8 Days of O.J. - "NOT GUILTY: The Day America Stopped"

Reid Carter concludes Eight Days of O.J. with September-October 1995 - the closing arguments and four-hour deliberation that shocked the world. Darden's desperate final plea for justice meets Cochran's masterful appeal to "send a message" to the LAPD. Clark's last attempt to refocus on victims gets overshadowed by jury nullification politics. September 29th - the jury gets the case. October 2nd - after just four hours, they have a verdict. October 3rd, 1995, 10 AM PST - 150 million Americans watch the split screen moment that divided the nation. Black America celebrates while white America sits stunned. O.J. whispers "What about the civil case?" The day justice died on live television.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Caalaroga Shark Media. This is Reed Carter, Friday, October third,
twenty twenty five, Day eight of eight days of OJ,
exactly thirty years ago. Today, at ten am Pacific time,
one hundred and fifty million Americans watched Justice Die on

(00:26):
live television. October third, nineteen ninety five. The day OJ
Simpson walked free after murdering Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
The day four hours of jury deliberation erased eight months
of evidence. The day America learned that celebrity plus money
plus the right lawyers equals a different kind of justice.

(00:48):
Not guilty. Two words that divided a nation. Two words
that sent a double murderer home to his mansion. Two
words that proved reasonable doubt doesn't have to be reasonable
to be effective. We've spent seven episodes examining how this happened.
How the prosecution built an overwhelming case and then destroyed
it with incompetence. How the defense transformed a murder trial

(01:10):
into a referendum on police racism. How a jury selected
to distrust the LAPD chose message sending over justice. Today
we examined the end the closing arguments that sealed Ojay's fate,
the deliberation that ignored evidence, the verdict that proved celebrity
justice means never having to face consequences for murder. Thirty

(01:33):
years ago, today, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman's killer
walked free. Their families watched from the gallery as the
justice system failed them completely, and America learned that fame
matters more than facts, that narrative matters more than evidence,
that politics matters more than truth. I'm read, Carter, this
is day eight of eight days of oj Welcome to

(01:56):
the day America stopped believing injustice. September nineteen ninety five
the month that should have been the prosecution's redemption. Four
weeks to make closing arguments that would remind the jury
what this case was really about, two innocent people brutally
murdered by O. J. Simpson. Four weeks to cut through

(02:19):
the fog of reasonable doubt and focus on the evidence
that proved guilt beyond any scientific certainty. Instead, September became
the month we watched the prosecution make their final mistakes
while the defense delivered closing arguments that guaranteed O Jay's freedom.
September twenty sixth Christopher Darden delivers the prosecution's first closing argument,

(02:41):
and watching this thirty years later, I can see a
man who knows he's lost, but is making one last
desperate attempt to salvage justice from the wreckage of his case.
Darden talks about domestic violence, about Ojay's pattern of abuse
toward Nicole, about how that abuse escalated to murder when
Nicole finded tried to leave permanently. He reminds the jury

(03:03):
that this case began with a nine to one one
call where Nicole begged for help from the man who
would eventually kill her. He killed her because he couldn't
have her, Darden says, if he couldn't have her, nobody could.
This should have been compelling. This should have reminded the
jury that before this became about police racism and evidence

(03:24):
contamination and Mark Foreman's lies, it was about a woman
who died trying to escape an abusive relationship. But I
can see it in the jury's faces. They're not listening.
They've already made up their minds. They're not interested in
domestic violence patterns or motive evidence. They're interested in sending
a message to the LAPD and that message requires a

(03:44):
quitting O. J. Simpson. Darden tries to address the elephant
in the room, Mark Furman's racism. He acknowledges that Furman
is a liar and a racist who used inexcusable language.
But he argues that racist cops can still find real
evidence of actual crimes, that Furman's character flaws don't erase
OJ's blood at the crime scene. Mark Furman is a racist,

(04:08):
Darden says, OJ Simpson is a murderer. Both things can
be true, both things are true, but only one of
those truths matters to this jury. September twenty eighth, Johnny
Cochrane delivers the defense's closing argument, and it's a masterpiece
of manipulation. Cochran doesn't spend much time arguing that Ojy

