The O.J. Simpson trial timeline runs from the June 12, 1994 killings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman through Simpson’s October 3, 1995 acquittal, a 1997 civil judgment against him, a 2008 Las Vegas robbery conviction that sent him to prison for nine years, and his death in April 2024. What follows is the sequence, event by event.
June 12, 1994: The Murders
Late on the evening of June 12, 1994, the bodies of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman were found outside Nicole’s condominium on Bundy Drive in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles. Both had been stabbed multiple times. Goldman, a 25-year-old waiter at the nearby Mezzaluna restaurant, had gone to the condo to return a pair of sunglasses that Nicole’s mother had left at the restaurant earlier that evening.
Detectives went to Simpson’s estate on Rockingham Avenue, about two miles away, to notify him. They noticed blood on a white Ford Bronco parked outside the property. Citing the possibility that additional victims might be inside, they entered the grounds without a warrant and found more blood on the driveway and a bloody leather glove behind a guest house. Forensic testing over the following days linked blood at both locations to Simpson and the victims.
Simpson was charged under California Penal Code Section 187, which covers the killing of a human being with malice aforethought. First-degree murder in California carries a sentence of 25 years to life in state prison.1California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 187 – Murder Prosecutors formally named him as the primary suspect on June 16, 1994, and arranged for a voluntary surrender the next day.
June 17, 1994: The Bronco Chase
Simpson was expected to turn himself in on the morning of June 17. When the deadline passed, the LAPD declared him a fugitive. That afternoon, Simpson’s friend and attorney Robert Kardashian read aloud a letter Simpson had written, which most listeners interpreted as a suicide note.
A motorist then spotted Simpson in the back seat of a white Ford Bronco on the 405 freeway, driven by his longtime friend Al Cowlings. Police fell in behind. Cowlings kept the speed low and told authorities by phone that Simpson had a gun to his own head. The slow-motion pursuit through Los Angeles freeways drew an estimated 95 million live viewers. Networks interrupted the NBA Finals to carry the feed. The chase ended at the Rockingham estate around 8:00 p.m., when Simpson surrendered to a police tactical team. He was booked into jail and held without bail.
Summer and Fall 1994: Pretrial and Jury Selection
A preliminary hearing began July 8, 1994, before Judge Kathleen Kennedy-Powell. Prosecutors presented enough evidence to hold Simpson for trial. The months that followed were consumed by motions over evidence, especially the blood found at both scenes and whether the warrantless entry at Rockingham violated Simpson’s Fourth Amendment rights.
District Attorney Gil Garcetti chose to try the case in downtown Los Angeles rather than in the Santa Monica judicial district where the murders occurred. The downtown courthouse drew from a different jury pool, a decision Garcetti was second-guessed on for years afterward.
Jury selection began September 24, 1994, and took more than two months. Prospective jurors filled out lengthy questionnaires designed to surface bias from the media coverage. By early November, twelve jurors and fifteen alternates were seated: nine Black jurors, one Hispanic juror, and two white jurors. Judge Lance Ito ordered the panel sequestered.
Sequestration lasted roughly eight and a half months. Jurors could not lock their hotel room doors, walk alone, or make a phone call without a deputy listening. They ate cafeteria-style meals, watched only court-approved movies, and shared two televisions. Several jurors were dismissed along the way.
The Teams
Marcia Clark, a veteran deputy district attorney, led the prosecution. Christopher Darden was added partly to counter the racial dynamics the case had taken on.
The defense was quickly dubbed the “Dream Team.” Robert Shapiro assembled the group and served as lead counsel through the early stages. Johnnie Cochran took over as lead chair and became the public face of the defense. F. Lee Bailey handled press strategy and the cross-examination of Detective Mark Fuhrman. Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld attacked the DNA evidence. Alan Dershowitz managed appellate strategy. Robert Kardashian reactivated his law license to sit beside Simpson.
January 1995: The Trial Begins
Opening statements began January 24, 1995. Prosecutors spent weeks building a timeline of Simpson’s movements on the night of the murders using phone records, witness testimony, and physical evidence. Brian “Kato” Kaelin, a houseguest at Rockingham, testified about loud thumps he heard against his wall that night, which the prosecution argued was Simpson returning from the crime scene. A limousine driver testified about Simpson’s delayed appearance for a scheduled airport pickup.
