How OJ Simpson’s famous gloves led the biggest legal farce of the 20th century

OJ Simpson was found not guilty after four hours of jury deliberations (Picture: Getty/Reuters)

Former NFL player OJ Simpson has died aged 76 following a battle with cancer.

But the football star of the 80s and 90s was better known as the man who was found not guilty of murdering his ex-wife and her friend.

What did OJ Simpson do?

OJ Simpson married his ex-wife, Nicole Brown, in 1985 and they had two children together.

Nicole filed for divorce in February 1992, citing ‘irreconcilable differences’ – and in the years that followed she claimed Simpson had stalked and harassed her, spied on her having sex with her new boyfriend, and said he had threatened to kill her if he ever found her with another man.

On June 12, 1994, Simpson and Nicole attended their daughter Sydney’s dance recital. Afterwards Nicole and the family went to eat at a restaurant, but didn’t invite Simpson. Her friend. Ron Goldman, was working there.

Shortly before 11pm a dog walker came across Nicole’s dog barking outside her home – and an hour later her body was found outside the house, with Ron’s body close by.

They had both been stabbed multiple times.

Simpson was told about the murders while on a business trip in Chicago the next day. On June 17 he tried to escape police during a lengthy car chase after failing to turn himself in to a police station on time, but he returned home soon after and was charged with murder.

OJ Simpson’s murder trial

OJ pleaded ‘absolutely 100% not guilty’ to the charges. The trial started in January 1995 and after an almost 10-month trial, the jury took less than four hours to find him not guilty.

The trial was dogged with issues, with Simpson’s lawyers claiming virtually all of the blood evidence against him was planted in a police conspiracy.

They also claimed that a bloody glove found at Simpson’s home had been planted there, with the other half of the pair found at the crime scene.

His lawyers infamously asked Simpson to try on the gloves – and they appeared to be too tight for him to put on easily.

The prosecution claimed that Simpson was pretending to struggle to pull on the gloves, to which his defence lawyer replied: ‘I don’t think he could act the size of his hands’.

Simpson and his lawyers pictured after he was found not guilty (Picture: Sipa/Shutterstock)

This was the origin of the quote: ‘If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.’

Prosecutors believed they had a strong case against Simpson – but the defence team persuaded the jury that there was reasonable doubt regarding the DNA evidence.

Did OJ Simpson do it?

In the eyes of the law, as he was found not guilty, OJ Simpson did not murder Nicole Brown or Ron Goldman – but following the trial there has been constant speculation about whether he literally managed to get away with murder.

Following the criminal trial, Nicole’s father launched a civil suit against Simpson – and in 1997, the jury unanimously found OJ responsible for the deaths of both Nicole and Ron.

The Goldman family was awarded compensatory and punitive damages totaling $33.5 million ($63.6 million in 2023 dollars), but have received only a small portion of that figure.

OJ Simpson’s legal team

OJ Simpson was represented by a high-profile defence team, including Robert Kardashian – ex-husband of Kris Jenner and father to Kourtney, Kim, Khloe and Rob.

His team was referred to as ‘the dream team’, and it was initially led by Robert Shapiro and subsequently Johnnie Cochran.

The team also included F. Lee Bailey, Alan Dershowitz, Shawn Holley, Carl E. Douglas, and Gerald Uelmen. Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld were two additional attorneys who specialized in DNA evidence.

The People vs OJ Simpson TV show

In 2016, the OJ Simpson trial was turned into a television programme and featured in the first season of American Crime Story.

It revolved around the murder case as well as the combination of prosecution confidence, defence witnesses, and the LAPD’s history with black people.

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