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OJ Simpson, the previous United States soccer star who was acquitted of homicide in a broadly watched trial within the Nineties, has died on the age of 76.
In a press release shared on social media Thursday morning, Simpson's household mentioned he died on Wednesday after a battle with most cancers.
“He was surrounded by his youngsters and grandchildren. “Presently of transition, his household requests that you just please respect his needs for privateness and style,” the assertion mentioned.
American media shops reported in February that Simpson was present process therapy for prostate most cancers.
On April 10, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, died battling most cancers.
He was surrounded by his youngsters and grandchildren.
Throughout this time of transition, his household asks that you just please respect his needs for privateness and style.
-The Simpson Household
– OJ Simpson (@TheRealOJ32) 11 April 2024
Simpson, nicknamed “The Juice”, was a star on the College of Southern California.
He received the Heisman Trophy – the highest honor in American school soccer – in 1968 earlier than shifting to the Nationwide Soccer League (NFL) because the number-one draft decide of the Buffalo Payments a yr later.
He performed 11 seasons {of professional} American soccer and picked up quite a few accolades.
However Simpson grew to become a controversial determine after he was accused of homicide within the 1994 stabbing deaths of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her good friend Ronald Goldman.
He was ordered to give up to police, however 5 days after the murders, he fled together with his former accomplice in his white Ford Bronco and led police on a low-speed chase via Los Angeles.
Simpson's months-long trial – dubbed the “trial of the century” – was televised and acquired widespread media consideration within the US and world wide.
His acquittal in 1995 additionally divided the nation: some Individuals noticed it as a failure of justice, whereas others believed he had been unfairly focused by a racist police power.
“I don't suppose most of America believes I did it,” Simpson instructed The New York Occasions in 1995, every week after a jury decided he had not murdered Brown and Goldman. “I’ve acquired 1000’s of letters and telegrams from folks supporting me.”
Even years later, the case continues to fascinate the general public, sparking debate on race, gender, home abuse, celeb justice and police misconduct.
Celebrities like protection lawyer Johnnie Cochran would additionally develop into nationwide celebrities.
When the prosecution requested Simpson to put on bloodstained gloves discovered on the homicide scene, Simpson struggled to put on them over the latex gloves he wore to deal with proof.
Simpson's obvious problem with gloves grew to become a central a part of Cochran's protection arguments. “If it doesn't match, you need to acquit,” he famously mentioned in closing arguments.
Whereas a prison courtroom jury in 1995 discovered him not responsible of homicide, a jury in a separate civil trial in 1997 discovered him responsible for the deaths and ordered him to pay $33.5 million to Brown and Goldman's members of the family. Gave.
“We lastly bought justice for Ron and Nicole,” Ron Goldman's father, Fred Goldman, mentioned after the civil verdict.
A decade later, nonetheless overshadowed by a California wrongful demise verdict, Simpson was concerned within the robberies of two sports activities memorabilia sellers.
Based on prosecutors, Simpson led 5 males to a cramped Las Vegas resort room the place sellers displayed their wares. The 2 males accompanying Simpson had firearms, and prosecutors alleged that Simpson took the gadgets whereas memorabilia sellers had been held at gunpoint.
Nonetheless, Simpson alleged that the memorabilia had beforehand been stolen from him and that he was merely retrieving it. A jury finally convicted him of armed theft and different felonies.
Captured on the age of 61, he served a nine-year sentence in a far northern Nevada jail.
“I didn't wish to damage anybody,” Simpson, carrying a blue jail jumpsuit with shackles on his legs and wrists, mentioned on the sentencing listening to. “I didn't know I used to be doing something flawed.”
The general public's fascination with Simpson by no means waned, and plenty of debated whether or not he was punished in Las Vegas for his acquittal in Los Angeles.
His life story was chronicled within the Oscar-winning 2016 documentary OJ: Made in America, in addition to numerous TV dramas.
Simpson additionally briefly introduced a e-book deal in 2006 for a manuscript titled If I Did It. Nonetheless, public outcry prevented its publication and the household of homicide sufferer Ron Goldman finally regained the rights.
Within the wake of Simpson's demise, the Goldman household instructed NBC Information that they might not mourn his passing.
Fred Goldman mentioned, “Let me simply say it's a reminder of Ron being gone all these years.” “This isn’t an enormous loss to the world. “It's one other reminder of Ron's departure.”