The O.J. Simpson case timeline runs from the June 1994 killings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman through Simpson’s April 2024 death and the creditor claims that followed. In between came a nationally televised freeway chase, a nine-month criminal trial that ended in acquittal, a civil verdict finding him liable for the same deaths, a $33.5 million judgment, a Las Vegas armed robbery conviction, nine years in a Nevada prison, and a probate fight that is still going.
June 1994: The Murders and the Bronco Chase
On the night of June 12, 1994, Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman were stabbed to death outside Nicole’s townhouse in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles. Police arrived shortly after midnight. LAPD Robbery-Homicide detectives spent the next several days collecting blood evidence, a leather glove, shoe prints, and other material from the scene and from Simpson’s nearby estate.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office charged Simpson with two counts of first-degree murder with special circumstances based on the multiple killings. In September 1994, the DA announced it would not pursue the death penalty and would instead seek life without parole.
On June 17, 1994, Simpson failed to turn himself in as arranged with his attorney, Robert Shapiro, and police declared him a fugitive. That evening, Simpson’s friend Al Cowlings drove a white Ford Bronco along Los Angeles freeways at low speed with Simpson in the back seat, trailed by a convoy of police cruisers. An estimated 95 million Americans watched live. Simpson reportedly held a gun and spoke to police dispatchers by phone while officers kept their distance. The pursuit ended at Simpson’s Brentwood estate, where he surrendered. Cowlings was arrested for aiding a fugitive, though prosecutors later dropped the charges.
1995: The Criminal Trial and Acquittal
The trial opened on January 24, 1995, and ran for nearly nine months. Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden led the prosecution. Simpson’s defense team, quickly dubbed the “Dream Team,” was headed by Johnnie Cochran and included Robert Shapiro, F. Lee Bailey, Barry Scheck, Robert Kardashian, and Alan Dershowitz.
DNA evidence sat at the center of the state’s case. Blood samples from the crime scene, Simpson’s Bronco, and his estate were presented with statistical analysis showing the genetic matches were overwhelmingly unlikely to belong to anyone else. DNA was still a relatively new forensic tool in 1995, and the defense attacked it aggressively, arguing that sloppy collection and storage at the LAPD crime lab had contaminated the samples.
The trial’s most famous moment came when prosecutors asked Simpson to try on a pair of leather gloves recovered during the investigation. The gloves appeared too tight. Cochran built his closing around it: “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.”
The defense landed its heaviest blow through Detective Mark Fuhrman, one of the first investigators at the scene and the officer who reported finding the bloody glove at Simpson’s property. Under cross-examination, Fuhrman testified he had not used racial slurs in the previous ten years. The defense then introduced audio recordings of Fuhrman repeatedly using the n-word in conversations with an aspiring screenwriter. The defense argued that a detective willing to lie under oath about racism could just as easily have planted evidence.
The jury began deliberating in early October 1995 and reached a unanimous decision in under four hours. On October 3, the clerk read the verdict: not guilty on both counts. The acquittal meant Simpson would face no prison time for the killings, but it did not end his legal exposure.
1996–1997: The Civil Verdict and $33.5 Million
In 1996, the families of both victims filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Simpson. A civil case runs under a different standard than a criminal prosecution. Prosecutors must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt; a civil plaintiff only needs to show that liability is more likely than not, a standard known as preponderance of the evidence.1Cornell Law Institute. Burden of Proof That gap explains how the same facts can produce a not guilty verdict in one courtroom and a finding of liability in another without any legal contradiction.
The civil trial also allowed procedures that the criminal trial had not. Simpson was compelled to testify and answer questions under oath about the night of the murders. In the criminal case, the Fifth Amendment had protected him from taking the stand. The civil jury also heard evidence that had been excluded from the criminal proceedings.
On February 5, 1997, the jury found Simpson liable for the deaths of both Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. Damages totaled $33.5 million: $8.5 million in compensatory damages to Ron Goldman’s parents, $12.5 million in punitive damages to the Goldman estate, and another $12.5 million in punitive damages to the estate of Nicole Brown Simpson.2Justia. Rufo v Simpson (2001) Actually collecting the money would take decades.
2006–2007: “If I Did It” and the Fight to Collect
Simpson largely avoided paying the civil judgment for years, shielding assets through various legal strategies. In 2006, he signed a deal to publish a book titled “If I Did It,” a hypothetical account of how the murders could have been committed. The book sparked immediate outrage, and the original publisher pulled it under pressure. In August 2007, a Florida bankruptcy court awarded the book’s rights to the Goldman family to partially satisfy the outstanding judgment. The Goldmans published the book in September 2007 under the modified title “If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer,” with the word “If” shrunk to near-invisibility on the cover.
With interest accruing on the original judgment year after year, the amount Simpson owed climbed steadily. By the time of his death in 2024, it had grown to roughly $58 million.
2007–2008: Las Vegas Robbery and Conviction
On September 13, 2007, Simpson led a group of men into a room at the Palace Station hotel in Las Vegas to confront two memorabilia dealers who Simpson claimed possessed items stolen from him. Several of Simpson’s associates carried firearms. The presence of guns turned the encounter into multiple felonies under Nevada law.
Simpson and several co-defendants were arrested. Most of his associates negotiated plea deals. Walter Alexander, who brought a gun into the room, received probation. Clarence “C.J.” Stewart, the only co-defendant who went to trial alongside Simpson, was sentenced to 15 years but later had his conviction overturned after an appeals court found the verdict was tainted by Simpson’s fame.
Simpson went to trial in 2008. The jury heard audio recordings of the confrontation and testimony from participants who had already cut deals. On October 3, 2008, exactly 13 years to the day after his murder acquittal, Simpson was found guilty on all twelve counts, including armed robbery, kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon, and conspiracy. The judge sentenced him to 33 years in prison with eligibility for parole after nine years.
2017–2024: Parole, Death, and the Estate
Simpson served his time at Lovelock Correctional Center in northern Nevada. At his July 2017 parole hearing, he told the board he had lived “a conflict-free life.” The Nevada Board of Parole Commissioners did not have access to his 1989 no-contest plea to misdemeanor domestic battery against Nicole Brown Simpson, a case in which he had been sentenced to community service, probation, and a small fine. Nevada parole officials had attempted to obtain the records from California but received no response, so they treated Simpson as having no prior criminal history. The board granted parole, and Simpson was released on October 1, 2017, at age 70.
Simpson lived in Las Vegas after his release. On April 10, 2024, he died of prostate cancer at age 76.
His death did not end the case. Malcolm LaVergne, the executor of Simpson’s estate, faced immediate creditor claims, with the Goldman family’s long-unpaid civil judgment at the front of the line. In November 2025, LaVergne accepted the Goldman family’s claim for approximately $58 million, including decades of accrued interest. The estate itself was valued at under $600,000, making full collection unlikely. The executor also filed a separate lawsuit against a company owned by Simpson’s son, Justin, seeking to recover a Las Vegas home that Simpson had purchased, arguing the property should be returned to the estate to help pay creditors. More than thirty years after the murders, the case is still moving through a Nevada probate court.