(04:30):
is innocent. He can't because the evidence against him is overwhelming. Instead,
he argues that convicting oj would be wrong because the
police can't be trusted. If you convict mister Simpson despite
all the police misconduct, you send a message to every
other officer that this behavior is acceptable. Cochrane declares, you

(04:50):
must send a message that this will not be tolerated.
This is jury nullification disguised as justice. Cochrane is telling
the jury to ignore the evidence and focus on pol
police accountability. He's asking them to acquit a murderer to
punish police misconduct. He's making OJ's acquittal about something bigger
than OJ's guilt, and it's working. I can see it
in the jury's body language. They're nodding, they're engaged. They

(05:14):
believe they're about to strike a blow for justice by
letting a killer go free. Cochrane reminds the jury about
the glove demonstration, about if it doesn't fit, you must acquit,
about how the prosecution's own evidence seem to prove Ojy's innocence.
He turns the prosecution's biggest mistake into his biggest victory.

(05:35):
But Cochrane's most effective argument is his appeal to the
jury's experiences with police misconduct. He talks about Furman's racism,
about the LAPD's history of corruption, about how black Americans
have been framed by racist cops for decades. This is
your chance to say no more, Cochrane tells them, this
is your chance to send a message that racist police

(05:56):
officers will not be allowed to frame innocent black men.
Except OJ Simpson isn't innocent. He's a guilty black man
who happens to have been investigated by racist cops. But
Cochrane has convinced the jury that those are mutually exclusive categories,
that black men accused by racist cops must be innocent
by definition. September twenty ninth, Marcia Clark delivers the prosecution's

(06:21):
final closing argument. Clark tries one last time to refocus
the case on the victims. She shows pictures of Nicole
and ron She reminds the jury that two people are
dead and their killer is sitting at the defense table.
This is not about Mark Furman, Clark says, this is
not about the LAPD. This is about Nicole Brown Simpson

(06:42):
and Ronald Goldman and the man who murdered them. Clark
walks through the evidence methodically, the DNA proof, the blood evidence,
the timeline, the motive. She builds the case piece by piece,
showing how every element points to OJ's guilt. But I
can see she's lost them. The jury is physically present

(07:04):
but mentally absent. They're thinking about police racism, not murder evidence.
They're thinking about sending messages, not delivering justice. Clark's closing
is competent, but feudle. She's presenting evidence to people who've
decided evidence doesn't matter. She's talking about murder to jurors
who care more about police misconduct. September twenty ninth, three pm.

(07:29):
Judge Eto gives the jury their instructions about reasonable doubt,
burden of proof, and the law they must follow. He
explains that they must base their verdict on evidence, not
sympathy or prejudice or desire to send messages. These instructions
are meaningless. This jury stopped caring about legal standards months ago.

(07:50):
They're operating under their own definition of justice, and that
definition requires a quitting OJ Simpson, regardless of his guilt.
Three forty five pm, the jury retires to deliberate. The
shortest deliberation in major murder trial history is about to begin.
Four hours. The jury deliberates for four hours in a
case that took eight months to present. Four hours to

(08:12):
consider DNA evidence, blood evidence, hair and fiber evidence, timeline evidence,
motive evidence. Four hours to evaluate testimony from dozens of
witnesses and hundreds of exhibits. Four hours to ignore all
of it and vote to acquit based on police misconduct
that had nothing to do with Ojay's guilt. And here's
what I think really happened in that jury room. I

(08:34):
think the decision was made before deliberations began. I think
this jury had decided months earlier that they weren't going
to convict a black celebrity based on evidence collected by
the LAPD. The four hours wasn't deliberation, It was just
making it look respectable. October second, three pm. After four hours,

(08:56):
the jury sends a note to Judge Eto, we have
reached a vert. Four hours. The jury that took months
to select spent four hours deciding whether oj Simpson was
guilty of double murder. They spent more time arguing about
Mark Foreman's language than about Ojay's guilt. The courthouse erupts.
Media from around the world descends on downtown Los Angeles.

