Orenthal James Simpson Research Paper

Orenthal James Simpson was born June 9th 1947, in San Francisco California. His Aunt, supposedly named him after a French actor she liked. By the age of two Simpson had contracted rickets, a childhood bone disorder that left him pigeon toed and bow legged. As time passed Simpson grew out of his bars and leg braces, he remained slightly pigeon toed for the rest of his life. In 1952, his parents divorced, leaving O.J. and his three siblings in the rugged, ethnically black Potrero Hill district in San Francisco, to be raised by their mother, Eunice Simpson. Although O.J. grew up with rickets, it never prevented him from excelling at sports.
Simpson became famous for his career in college football at USC as well as winning the Heisman Trophy in 1968. Ultimately, Simpsons fame only grew when he was accused of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.
This was soon widely known as “The Trial of the Century”.

Simpson’s rise to fame started after an overwhelming game at the City of College of San Francisco, Simpson gained fame as a two-time All American halfback for the USC Trojans. Setting NCAA records and winning the Heisman Trophy in 1968, Simpson was drafted onto the professional Buffalo Bills in 1969, yet he didn't excel until the offense was tweaked to showcase his running. Nicknamed ‘The Juice’ , Simpson topped 1,000 yards over five consecutive years (1972-76), and led the National Football League in this division four times. He broke the NFL record for the most yards in a single first season when he rushed over 2,000 yards in 1975. According to the editors of Biography.com, “The running back also established league records (since broken) with his 23 touchdowns in 1975, and 273 rushing yards against the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving Day 1976”.Simpson was a very strong player and America loved him. Simpson retired from football in 1979, following this he became a newscaster and actor, later even appearing in The Gun Naked (1988) and its sequels. In The Gun Naked, Simpson played a dim-witted assistant detective.

O.J.
Was married to Marguerite L. Whitley in 1967, and had three children together, Arnelle Simpson, Jason Simpson and Aaren Simpson. Their youngest, Aaren, drowned two months before her second birthday in the family's swimming pool. While married to Whitley, Simpson met Nicole Brown, who at the time was a young eighteen-year-old waitress at an uptown Beverly Hills Club called Daisy. Later, in 1979, Whitley and Simpson divorced, which created an opportunity for Simpson and Brown to invest themselves in an intimate relationship. Simpson and Brown got married in 1985, and later had two children named Justin Simpson, and Sidney Simpson. After some years of marriage, Nicole soon found reason to suspect that O.J.was philandering around with other women. Nicole had many incidents of O.J. Beating her; there were nine phone calls to 911 before O.J. got the chance to end the beautiful short lived life of Nicole Brown Simpson. “I'm afraid this man will kill me someday”(Biography Editors), Nicole told her friends and family after a inhuman encountering with Simpson left her badly bruised and
beaten.

In June of 1994 famous former football player O.J. Simpson was tried for two counts of murder five days after the brutal slaying of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and friend Ronald Goldman. This was soon widely known to the people as “The Trial of the Century”. June 17th 1994, Simpson and his former teammate A.J. Cowlings fled from defense lawyers home, Robert Kardashian; on a 90-minute slow speed chase that ended on the 405 freeway in Los Angeles. Later that night Simpson surrendered at his Brentwood estate. Simpson soon created a “Dream Team” of lawyers that fought by his side the entire time. During the opening statements according to Biography Editors, Simpson Later pleaded "absolutely, positively, 100 percent not guilty"(Biography Editors) to the murder charges. While all evidence pointing towards Simpson it was hard for prosecutor Marcia Clark to get her evidence across. Part of the “Dream Team”, was Johnnie Cochran, who turned the courtroom upside down when he decided that making the case about race, was the only thing that could remotely keep them alive. Cochran raised doubts about how and when the evidence was processed, and with his famous dismay of the gloves states “if it doesn't fit, you must acquit” (Herzog). On October 3rd 1995, O.J. Simpson was found not guilty of two counts of murder in the court of law. Though many people disagreed with this verdict it settled well with the jury which was a vast majority of African Americans.
Although O.J. was not charged with two counts of murder the people really questioned if he did it. Simpson was an icon to many people and nobody wanted to believe such a thing could happen. Simpson was one of the most loved people in the country by his fans, and he turned himself into a murderer over jealousy. Goldman’s parents continued to fight for their son's wrongful death, yet never succeeded to move anywhere past money, being comped for their loss. O.J. was a free man, yet Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman will forever pay for what he did.