O.J. Simpson, Football Star & Murder Suspect, Dies At 76

O.J. Simpson, the former NFL star who was famously acquitted for the 1994 murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, died Thursday after suffering complications from cancer. He was 76.

Rising to fame in the late 1960s as a star running back at USC, Simpson won a national championship and the Heisman Trophy with the Trojans before embarking on a successful NFL career with the Buffalo Bills. He also pursued an acting career during and after his football career, earning roles in the Naked Gun trilogy and other smaller films and television shows.

In 1994, SImpson’s legacy was forever altered when he became the central figure of a massive cultural event following the murders of Brown, SImpson’s ex-wife, and her friend Goldman.

A car chase involving the Los Angeles Police Department and Simpson’s white Ford Bronco was one of the most viewed television events of all time, and the ensuing 11-month murder trial is often considered the most highly publicized court proceeding in human history.

Represented by “the Dream Team,” a group of lawyers led by Robert Shapiro and later Johnnie Cochran, Simpson was eventually acquitted of all charges involving the deaths of Brown and Goldman. Despite a significant amount of evidence at the scene implicating Simpson, many have speculated that his lawyers took advantage of racial tensions between the LAPD and local black communities to introduce a different narrative to the jury.

Simpson was not found guilty in the criminal trial, but in 1996, the families of Brown and Goldman filed a civil lawsuit for wrongful death. In a quieter trial, Simpson was found liable for their deaths and was ordered to pay $33.5 million in damages to the families. He later declared bankruptcy, beginning a tailspin and eventually leading to further legal troubles.

In 2007, Simpson and a group of conspirators were arrested for breaking into a Las Vegas hotel room and robbing sports memorabilia at gunpoint. Facing a list of charges including robbery, assault, weapons possession and kidnapping, Simpson was eventually convicted and sentenced to 33 years in prison. He was released on parole in 2017.

Simpson’s family announced his death Thursday morning, naming an unspecified form of cancer as the cause of death. In nearly 30 years since the murder trial, Simpson never took responsibility for the deaths of Brown and Goldman.