(09:19):
America prepares to watch the most anticipated verdict in legal history,
but the verdict won't be read until the next morning.
Oj will spend one more night in jail before walking free.
Nicole and Ron's families will spend one more night hoping
for justice before watching it die. October third, nineteen ninety five,

(09:42):
ten a m. Pacific time. The court room is packed.
The cameras are rolling. One hundred and fifty million Americans
are watching live television, waiting to see if justice will
be served or celebrity will triumph. Judge Edo asks Oj
to stand. The jury foreman Armanda Coolie unfolds the verdict

(10:03):
and reads the words that will echo through history. We
the jury in the above entitled action find the defendant
Orenthaled James Simpson not guilty of the crime of murder.
Not guilty. The double murderer walks free. The man whose
blood was at the crime scene is innocent. The defendant
whose DNA matched evidence found with the victims is acquitted.

(10:25):
The courtroom explodes. O Jay's family celebrates, his lawyers embrace.
The dream team has pulled off the greatest legal victory
in American history, freeing a guilty client through superior storytelling
and jury manipulation. But the cameras capture something else, the
split screen that defines America's reaction. Black Americans celebrating in

(10:48):
the streets, cheering O Jay's acquittal as justice for decades
of police misconduct. White Americans sitting in stunned silence, unable
to believe that overwhelming evidence of guilt could be ignored
so completely. This isn't just a verdict. It's a raw
shacked test for American race relations. Black America sees justice

(11:10):
a black man finally beating a corrupt system that has
framed innocent people for generations. White America sees injustice a
guilty celebrity escaping consequences through expensive lawyers and racial politics.
Both reactions are understandable. Both reactions reveal truths about America
that we'd rather not acknowledge. The LAPD is corrupt and racist. O. J.

(11:35):
Simpson is a murderer. The justice system failed Nicole and Ron.
The justice system also failed every black person who'd been
framed by racist cops. But here's what frustrates me most
about October third, nineteen ninety five. None of those larger
issues justified ignoring the evidence that OJ Simpson killed two
innocent people. Police misconduct is real and terrible and deserving

(11:58):
of punishment, But the punishment shouldn't be letting murderers go free.
The cameras catch OJ's reaction to the verdict. He's relieved,
but not surprised. He knew this jury would acquit him.
His lawyers had selected them perfectly and manipulated them brilliantly,
he whispers to Johnny cochrane, what about the civil case?

(12:18):
What about the civil case? Even in his moment of triumph,
OJ is already worried about the next legal challenge because
he knows something the celebrating crowds don't know. This acquittal
doesn't mean he's innocent. It just means he got away
with murder. The civil case would come later, with a
different jury, different rules, different standards of proof. That jury

(12:39):
would find Oj liable for the wrongful deaths of Nicole
and Ron. They would award thirty three point five million
dollars in damages. They would deliver the justice that the
criminal jury refused to provide. But that's another story for
another day. October third, nineteen ninety five is about this moment,

(13:00):
the moment celebrity justice triumphed over actual justice. The moment
performance mattered more than proof, The moment America learned that
some people are too famous to face consequences for murder.
We'll be right back with the aftermath of the verdict
and what OJ's acquittal meant for justice in America. Welcome

(13:35):
back to the final episode of Eight Days of OJ.
I'm reed, Carter and we're examining how October third, nineteen
ninety five became the day America learned that celebrity plus
money equals immunity from murder charges. The verdict wasn't just wrong,
it was predictable. Anyone who'd watched this trial objectively could
see where it was heading. The jury had been selected

(13:58):
by the defense, the evidence had been attacked by the defense.
The investigators had been destroyed by the defense. The narrative
had been controlled by the defense. OJ Simpson didn't win
this case. Johnny Cochran did. Cochrane turned a straightforward murder
trial into a referendum on police racism. He made the
jury care more about sending a message than delivering justice.

(14:20):
He convinced twelve people that acquitting a murderer was the
right thing to do. And here's what's most tragic about
this verdict. It didn't actually accomplish what the jury thought
it would accomplish. They thought they were striking a blow
against police misconduct. They thought they were standing up for
black Americans who'd been framed by racist cops. But they weren't.

