1990's Law and Justice | Simpson, Orenthal James "O. J." 1947-

FOOTBALL PLAYER, ACTOR,
MURDER SUSPECT

Almost the American Dream.

O. J. Simpson ran away with rushing and scoring records during his spectacular professional football career, but in 1994 he found himself publicly running from the law in what became the most bizarre murder investigation and trial of the decade. The June 1994 murder of Simpson's former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman dominated media attention for nearly two years and turned the football hero and actor into a public pariah. Simpson's trial revealed deep divisions in the way Americans perceived the confluence of race, wealth, and justice, as lawyers, judges, detectives, friends, and family members became household names in a surreal, but very public, murder mystery.

Early Years.

Orenthal James Simpson was born 9 July 1947 in San Francisco, California. He and his mother, Eunice, lived in the Petrero Hills...