oj simpson, san francisco native, football star, movie actor, accused murderer acquitted in the criminal trial. convicted in the civil trial.

plagued with legal issues and a complicated legacy, the controversial man is dead at the age of 76. you're watching. getting answers. i'm kristen sze. thanks for joining us. oj simpson's family says he died in las vegas last night from prostate cancer. simpson was born and grew up in san francisco. abc seven news reporter amanda delcastillo has a look back at his controversial life. >> we'll do on a third down and 21. >> o.j. simpson led several lives in the late 60s and 70s. he was considered one of the greatest athletes in the country. the juice, as he was called, was born in san francisco. he grew up in a potrero hill housing project and was often in trouble with the law. a chance meeting with willie mays helped turn his life around. he played football at galileo high school and at the city college of san francisco, married his high school sweetheart when he was 19, simpson went to usc, where he was an all-american and a heisman trophy winner. in 1968, he played nfl football for the

buffalo bills, the first rusher to ever gain 2000 yards in a single season. after nine years in buffalo, he came home to play his final two years for the san francisco 49 ers. a hall of fame career. >> i'll never let you guys down man. i'll i'll live up to the honor of being in this hall and being on your team with athletic ability and charisma. >> o.j. became a celebrity. he starred in commercials, television shows and in movies. people magazine called him the first black athlete to become a media superstar. all that changed in june 1994, when simpson's ex-wife, nicole brown simpson, was found brutally murdered. she'd been stabbed repeatedly and her throat slit. her friend ronald goldman also repeatedly stabbed to death. simpson was the main suspect before his arrest. he led police on a now infamous slow speed chase aboard a white bronco. it was carried live for hours on tv stations across the country,

some people cheering him on. millions watched his nine month trial for murder. >> we, the jury in the above entitled action, find the defendant orenthal james simpson, not guilty of the crime of murder. >> two years after his acquittal , simpson was found liable for both deaths in a civil trial. he was ordered to pay $33.5 million in restitution to both victims families. he never paid a dollar. in 2007, simpson was arrested for entering a las vegas hotel room to retrieve sports memorabilia he claimed had been stolen from him. guilty simpson served nine years in prison. he lived his last years under two spotlights an all-american hero and an american pariah. >> joining us live to talk more about simpson's impact on american culture, its legal system, racial politics and more. and the personal side san francisco attorney and friend of the simpson family, timothy alan simon. timothy, thank you so

much for joining us today. >> thank you. >> i think condolences should always be expressed to families and friends, but i do want to ask you the description friend of the family, friend of the extended family or friends with oj simpson himself. >> well, i've been in oj's company many times. we attended the same rec center. he's much older than me, but i've been more in contact with his family, again, i want to share with you the condolences to the simpson family for the loss of a larger than life and great man. our prayers are with the family who has asked for privacy and peace as they, manage their grief, in the loss of their loved one. >> what are the thoughts and emotions swirling in your head today that a man so great has to be referenced by virtue of an acquittal by a jury of his peers, which means that he was

innocent, he was found innocent. >> and then we have a civil action where, he was found liable, not guilty. and by virtue of a his trust structure, a trust that was, structured for him by robert kardashian, amongst others. he was not obligated to pay the judgment. that's why he could continue to live his life with a smile on his face and continue to prosper in many ways, after being acquitted and the greatest trial of the century. so all i see is a great man who a jury of his peers and a court of law in a country that operated under the under operates under the rule of law, was acquitted, meaning he's innocent. so, i view this great man who i saw as a young boy, playing for the less vogel, football team. pop warner

football team, and went on in san francisco this great city to be one of our most remembered and treasured individuals in our history. we are all tarnished. we are all flawed. but at the end of the day, o.j. was acquitted because as the great legal, as the great scholar johnnie cochran said, if the gloves do not fit, you have to acquit and the jury agreed. so he's a great man. we're all flawed. we've all had our peaks and valleys in life. let us pray for the repose of his soul and that he live in everlasting paradise with our lord. >> well, timothy, i think a lot of people know all about him from his football days on, you know, including the acting career, the trial, but before all of that, as you mentioned, he was a product of potrero hill in san francisco housing projects, played football here. talk to us and give people a sense of who he was like as a

