I remember the call, and remember not being surprised by the marching orders from my executive producer at Good Morning America. "Get to Los Angeles. Today."
Nicole Brown Simpson, the ex-wife of former football star and TV commentator O.J. Simpson was found dead, her throat slashed, nearly decapitated. Her friend, Ron Goldman, was also found with her, with his throat slashed.
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And so I flew the day after the murders to L.A., the city where I had grown up, the city where I lived until 19 months before.
The case became my life for the next 16 months, until the end of the trial in October, 1995. I would fly back home to New York every weekend, then fly back to the case and the trial on Sunday night. Like so many Americans, I too was captivated with the trial; with the issue of race; and with the issue of race in Los Angeles, where black residents, especially, had more than ample reason to distrust the LAPD.
I had covered the deadly riots that destroyed part of the city back in 1992. The riots were sparked when 3 white L.A. cops were acquitted of beating Rodney King, an African American whose brutal assault by police was captured on video tape that shook the city of L.A. and shook the country.
And, like so many Americans, I understood the anger. But I also covered the case and the trial, and knew the evidence against Simpson. Hard to even entertain the notion, 20 years later today, June 12, that O.J. Simpson did not kill Nicole and Ron. The evidence seemed so convincing and so clear. And there would have been a conviction had it not been for a kind of perfect storm of history and social tide: The LAPD, its history with the black community of L.A., and the bungled work of its detectives; and the (what's the right word, exactly?) conniving, cunning, brilliant, opportunist, deceitful, strategic team of famous defense lawyers who worked for O.J. Simpson (Johnnie Cochran, F. Lee Bailey, Robert Shapiro, Barry Scheck, Peter Neufeld).
If it doesn't fit, you must acquit. That was the mantra of lead defense attorney Cochran, who made a great career taking on corrupt and less-than-truthful police officers in L.A. He was referring to the bloody glove that Detective Mark Fuhrman found at Simpson's house, that matched a glove found at Nicole's condo a couple miles away, where the murders occurred.
And the blood on the gloves was a match for a mixture of Simpson's and Nicole's and Ron's blood. Fibers found on Goldman's shirt matched the fibers found on socks in Simpson's bedroom. Fibers from Simpson's Ford Bronco matched fibers found on the glove found at Simpson's house.
In other words, an abundance of evidence. But it turned out the evidence wasn't kosher. Cops handled the blood samples in a way that sparked doubt about the integrity of the DNA tests. And it was especially troubling to the jurors, whose collective makeup by race was 9 blacks, 1 Hispanic and 2 whites. By gender it was 10 women and 2 men.
And then the bombshell, when the defense discovered tape recordings of Fuhrman, using the n-word, oh... lots of times. So, with a jury made up predominately of black women - a makeup that the high-priced defense team had, through focus groups, discovered would give Simpson his best shot at a hung jury or outright acquittal - there was enough doubt at trial and enough of a distrustful history of the black community towards the LAPD, that the verdict was not, looking back, much of a shock.
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Not guilty on all counts. That was the verdict that surprised some, and brought cheers to others, with the reaction often divided by race.
Legal experts called it jury nullification, meaning that the juror's personal experiences and beliefs would nullify the prosecution evidence.
I was at Simpson's house the night of his "victory party." He seemed to be in another world. He was pleased to be sure, which seemed a bit odd to me, given that the facts of the case hadn't changed, given that the mother of two of his children had been murdered. He allowed me to tag along with him for a few minutes that night. He was bouncing off the walls, running around, not really making eye contact or any real connections with people.
He seemed to be most excited to be on mission of logistics. "I'm looking for a D-battery," he told me, as he opened drawers in a house he hadn't been in for nearly 16 months. Batteries for what, he didn't say. Clearly, his announced quest to find the "real killer" would have to wait.
The murders have never been officially solved. And the initial "escape" attempt by Simpson with his slow-speed police chase on I405 in his Ford Bronco has become a punch line. (I watched that chase on June 17 in the living room of football great Jim Brown, who told us, on camera, that everyone knew Simpson was a heavy cocaine user.)
Simpson is now serving a long prison term for armed robbery and kidnapping (he says he was trying to get back souvenirs that were wrongly taken from him), something many believe is justice eventually served. And, despite his pledge to find "the real killer" of Nicole and Ron, Simpson did nothing to accomplish that. Many people, even I suspect those who supported the jury's decision, believe we all know who the real killer was.
I don't remember ever thinking, hey what will I be doing 20 years from the anniversary of the Simpson murders? But here I am, 20 years later, looking back on a story that consumed the country, changed the way TV covers news and celebrity news, and changed the way and the context in which we talk about race on TV.
It was a huge story that I covered for 16 months. And for each of the past 20 years, I have remembered the date of June 12 as the day of the murders.
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But I'm looking at our rundowns for the newscasts today, and I don't see a 20th anniversary mention of the Simpson murders. A case that changed so much about TV news, and not necessarily for the better, and a case that this station certainly covered wall-to-wall, and the public appetite for hearing about it seems fairly non-existent.
But from now on, from today on, the Simpson murders will be the second most important June 12 to remember. Because today, on this June 12, 2014, the most important event going forward will be the anniversary of the day my 4-year-old daughter graduated pre-school.
I think for me, the O.J. Simpson case is finally in my rear view mirror.
BILL RITTER
This story was first published on June 12, 2014.
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