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Caalaroga Shark Media. This is Reed Carter, Friday, October third,
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twenty twenty five, Day eight of eight days of OJ,
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exactly thirty years ago. Today, at ten am Pacific time,
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one hundred and fifty million Americans watched Justice Die on
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live television. October third, nineteen ninety five. The day OJ
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Simpson walked free after murdering Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
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The day four hours of jury deliberation erased eight months
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of evidence. The day America learned that celebrity plus money
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plus the right lawyers equals a different kind of justice.
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Not guilty. Two words that divided a nation. Two words
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that sent a double murderer home to his mansion. Two
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words that proved reasonable doubt doesn't have to be reasonable
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to be effective. We've spent seven episodes examining how this happened.
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How the prosecution built an overwhelming case and then destroyed
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it with incompetence. How the defense transformed a murder trial
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into a referendum on police racism. How a jury selected
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to distrust the LAPD chose message sending over justice. Today
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we examined the end the closing arguments that sealed Ojay's fate,
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the deliberation that ignored evidence, the verdict that proved celebrity
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justice means never having to face consequences for murder. Thirty
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years ago, today, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman's killer
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walked free. Their families watched from the gallery as the
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justice system failed them completely, and America learned that fame
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matters more than facts, that narrative matters more than evidence,
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that politics matters more than truth. I'm read, Carter, this
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is day eight of eight days of oj Welcome to
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the day America stopped believing injustice. September nineteen ninety five
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the month that should have been the prosecution's redemption. Four
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weeks to make closing arguments that would remind the jury
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what this case was really about, two innocent people brutally
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murdered by O. J. Simpson. Four weeks to cut through
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the fog of reasonable doubt and focus on the evidence
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that proved guilt beyond any scientific certainty. Instead, September became
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the month we watched the prosecution make their final mistakes
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while the defense delivered closing arguments that guaranteed O Jay's freedom.
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September twenty sixth Christopher Darden delivers the prosecution's first closing argument,
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and watching this thirty years later, I can see a
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man who knows he's lost, but is making one last
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desperate attempt to salvage justice from the wreckage of his case.
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Darden talks about domestic violence, about Ojay's pattern of abuse
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toward Nicole, about how that abuse escalated to murder when
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Nicole finded tried to leave permanently. He reminds the jury
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that this case began with a nine to one one
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call where Nicole begged for help from the man who
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would eventually kill her. He killed her because he couldn't
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have her, Darden says, if he couldn't have her, nobody could.
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This should have been compelling. This should have reminded the
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jury that before this became about police racism and evidence
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contamination and Mark Foreman's lies, it was about a woman
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who died trying to escape an abusive relationship. But I
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can see it in the jury's faces. They're not listening.
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They've already made up their minds. They're not interested in
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domestic violence patterns or motive evidence. They're interested in sending
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a message to the LAPD and that message requires a
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quitting O. J. Simpson. Darden tries to address the elephant
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in the room, Mark Furman's racism. He acknowledges that Furman
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is a liar and a racist who used inexcusable language.
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But he argues that racist cops can still find real
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evidence of actual crimes, that Furman's character flaws don't erase
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OJ's blood at the crime scene. Mark Furman is a racist,
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Darden says, OJ Simpson is a murderer. Both things can
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be true, both things are true, but only one of
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those truths matters to this jury. September twenty eighth, Johnny
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Cochrane delivers the defense's closing argument, and it's a masterpiece
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of manipulation. Cochran doesn't spend much time arguing that Ojy
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is innocent. He can't because the evidence against him is overwhelming. Instead,
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he argues that convicting oj would be wrong because the
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police can't be trusted. If you convict mister Simpson despite
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all the police misconduct, you send a message to every
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other officer that this behavior is acceptable. Cochrane declares, you
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must send a message that this will not be tolerated.
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This is jury nullification disguised as justice. Cochrane is telling
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the jury to ignore the evidence and focus on pol
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police accountability. He's asking them to acquit a murderer to
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punish police misconduct. He's making OJ's acquittal about something bigger
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than OJ's guilt, and it's working. I can see it
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in the jury's body language. They're nodding, they're engaged. They
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believe they're about to strike a blow for justice by
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letting a killer go free. Cochrane reminds the jury about
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the glove demonstration, about if it doesn't fit, you must acquit,
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about how the prosecution's own evidence seem to prove Ojy's innocence.
