.
Fuhrman was later convicted of perjury and paid a $200 fine. He's now a regular contributor on Fox News.
8. The shocking verdict
On October 3, 1995, the world stood still when jury deliberations — expected to last weeks — ended after less than four hours. In what the Los Angeles Times called “a stunning announcement,” those inside and outside the courtroom braced themselves for the quick verdict, one that prompted the mayor to abbreviate a work trip in Japan and caused city officials to implement tactical measures to tame crowds. The White House even offered backup in case of an uncontrollable response.
In the end, O.J. Simpson was found not guilty of the murders of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman.
In a 2016 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Clark commented on why she thought the jury got it wrong.
“I know we made mistakes. We were not perfect. I made mistakes in every trial. But there were larger issues than the mistakes we made," she said at the time. "The media turned it into a circus, and everyone was going along for the ride. I had a judge who didn’t know how to control a courtroom and didn’t care who was pandering to the media and the celebrity side of the lawsuit. Then we had racism injected where it had no business being. There was sexism in the courtroom. It was one thing after another — an amalgamated nightmare.”
Clark also said she didn’t think the prosecution could overcome the “loyalty” Simpson inspired within the Black community.
Simpson spent the rest of his life maintaining his innocence until he died of cancer on April 10, 2024 at 76 years old.
No other suspect was ever named in the murders.