EDITOR’S NOTE: The first week of the O.J. Simpson case in mid-June 1994 moved shortly, with reporters racing to succeed in the information. The solely factor that was sluggish was The Chase.
The soccer nice had been accused of killing his ex-wife and her pal, and there he was on stay tv, at the back of his pal’s white Ford Bronco with a gun to his head. The freeway was like a parade — with the police, media and followers following “The Juice.” There had been crowds on the overpasses, indicators, cheers and fists punching the air because the pursuit unfolded.
In The Associated Press newsroom, editors and writers had been riveted to small televisions. And that’s the place many would keep for the subsequent 17 months — glued to a TV because the so-called “Trial of the Century” unfolded.
After Simpson died Wednesday at 76, the AP is making obtainable the story wrapping up all of the developments from The Chase.
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O.J. Simpson was hunted down and captured in his driveway Friday evening after operating from prices of murdering his ex-wife and her male pal and main police alongside 60 miles of freeways and metropolis streets.
“I can’t express the fear I had that this matter would not end the way it did,” mentioned Simpson’s lawyer, Robert Shapiro, who had nervous earlier that the previous soccer nice would kill himself.
Outside the partitions of Simpson’s property, members of Simpson’s household hugged one another and cried after phrase of the arrest got here out.
A cheer got here up from the group of 300 spectators.
The arrest shortly earlier than 9 p.m. culminated an unbelievable drama that unfolded on stay nationwide TV through which police first introduced prices in opposition to the previous soccer nice, then mentioned he had disappeared and at last adopted him alongside the highways for greater than an hour.
After the white Ford Bronco got here to a halt at Simpson’s property, a person believed to be his lifelong pal and teammate, Al Cowlings, acquired out. Simpson’s lawyer arrived on the mansion almost an hour later and the arrest got here minutes later.
Before fleeing as he was about to be arrested, the previous soccer nice left a handwritten letter proclaiming his innocence, saying goodbye to pals and making “a last wish” to “leave my children in peace.”
Shapiro earlier mentioned he feared Simpson was suicidal and pleaded with him to surrender. At the identical information convention, a pal learn Simpson’s letter.
“I’ve had a great life, great friends,” the soccer Hall of Famer’s letter mentioned. “Please think of the real O.J. and not this lost person.”
The district lawyer known as it “the fall of an American hero,” and Los Angeles police, angered that he reneged on a promise to give up earlier within the day, mounted a manhunt for him and a former teammate.
In the letter, Simpson wrote that he tried to do “most of the right things” in life and requested: “Why do I end up like this?”
“First, everyone understand, I had nothing to do with Nicole’s murder,” Simpson’s letter begins. “If we had a problem, it’s because I loved her so much.”
“I don’t want to belabor knocking the press, but I can’t believe what is being said. Most of it is totally made up. I know you have a job to do, but as a last wish, please, please, please, leave my children in peace,” he wrote.
Shapiro mentioned Simpson has been “exceedingly depressed,” however he didn’t know if Simpson had dedicated suicide.
“I’m keeping my fingers crossed and praying that we will be able to bring him into a court,” Shapiro mentioned.
“Wherever you are, for the sake of your family, for the sake of your children, please surrender immediately.”
Police instantly mounted a manhunt when Simpson fled, and mentioned he could also be armed.
“Mr. Simpson is out there somewhere and we will find him,” Police Cmdr. David Gascon instructed reporters.
If convicted of killing Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman, Simpson – among the many most outstanding celebrities ever charged with homicide – may face the dying penalty.
“We saw, perhaps, the fall of an American hero,” District Attorney Gil Garcetti mentioned.
Simpson, 46, was scheduled to give up at 11 a.m. however did not honor the settlement made with Shapiro, Gascon mentioned.
