Back in 1995, everyone had an opinion about the verdict of the O.J. Simpson murder trial, in which Simpson was acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. TV interviews were given and tell-all books were published by nearly everyone involved in the trial proceedings. There are also many quotes from O.J. Simpson about the murder trial verdict that shed light on what he was thinking during and after the courtroom saga that gripped the nation for almost a year — and has captivated audiences two decades later on FX's American Crime Story, which airs its finale on Tuesday night.
However, it should be noted that Simpson has actually heard multiple verdicts over the course of his life. His 1995 criminal trial is the most well known, but Simpson was also involved in two other trial proceedings that did not return favorable verdicts for him. According to The New York Times, Simpson was found liable in the deaths of Brown Simpson and Goldman during a 1997 civil suit and ordered to pay "$25 million in punitive damages" to their families. Then in 2008, Simpson was found guilty of armed robbery and kidnapping and is currently serving a jail sentence with a maximum of 33 years, as reported by the New York Times. In 2015, Simpson appealed the conviction for the second time, which the court rejected, according to CBS.
But what did Simpson have to say about his famous acquittal? Let's take a look.
1. "I was really numb. I must admit, until the day before, I thought it would be a hung jury."
Due to the civil trial proceedings, Simpson did not speak publicly about the trial until this 1996 interview with freelance journalist Ross Becker. It was released on VHS and this is what Simpson said about how he felt about the days leading up to the verdict.
2. "I was relieved, but I was also numb. I was fighting my emotions ... I was trying to tell myself I had gotten through this with some kind of dignity and I didn't want to lose it at that moment."
Simpson told this to Becker in their VHS interview in 1996 about the very moment the verdict was read.
3. "My reality isn't, 'Oh there might be a guy, sitting across the room, who thinks I got away with murder.' I don't work like that. Whatever he's thinking is his problem."
Simpson said this to Fox News' Greta Van Susteren in a 2004 interview for the 10th anniversary of the murders, saying only the media was upset about his verdict and he still has many fans asking him for autographs.
4. "I was thinking that day, I was going to walk out of that courtroom, take a van or car down to Laguna, and go hug my kids."
Simpson said this to Becker in their VHS interview in 1996 about what he was thinking about on the day of the verdict.
5. "I felt there was a lot of misrepresentations by the prosecution that, for whatever reason, the media used. Maybe it was a better story."
Simpson also said this to Becker in their VHS interview in 1996.
6. "Nicole would have stood by me."
Simpson said this to Becker about what Brown Simpson would've thought about the verdict.
7. "Occasionally, I'll get a person that yells something ... I've had at least on four occasions, when someone made a comment to me and you damn near had to get the bouncers to keep the guy from getting beat up by the other people ... Everywhere I go, people are supportive and protective."
Simpson said this to Van Susteren in the 2004 interview.
8. "Virtually every participant [of the trial] except me seems to have gotten rich."
Simpson told this to two Pepperdine University students, who interviewed him in 1997 and have since shared the footage with Entertainment Tonight.
9. "I found out in my case, the only people who weren't affected by the media were the jurors, because they were totally sequestered."
Simpson told this to Van Susteren in the 2004 interview, in which he talks about how jurors can be swayed and affected by media attention in high profile cases.
10. "I thought the media let the American public, as well as myself, down, as well as Nicole and Ron down in trying to find the true perpetrators."
This one also comes from the Pepperdine interview, in which Simpson talks about how the media was too distracted by his celebrity, according to Entertainment Tonight.
11. "I never think of Marcia Clark. I never think about her at all."
Simpson said this to Van Susteren in their 2004 interview. He also said he doesn't think about prosecutor Christopher Darden either. Since American Crime Story focused mainly on the lawyers involved in Simpson's trial, it's interesting to see what the man at the center of it all thought about the verdict that so many had an opinion on.