child and what he was like as a child, including. i heard he had gotten into some trouble, right? and required giants star willie mays to kind of direct him on a different path. tell us about that. >> first off, potrero hill is a beautiful community. some of the most expensive homes in san francisco are in potrero hill. yes, there's affordable housing there. i have family that live in that, affordable housing, but i can't agree with this great network that that necessarily made his upbringing rough. he was from a working family in a city, the most beautiful city in the world, and was blessed to come in contact with arguably the greatest athlete of all time, that being willie mays, who has mentored many, many young men. there is no greater mentor that i had, than than the great willie mays. so i want to just make clear that your viewers know that oj is not a tragic story, that oj. yes, he may have had trouble. i don't know anybody that didn't. i know very few african american young men who do not have contact with law enforcement. that's the reality of our history. the

first badge given in law enforcement was for the retrieval of slaves was for slave catchers. so yes, there is a fascinating part of oj's past that someone as great as willie mays, san francisco's greatest athlete, greater than steph, greater than barry, took this young man under his wing and said, let me show you how to be a great athlete and a great man like me. that's a great story. and i really compliment, abc seven for making that so clear to the public, this great childhood that this man had in this neighborhood that we call potrero hill. >> timothy, many people see oj as the first black athlete to cross over into the mainstream in terms of commercial appeal, right. if you want to call it that. he appeared in many commercials, some movies, what traits and choices did he make that made that possible? >> well, he had the brilliance to leverage his athletic career. i want to remind the public that

up until oj, athletes were often referred to as dumb jocks, they were not viewed as having a career or life after their athletic pursuits. oj broke that paradigm, there were others, but usually it just meant you were on a box of wheaties. or maybe there was a baseball card or an athletic trading card. oj took his prowess and skill into the fortune 500, into the new york and american stock exchange by not only being an endorser for hertz, the largest rental car global rental car company in the world, but also taking a percentage of the company. and i remind you, in those commercials, he was with arnold palmer, who arguably is the greatest golfer of all times. so oj not only broke, ceilings for african american athletes, but for athletes of all colors and coming out of a field like athletics or professional sports that is just mired in controversy. it's part of the celebrity, of being an athlete.

whether you're a draymond green, or a or a kelsey, it just it's just mired in controversy. and he navigated that in a way that i think should and is applauded. >> look, you mentioned and of course it is fact that he was acquitted by a jury of his peers that he was found not guilty by the american public, you know, criminal justice system. however, it is also true that, if you look at public opinion polls, gallup polls conducted for many, many years after the trial, the vast majority of americans think he did it, that he did kill nicole brown simpson and ron goldman, even black americans, although in smaller numbers than white americans, but still the majority believing that he did do it. and he himself had spent the last latter parts of his life saying things that were almost teasing, if you will, without ever admitting or saying, you know that i did it. but he's teased people about it in a way, how do you rectify that? and do you

think that should be considered when we look at his legacy, it's already rectified as a country, as a jeffersonian democracy, we operate under the rule of law, not public opinion polls, not what you or i think, or other people write. >> the judiciary is a separate and distinct and equal arm of american government, and the deliberation that makes the determines as to someone whether someone is innocent or guilty, particularly in our criminal justice system, which involves the tragic death of the mother of oj's children, nicole brown simpson, that determination has been rectified because there was an acquittal. so quite frankly, it makes no difference as to what the public thinks. perhaps it's. >> but what do you think the in your heart do you think he did it? >> well that's irrelevant. i don't think he did it because the prosecution, my dear friend. by the way, chris darden, my law school classmate, had the burden of proving his guilt that that

burden was not achieved henceforth. he's innocent. he was acquitted. now there was a civil action. the civil action was wrongful death. and he was found to be liable. but that is a much different determination. that's not a criminal determination. and because of the structure of his investment trust, yes. he did not pay the damages, but he did. he was protected from the damages because he had an intervened, was called in and intervened over that already. >> so thank you so much for your time, timothy alan simon, friend of the simpson family. appreciate it. >> thank you and may you rest in peace. >> the o.j. simpson trial kicked off the biggest media circus america has ever seen, and gave the world its first reality tv show. someone who knows all about this is abc seven news reporter lyanne melendez, who covered the bronco chase and a

hey. nice to meet you. (♪) you're so amazing. (♪)