(14:40):
They were just letting one guilty, rich celebrity escape consequences.
While the LAPD continued its misconduct against poor people who
couldn't afford dream teams. They were sending a message that
police accountability only matters when the defendant is famous enough
and rich enough to hire the right lawyers. The verdict
also so revealed the fundamental flaw in using criminal trials

(15:03):
to address social issues. Criminal trials are supposed to determine
guilt or innocence based on evidence. They're not supposed to
be vehicles for social justice or political messages. When juries
start ignoring evidence to make political points, the entire system
breaks down. And that's exactly what happened on October third,

(15:23):
nineteen ninety five. The jury ignored overwhelming evidence of guilt
to make a point about police racism. They turned the
courtroom into a voting booth and used their verdict as
a ballot measure on LAPD accountability. But the most tragic
aspect of this verdict was what it meant for Nicole
Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman's families. They sat in that

(15:44):
courtroom and watched their loved ones killer walk free. They
heard not guilty and knew that justice had died along
with Nicole and ron Fred Goldman, Ron's father spent years
fighting for accountability that the criminal jury refuse used to provide.
He knew Ojay was guilty, he knew the evidence proved it.

(16:05):
He knew the jury had chosen politics over justice. The
Brown family faced the same heartbreak. They lost Nicole to
domestic violence and then lost justice to celebrity worship. They
watched the man who murdered their daughter and sister get
treated like a victim of persecution. These families deserved better.
They deserved a jury that cared more about evidence than messages.

(16:29):
They deserved a system that focused on their loved one's
murders instead of everything else. They deserved justice, and they
didn't get it. But October third, nineteen ninety five also
revealed something important about American justice. It works differently for
celebrities than for regular people. Oj Simpson got acquitted because
he was famous enough and rich enough to hire lawyers

(16:51):
who could manipulate the system. A poor defendant with the
same evidence against him would have been convicted in a week.
This isn't conspiracy. It's simple economics. Better lawyers cost more money.
Celebrity status generates sympathy. Fame creates reasonable doubt that regular
people can't access. The OJ trial didn't prove the system

(17:13):
is rigged. It proved the system is expensive. And that's
the real lesson of October third, nineteen ninety five. Not
that innocent people get framed by racist cops, though that happens,
Not that DNA evidence is unreliable it isn't, Not that
police misconduct doesn't matter, it does. The real lesson is

(17:33):
that justice isn't blind. It's price sensitive, and if you
can afford the right lawyers and generate enough sympathy and
manipulate the right narrative, you can get away with murder
in America. OJ Simpson walked out of that courtroom a freeman.
He went home to his mansion. He played golf, he
signed autographs. He lived the life of a celebrity who'd
beaten the system, not a murderer who'd escaped justice. Nicole

(17:57):
Brown Simpson was still dead, Ronald Goldman was still dead.
Their killer was free, and their families were left to
wonder how the most obvious murder case in American history
had resulted in acquittal. October third, nineteen ninety five was
the day we learned that in celebrity justice, evidence doesn't
matter if you have better stories. Facts don't matter if

(18:19):
you have better lawyers. Truth doesn't matter if you have
better performance. It was the day justice died on live television,
watched by one hundred and fifty million Americans who couldn't
believe what they were seeing but couldn't look away. The
trial of the century became the travesty of the century.
The case that should have guaranteed conviction became the acquittal

(18:40):
that guaranteed cynicism about American justice, And thirty years later,
we're still living with the consequences of that verdict. Every
time a celebrity faces serious charges, we remember O. J. Simpson.
Every time wealth and fame seemed to matter more than evidence,
we think about October third, nineteen ninety five, the day

(19:02):
America stopped believing that justice is blind and started understanding
that justice is bought. That's the conclusion of eight days
of OJ. Thirty years later, the verdict is still wrong,
the evidence still proves guilt, and Nicole Brown, Simpson and
Ronald Goldman are still dead. We've spent eight episodes examining

(19:25):
how the most obvious murder case in American history resulted
in acquittal. How overwhelming evidence got explained away by conspiracy theories,
how reasonable doubt became unreasonable certainty, how celebrity justice triumphed
over actual justice. The OJ Simpson trial wasn't just about
OJ Simpson. It was about everything wrong with American justice