Shapiro mentioned he was with Simpson, Cowlings and two docs in a home within the San Fernando Valley on Friday morning when police known as to say they had been coming to arrest him. He mentioned Simpson and Cowlings, who grew up with Simpson in a San Francisco housing mission and was his teammate in highschool, on the University of Southern California and the Buffalo Bills, vanished earlier than police arrived.
“The Los Angeles Police Department is actively searching for Mr. Simpson,” Gascon mentioned. “The Los Angeles Police Department is also very unhappy with the activities surrounding his failure to surrender.”
Authorities additionally had been searching for Cowlings, Garcetti mentioned, warning, “If you assist him in any way you are committing a felony.”
The investigation was anchored by a grisly array of proof, from media stories of a blood-stained ski masks to a bloody glove.
Gascon declined to say how the police misplaced Simpson, who was handcuffed and questioned by police Monday however let go. He had been seen at his home earlier within the week and attended his ex-wife’s funeral Thursday. Someone resembling Simpson was seen driving away from his home an hour earlier than his anticipated give up.
Mike Botula, a spokesman for Garcetti, mentioned the fees included the particular capital punishment circumstance of a number of killings. There is not any bail in such circumstances, Botula added.
“A final decision on whether we would seek the death penalty will be made at a later time,” Botula mentioned.
Fans and colleagues of the sports activities legend who had insisted on his innocence had been pressured by Friday’s arrest warrant to confront an ominous chance – that Simpson may have killed the mom of their two kids, daughter Sydney, 9, and son Justin, 6.
“There’s nothing to say except that the law must take its course,” mentioned Howard Cosell, who labored with Simpson on ABC’s “Monday Night Football.”
The our bodies of Mrs. Simpson, the soccer star’s strikingly lovely ex-wife, and Goldman, a 25-year-old aspiring mannequin and waiter at a stylish restaurant, had been discovered outdoors Mrs. Simpson’s posh condominium.
Mortally wounded by a number of stab wounds, the our bodies had been found in a pool of blood by a passerby.
The couple divorced in 1992 following a seven-year marriage. While nonetheless married, Mrs. Simpson known as police in 1989 saying she feared he was going to kill her. She had been punched, slapped and kicked by Simpson, who pleaded no contest within the case, authorities mentioned.
Some stories recommended the 2 had been making an attempt to reconcile on the time of the slayings. They had lately been seen collectively, however a household pal mentioned these makes an attempt failed and Simpson had turned vengeful.
“He was telling her girlfriends and her that if he ever caught her with anyone he would kill her,” the pal instructed The Associated Press, talking on situation of anonymity. “She totally broke it off with him three weeks ago.”
Through his attorneys, Simpson maintained his innocence, claiming he was at house on the time of the slayings, ready for a limousine to take him to the airport for a flight to Chicago. He attended his spouse’s funeral Thursday and employed forensic specialists to help in his protection.
Simpson flew to Chicago the evening of the killings and was summoned house by police the subsequent morning.
In submitting the fees, authorities painted a grim image in stark distinction to Simpson’s sleek strikes on the soccer subject. Simpson was accused of utilizing a knife to kill Mrs. Simpson and Goldman. The knife hasn’t been discovered, Garcetti mentioned.
Goldman, his household mentioned, wasn’t romantically concerned with Mrs. Simpson. Reports indicated he fought valiantly for his life.
Orenthal James Simpson is understood to many because the nimble and highly effective operating again for the Buffalo Bills, for whom he set a single-season NFL dashing report with 2,003 yards in 1973. He helped make USC a nationwide champion in 1967 and received the Heisman Trophy in 1968.
He additionally was extensively seen as a tv sports activities commentator and in ads for Hertz rental vehicles. He additionally produced a number of tv motion pictures and had featured roles in such productions as “Roots” and “The Naked Gun” comedies.
After the warrant was introduced, Hertz dropped Simpson.
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Read the AP’s full obit right here
(This story has not been edited by News18 employees and is revealed from a syndicated information company feed – Associated Press)