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He turns the prosecution's biggest mistake into his biggest victory.
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But Cochrane's most effective argument is his appeal to the
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jury's experiences with police misconduct. He talks about Furman's racism,
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about the LAPD's history of corruption, about how black Americans
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have been framed by racist cops for decades. This is
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your chance to say no more, Cochrane tells them, this
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is your chance to send a message that racist police
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officers will not be allowed to frame innocent black men.
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Except OJ Simpson isn't innocent. He's a guilty black man
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who happens to have been investigated by racist cops. But
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Cochrane has convinced the jury that those are mutually exclusive categories,
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that black men accused by racist cops must be innocent
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by definition. September twenty ninth, Marcia Clark delivers the prosecution's
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final closing argument. Clark tries one last time to refocus
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the case on the victims. She shows pictures of Nicole
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and ron She reminds the jury that two people are
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dead and their killer is sitting at the defense table.
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This is not about Mark Furman, Clark says, this is
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not about the LAPD. This is about Nicole Brown Simpson
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and Ronald Goldman and the man who murdered them. Clark
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walks through the evidence methodically, the DNA proof, the blood evidence,
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the timeline, the motive. She builds the case piece by piece,
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showing how every element points to OJ's guilt. But I
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can see she's lost them. The jury is physically present
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but mentally absent. They're thinking about police racism, not murder evidence.
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They're thinking about sending messages, not delivering justice. Clark's closing
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is competent, but feudle. She's presenting evidence to people who've
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decided evidence doesn't matter. She's talking about murder to jurors
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who care more about police misconduct. September twenty ninth, three pm.
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Judge Eto gives the jury their instructions about reasonable doubt,
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burden of proof, and the law they must follow. He
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explains that they must base their verdict on evidence, not
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sympathy or prejudice or desire to send messages. These instructions
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are meaningless. This jury stopped caring about legal standards months ago.
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They're operating under their own definition of justice, and that
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definition requires a quitting OJ Simpson, regardless of his guilt.
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Three forty five pm, the jury retires to deliberate. The
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shortest deliberation in major murder trial history is about to begin.
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Four hours. The jury deliberates for four hours in a
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case that took eight months to present. Four hours to
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consider DNA evidence, blood evidence, hair and fiber evidence, timeline evidence,
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motive evidence. Four hours to evaluate testimony from dozens of
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witnesses and hundreds of exhibits. Four hours to ignore all
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of it and vote to acquit based on police misconduct
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that had nothing to do with Ojay's guilt. And here's
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what I think really happened in that jury room. I
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think the decision was made before deliberations began. I think
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this jury had decided months earlier that they weren't going
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to convict a black celebrity based on evidence collected by
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the LAPD. The four hours wasn't deliberation, It was just
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making it look respectable. October second, three pm. After four hours,
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the jury sends a note to Judge Eto, we have
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reached a vert. Four hours. The jury that took months
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to select spent four hours deciding whether oj Simpson was
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guilty of double murder. They spent more time arguing about
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Mark Foreman's language than about Ojay's guilt. The courthouse erupts.
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Media from around the world descends on downtown Los Angeles.
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America prepares to watch the most anticipated verdict in legal history,
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but the verdict won't be read until the next morning.
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Oj will spend one more night in jail before walking free.
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Nicole and Ron's families will spend one more night hoping
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for justice before watching it die. October third, nineteen ninety five,
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ten a m. Pacific time. The court room is packed.
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The cameras are rolling. One hundred and fifty million Americans
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are watching live television, waiting to see if justice will
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be served or celebrity will triumph. Judge Edo asks Oj
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to stand. The jury foreman Armanda Coolie unfolds the verdict
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and reads the words that will echo through history. We
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the jury in the above entitled action find the defendant
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Orenthaled James Simpson not guilty of the crime of murder.
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Not guilty. The double murderer walks free. The man whose
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blood was at the crime scene is innocent. The defendant
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whose DNA matched evidence found with the victims is acquitted.
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The courtroom explodes. O Jay's family celebrates, his lawyers embrace.