(19:47):
when celebrity, race, and money collide in the same courtroom.
It was about how the right lawyers can make evidence
irrelevant and guilt meaningless. But it was also about two
people who deserved better. Nicole Brown Simpson was thirty five
five years old when OJ murdered her. She was finally
free from their abusive relationship. She was building a new
life that he couldn't control. She died because she refused

(20:10):
to be controlled anymore. Ronald Goldman was twenty five years old.
He was working as a waiter, building a career, living
his life. He died because he was trying to help
someone he barely knew. He died because he was in
the wrong place when OJ Simpson decided that if he
couldn't have Nicole, nobody could. They deserved justice. They deserved

(20:31):
a jury that cared more about evidence than politics. They
deserved prosecutors who could present facts clearly, and judges who
could control their courtrooms. They deserved a system that focused
on their murders instead of everything else. Instead, they got
the O. J. Simpson trial, where evidence didn't matter, truth
was optional, and murder became entertainment, where the defendant became

(20:55):
the victim and the victims became footnotes, where justice died
while one hundred and fifty million people watched. OJ Simpson
got away with murder on October third, nineteen ninety five.
Not because he was innocent. The evidence proved his guilt
beyond any reasonable doubt, not because the system worked the
system failed completely, but because he was famous enough, and

(21:17):
rich enough, and lucky enough to be investigated by flawed
cops and prosecuted by incompetent lawyers, and judged by a
jury that cared more about sending messages than delivering justice.
The civil trial would later find OJ liable for Nicole
and Ron's wrongful deaths. That jury, operating under different rules
with different standards, looked at the same evidence and reached

(21:39):
the obvious conclusion O. J. Simpson was responsible for their deaths.
But civil liability isn't criminal justice, money damages aren't prison sentences.
The civil verdict acknowledged what everyone already knew. OJ killed
Nicole and Ron, but it couldn't undo the travesty of
October third, nineteen ninety five. Thirty years later, OJ Simpson

(22:03):
is dead. He died of cancer in twenty twenty four,
having lived almost thirty years, longer than the people he murdered.
He spent those years as a free man who'd beaten
the system, not a murderer who'd escaped justice. He played golf,
he signed autographs, He lived in luxury. He never faced
consequences for the worst thing he ever did. He got
away with murder because he was O. J. Simpson, and

(22:26):
in America, that was enough. Nicole and Ron's families are
still living with the loss, still missing people who should
have been grandparents and role models and parts of their
lives for decades longer, still knowing that their loved ones
killer lived free while they lived with grief. The O. J.
Simpson trial created the template for celebrity justice in America.

(22:49):
Every famous defendant since has studied this playbook. Attack the investigators,
question the evidence, change the narrative, make it about anything
except guilt or innocence. Some have succeeded, some have failed,
but all of them learned from OJ that being famous
means having options. That regular people don't have. That celebrity

(23:10):
status can create reasonable doubt where none should exist. The
trial of the Century became the blueprint for escaping consequences
in America. The case that should have guaranteed conviction became
the instruction manual for wealthy defendants who want to avoid prison.
But we can't forget what this case was really about.
Two people were brutally murdered. Their killer was obvious from

(23:31):
the evidence. The system failed to convict him because celebrity
mattered more than justice. Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman
didn't get justice on October third, nineteen ninety five. They
didn't get headlines or television coverage or national attention. They
got forgotten in their own murder case, while their killer
became the victim thirty years later. They deserved to be

(23:54):
remembered not as footnotes in the oj Simpson story, but
as victims of domestic violence and andam tragedy who deserved
better from the system that was supposed to protect them.
I'm read Carter. This has been eight days of ojay,
the story of how celebrity justice works in America and
how regular justice doesn't work when celebrities are involved. October third,

(24:17):
nineteen ninety five, The day America learned that some people
are too famous to face consequences for murder. The day
Justice died while one hundred and fifty million people watched.
Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman are still dead. O. J.
Simpson still got away with murder, and the system still fails.
When celebrity meets justice in an American courtroom, remember their names,

(24:41):
remember their lives, Remember that they deserved better than the
OJ Simpson trial gave them. Justice delayed is justice denied.
But in this case, justice wasn't delayed. It was destroyed.
Thirty years ago today, on live television, watched by the world,
The day America stopped h