Spoiler alert – O.J.’s innocent!

In case you missed last nights finale of FX’s The People vs O.J. Simpson the popular mini series that has riveted both viewers who lived through the infamous double murder and those who only grew up hearing about it, then you already know…it was no cliff-hanger.

Even if you were too young to remember  the circus like atmosphere that surrounded the trial of the century, you know the infamous verdict – that the jury will find the Juice not guilty of the grisly killing his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman.

This 10 part American Crime Story ripped straight from the headlines, made the headlines every day for over a year.

When the stunningly swift verdict was read the NY Times reported that much of the nation, President Clinton included, stopped work to listen to the verdict. NY Times October 4, 1995

Transfixed

Today’s transfixed viewers had only to wait a mere ten weeks to witness this controversial verdict.

For followers of the actual trial it was a major commitment. The verdict that  caused both joy and rage, came 16 months after the gruesome killings in June 1994. After slogging through 8 months of  often tedious testimony that unfolded on TV for 8 hours every day, the verdict was reached with unbelievable speed.

The Simpson Double Murder Trial captivated an OJ obsessed nation. 1995 editorial NY Post

In the late summer and fall of 1995  the O.J. trial took over my TV everyday.

Bedridden with a bad bout of Lyme Disease, I was able to join  the millions who were glued to their TV’s watching  the  Trial of the Century.

There were no smart phones, no Facebook,  Twitter, no streaming media. Cable TV was the only game in town. The gavel to gavel coverage could be seen on Court TV and CNN,  the only 2 networks covering the case nationally. Fox News and MSNBC  had not yet been launched.

The trial would become a daily melodrama and I knew all the players  big and small on a first name basis as if characters in a favorite TV show.

Marcia, Marcia, Marcia. Often bombarded with sexism, prosecutor Marcia Clark was scrutinized during the trial on everything from childcare to hair and makeup. NY Post September 27, 1995

Johnnie Cochran a man with a mission who jumped at the chance to make the OJ trial a broader discussion about policing and race. NY Post Sept. 28, 1995

Nicole Simpson. NY Daily News January 27, 1995

Nicole’s sister Denise Brown was a sympathetic witness when she told the court she had been physically abused by O.J. too. NY Post Feb. 4, 1995

Prosecutor Chris Darden: “He Killed Her Out of Jealousy”Jan 25, 1995 NY Post. O.J. Simpson surrounded by his dream team, Johnnie Cochran, Robert Kardashian and Robert Shapiro

The Fuhrman tapes were controversial and Judge Lance Ito nearly had to recuse himself. In a bizarre twist, the Judge’s wife Peggy York one of the highest ranking women in LAPD at the time was once Mark Fuhrman’s supervisor and on the tape Fuhrman says many disparaging things about her. NY Post August 16. 1995

Rogue cop Mark Fuhrman is heard spewing the “N” word throughout the tapes and when called to the stand, he pleads the fifth and the prosecution sees its case implode. NY Post August 30, 1995

In the evening I watched as the news media rehashed the days events in court, listening with earnest as CNN’s legal Greta Van Susteren,  and Court TV’s Dan Abrams dissected the days story. Still not sated, I  read with relish as the story was reported in the daily N.Y.newspapers.

It was the most dramatic courtroom verdict in history and after months of testimony and high drama, it came with breathtaking speed.

Jury’s Out

NY Daily News September 30, 1995 . “The Jury’s Out”

After 8 months of testimony O.J.’s fate was in the jury hand and for once the famous courtroom was all  but empty with the cameras turned off.

NY Post September 30, 1995.

The jury reached a verdict after deliberating less than 4 hours. A transfixed nation would learn the verdict at 1pm. NY Daily News October 3, 1995

To everyone’s surprise,  Judge Ito announced on Monday October 2  that the jurors had reached a verdict but that it would not be announced until 1pm the next day.

The trail of the century turned into the cliffhanger of the century as the longest sequestered jury in U.S. history took a mere 3 hours and 40 minutes to render a verdict, shocking everyone.

Nerves were raw, the suspense palpable and the media had to fill the time as speculation was rampant.

At 1pm today the world would learn the verdict. NY Post Tuesday Oct. 3, 1995

Tuesday morning we awoke with bated breath as  the verdict that millions had waited to hear for more than a year would  be revealed that afternoon at 1pm N.Y. time.

TV turned on the juice…it was all O.J. all the time. Networks preempted afternoon programs to carry the verdict live; even sports channels planned live coverage of the reading of the verdict in the courtroom.

Not Guilty

The NY Post put out a special O.J. Verdict Extra Tuesday October 3, 1995

“Suddenly it was pronounced He’s Innocent ! In a stunning verdict the  jury finds O.J. Simpson not guilty of murder in the savage slayings of his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman,” the Post reported.

The amazing conclusion to the Trial of the Century, caused an audible gasp to fill the courtroom.

The world stopped cold and stood transfixed to listen to the fate of O.J., then erupted in cheers of joys and gasps of disgust. NY Post Oct. 3, 1995

New York like every American city ground to a halt on Monday October 3 at 1:00.

From my apartment I could hear there was a palpable quiet to the streets.  On busy avenues, in crowded bars, in living rooms and offices, work and play came to a nervous halt at 1:07 p.m. as TV’s and radios broadcast the stunning event. Even on the floor of the Stock Exchange, the N.Y. Post reported,  trading was temporarily disrupted to listen to the verdict.

There was a collective gasp and then shock, surprise, relief, happiness and anger when the verdict was read. Some claimed “it’s a disgrace.”

In Harlem people shook hands with strangers and applauded. “The juice is loose,” one man was quoted  in the Post. “It’s about time the system worked,” said another. Groups erupted in cheers, tears and hugs when the verdict was read.

The O.J. spectacle was black and white proof that America was a deeply divided nation  on race and the trial and its controversial verdict brought that into the light.

© Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream, 2016. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.