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The dream team has pulled off the greatest legal victory
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in American history, freeing a guilty client through superior storytelling
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and jury manipulation. But the cameras capture something else, the
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split screen that defines America's reaction. Black Americans celebrating in
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the streets, cheering O Jay's acquittal as justice for decades
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of police misconduct. White Americans sitting in stunned silence, unable
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to believe that overwhelming evidence of guilt could be ignored
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so completely. This isn't just a verdict. It's a raw
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shacked test for American race relations. Black America sees justice
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a black man finally beating a corrupt system that has
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framed innocent people for generations. White America sees injustice a
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guilty celebrity escaping consequences through expensive lawyers and racial politics.
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Both reactions are understandable. Both reactions reveal truths about America
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that we'd rather not acknowledge. The LAPD is corrupt and racist. O. J.
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Simpson is a murderer. The justice system failed Nicole and Ron.
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The justice system also failed every black person who'd been
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framed by racist cops. But here's what frustrates me most
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about October third, nineteen ninety five. None of those larger
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issues justified ignoring the evidence that OJ Simpson killed two
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innocent people. Police misconduct is real and terrible and deserving
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of punishment, But the punishment shouldn't be letting murderers go free.
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The cameras catch OJ's reaction to the verdict. He's relieved,
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but not surprised. He knew this jury would acquit him.
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His lawyers had selected them perfectly and manipulated them brilliantly,
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he whispers to Johnny cochrane, what about the civil case?
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What about the civil case? Even in his moment of triumph,
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OJ is already worried about the next legal challenge because
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he knows something the celebrating crowds don't know. This acquittal
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doesn't mean he's innocent. It just means he got away
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with murder. The civil case would come later, with a
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different jury, different rules, different standards of proof. That jury
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would find Oj liable for the wrongful deaths of Nicole
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and Ron. They would award thirty three point five million
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dollars in damages. They would deliver the justice that the
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criminal jury refused to provide. But that's another story for
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another day. October third, nineteen ninety five is about this moment,
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the moment celebrity justice triumphed over actual justice. The moment
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performance mattered more than proof, The moment America learned that
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some people are too famous to face consequences for murder.
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We'll be right back with the aftermath of the verdict
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and what OJ's acquittal meant for justice in America. Welcome
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back to the final episode of Eight Days of OJ.
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I'm reed, Carter and we're examining how October third, nineteen
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ninety five became the day America learned that celebrity plus
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money equals immunity from murder charges. The verdict wasn't just wrong,
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it was predictable. Anyone who'd watched this trial objectively could
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see where it was heading. The jury had been selected
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by the defense, the evidence had been attacked by the defense.
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The investigators had been destroyed by the defense. The narrative
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had been controlled by the defense. OJ Simpson didn't win
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this case. Johnny Cochran did. Cochrane turned a straightforward murder
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trial into a referendum on police racism. He made the
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jury care more about sending a message than delivering justice.
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He convinced twelve people that acquitting a murderer was the
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right thing to do. And here's what's most tragic about
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this verdict. It didn't actually accomplish what the jury thought
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it would accomplish. They thought they were striking a blow
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against police misconduct. They thought they were standing up for
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black Americans who'd been framed by racist cops. But they weren't.
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They were just letting one guilty, rich celebrity escape consequences.
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While the LAPD continued its misconduct against poor people who
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couldn't afford dream teams. They were sending a message that
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police accountability only matters when the defendant is famous enough
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and rich enough to hire the right lawyers. The verdict
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also so revealed the fundamental flaw in using criminal trials
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to address social issues. Criminal trials are supposed to determine
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guilt or innocence based on evidence. They're not supposed to
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be vehicles for social justice or political messages. When juries
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start ignoring evidence to make political points, the entire system
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breaks down. And that's exactly what happened on October third,
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nineteen ninety five. The jury ignored overwhelming evidence of guilt
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to make a point about police racism. They turned the
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courtroom into a voting booth and used their verdict as
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a ballot measure on LAPD accountability. But the most tragic
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aspect of this verdict was what it meant for Nicole
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Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman's families. They sat in that
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courtroom and watched their loved ones killer walk free. They
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heard not guilty and knew that justice had died along
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with Nicole and ron Fred Goldman, Ron's father spent years
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fighting for accountability that the criminal jury refuse used to provide.
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He knew Ojay was guilty, he knew the evidence proved it.
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He knew the jury had chosen politics over justice. The
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Brown family faced the same heartbreak. They lost Nicole to
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domestic violence and then lost justice to celebrity worship. They