O. J. Simpson

American professional football player with the Buffalo Bills for nine years, winner of the 1968 Heisman Trophy and holder of major NFL records. He became a multi-millionaire with endorsements, plus TV and magazine commercials. After his football retirement, Simpson went on to star in movies, worked as a professional sports interviewer and continued making multiple endorsements.

His first marriage was to Marguerite Whitley in 1968; the relationship lasted for 11 years and produced three children. A fourth child, Aaren, born 1 September 1977 was in a drowning accident at 23 months. After a week in a coma, she died on 25 August 1979, a week before her second birthday. They divorced due to Simpson's extramarital affairs.

Charming, arrogant, handsome and self-assured, Simpson met Nicole Brown in 1977 when she was 18, and they married in 1985. The couple had two children, Sydney and Justin. On 24 May 1989, Simpson was sentenced to a fine, 120 hours of community service and counselling for a beating of his wife that occurred on 1 January 1989. They divorced in 1992.

On 25 October 1993, a 911 police call reported Simpson at Nicole's house threatening that "he was going to beat the s**t out of her." On 12 June 1994, Nicole and a friend, Ron Goldman, were found at Nicole's home, savagely slashed and stabbed to death. Simpson was accused of the murder and arrested; the ensuing trial began on 17 September 1996. The public was riveted by the trial, as the case was shown on TV for the following year and became, to many, a joke and parody, a gross use of tax-payers funds. America was glued to their seats, even up to the shocking conclusion of the trial on 4 February 1997 which resulted in his acquittal at 07:13 PM (PST) in Santa Monica, California.

The criminal case, and the following civil trial, tied up the courts for over two years. Some believe that the sensationalism that was associated with the trial inhibited a true and just hearing being served.