The DNA Battle
Blood matching Simpson’s DNA profile was found at the Bundy Drive crime scene. Blood matching the victims was found inside Simpson’s Bronco and on the glove recovered at Rockingham. Experts testified that the statistical probability of the blood belonging to someone other than Simpson was extremely small.
The defense did not attack the science. It attacked the handling of every sample. Barry Scheck’s cross-examinations of LAPD crime lab technicians reduced the state’s evidence to what the defense called “compromised, contaminated, corrupted.” Sloppy collection, they argued, had destroyed the DNA of the actual killer while allowing Simpson’s preserved blood sample to cross-contaminate the evidence. A nurse had initially testified to drawing approximately 8 milliliters of Simpson’s blood, but lab records accounted for only 6.5 milliliters. The defense argued the missing 1.5 milliliters had been used to plant evidence. The nurse later revised his estimate downward during rebuttal.
March 1995: Mark Fuhrman and the Tapes
In March 1995, LAPD Detective Mark Fuhrman took the stand. He was the officer who had found the bloody glove at Rockingham. Under cross-examination by F. Lee Bailey, Fuhrman denied ever using racial slurs.
Later in the trial, the defense obtained audio recordings Fuhrman had made with a screenwriter over several years. The tapes contained 41 uses of a racial epithet and statements suggesting police officers operated above the law. Judge Ito allowed the jury to hear only two excerpts. The recordings gave the defense a concrete example for their argument that the LAPD investigation was tainted and that evidence could have been planted. After the trial, Fuhrman pleaded no contest to perjury for his testimony denying the use of racial slurs. He was placed on probation.
June 15, 1995: The Glove Demonstration
On June 15, 1995, Christopher Darden asked Simpson to try on the leather gloves recovered from the crime scene and from his property. In front of the jury, Simpson appeared to struggle to pull them over his hands. The gloves looked too small. Whether they had shrunk from blood saturation and repeated handling, or whether Simpson subtly manipulated the demonstration, became a matter of debate.
That image gave Johnnie Cochran his closing argument. On September 26, 1995, Cochran told the jury, “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.” He repeated it multiple times.
October 3, 1995: The Verdict
Closing arguments wrapped in late September. Judge Ito delivered jury instructions, and deliberations began October 2, 1995.
The jury returned a verdict in under four hours after a trial that had lasted nearly nine months and involved 150 witnesses. Judge Ito delayed the announcement until the next morning. On October 3, 1995, before an estimated 150 million television viewers, the clerk read the verdict: not guilty on both counts of murder. Simpson was released from custody that day.
Reaction split along racial lines. In many Black communities, the verdict was met with relief, viewed less as a comment on Simpson’s innocence than as a rare enforcement of the burden of proof against a backdrop of LAPD misconduct. In many white communities, the reaction was shock, focused on the weight of the physical evidence and the injustice to the victims’ families.
1996–1997: The Civil Trial
Criminal acquittal did not end Simpson’s legal exposure. The families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman filed wrongful death lawsuits. A civil case operates under a lower standard of proof: plaintiffs need only show their claims are more likely true than not.
The civil trial, held in Santa Monica with a different jury and judge, reached a verdict on February 4, 1997. The jury found Simpson liable for the deaths of both victims and awarded $8.5 million in compensatory damages. On February 11, the same jury added $25 million in punitive damages, bringing the total judgment to $33.5 million. Simpson spent years attempting to shield his assets from collection.
2007–2017: Las Vegas and Prison
In September 2007, Simpson and several associates confronted two sports memorabilia dealers in a Las Vegas hotel room, attempting to recover items Simpson said had been stolen from him. The confrontation involved firearms. Simpson was charged with robbery, kidnapping, and other offenses. In October 2008, he was convicted on all counts and sentenced to 33 years in prison with a minimum of nine years before parole eligibility.
Simpson served his minimum term and was released on parole on October 1, 2017. His parole ended in late 2021, making him a free man with no legal supervision for the first time since 1994.
April 10, 2024: Simpson’s Death
O.J. Simpson died on April 10, 2024, at the age of 76, from prostate cancer. He had fought the disease privately. The Goldman family’s $33.5 million civil judgment remained largely uncollected at the time of his death.