the world has ever seen. truly the highest profile trial we have ever covered. and it forever changed. the american criminal justice system and the media. someone who had a front row seat to all of it is our own reporter lyanne melendez, who covered the murders, the chase and a good portion of the trial. >> i'm lyanne melendez, live from police headquarters in los angeles, where there is a manhunt underway for o.j. simpson. i'll have that story. >> and leanne is here now to share her experience with us. covering this by the way, you looked amazing then. you look amazing now. >> thank you very much. that was a long time ago. nearly 30 years ago. >> i can't believe it. >> yeah, i think you were spot on when you said circus because

i have covered. yeah, absolutely . you know, i've had the fortune of covering going out with another station, covering wars and going to war zones, conflicts, uh- places where they had famine as well. and this was by far, you know, everybody was there and it was a circus. yeah. >> and from, from from the murders to the chase to every single day of the trial when people were packing the courthouse. right. fighting to get in. correct. >> it was everybody wanted to be there. everybody wanted to include that story in their newscast, in their pm magazine show, you name it. it was the story to be had. and unfortunately, we suffered tremendously because before i covered that case, i had been a reporter for at least eight years, and the public was always very trusting of us. and

suddenly this happens. and you had every, every, you know, again, magazine show, you had people who had never covered hard news. incredible stories, who had more of a yellow journalism type affair. >> was there every single day? yeah so what did that do? >> what was the so what happened was then suddenly they were, you know, putting out these stories and many times making up stories. they were sometimes looking in garbage cans to see from garbage cans of those related to the case, to see if they would discover anything. and what happened. the public reacted, meaning the public said all media is alike. so we suffered tremendously because of that. and i tell you, from that moment on, everything changed for us. that's my opinion. >> so the public's view of us never recovered. or also did it change the way we do things? >> no. i think the public's view of us never has recovered since that day. i mean, we they sometimes they don't trust us.

well, what what's what are you really looking for? are you cheating us? are you trying to trick us? you know. oh, you guys are all alike and then that sort of led to the infamous, you know , fake news. >> yes, yes. which is so unfortunate. right, but, look, i want to also ask you about, the reaction to the acquittal, i know at that point you had come back, but i'm sure you were as gripped by it as everybody else. what struck you about the way people reacted in a specifically the divide between the way black americans and white americans view the verdict? >> well, it was interesting enough. i was at a shelter for battered women, that day when the verdict came down. and you can imagine, how they reacted. the women there, they were just mortified. so sad, with that verdict, i think it started to

divide america as well. you know , a lot of people, were adamant that he had not done it, that and they defended him. and while others were saying, oh, yes, we believe i think, you know, public i think you were right. but to say that the public opinion, the vast majority of people think that he really did it. so it really i think it was it was coming out that it rodney king it was coming after a lot of things that mistrust towards the police department and then mistrust towards the media as well, so it was very, you know, it was very trying times on all you know, fronts. >> there were some who think he was sort of, i don't want to say beneficiary of that, but in the way that he was viewed, perhaps with a little more sympathy by some people, but i also wonder, you know, are are there people talking about whether he deserved that in the sense that had he done anything to advance the communities of color or people of color to represent. yeah

>> well, i mean, the what everybody knew was that oj simpson was in that person who represented, you know, the african american community with and really didn't go out of his way to elevate his community, and so suddenly, you know, he really i think, latched on to that after, after or during the trial. and i think to a certain point degree and perhaps, you know, that's what he thought was the right thing to do, perhaps a strategy was to latch on to that community. and i think it was the first time he really did. >> i mean, we don't even have time to talk about it, but it opened up so many issues and spotlighted so many issues that remain unresolved to this day. right? right. leanne, thank you so much for coming on to share your memories of covering that. sure, sure. all right. we'll have continuing coverage on the oj simpson death with local reaction throughout the day and on abc seven news.com. we're also going to shift gears coming

up because after the break, hidden artistic gems uncovered during renovation work at a historic movie

inside san francisco's castro theater. our media partner, the san francisco standard, details the discoveries in an article. castro theater reveal $15 million renovation finds 100 year old ark uh- arch, that is, no one knew existed, and that's just the beginning. joining us live now is astra kane, senior editor at the standard, who wrote that article? okay, astra, what is going on? refresh your memory. what's going on at the castro theater? >> hello. so another planet entertainment, which took over the management of the theater a couple of years ago, has finally begun to embark on its long promised renovation. they screened the last movie in february, and they've installed a humongous scaffolding that a colleague and i got to climb up

on. it's 45ft above the former orchestra level of the theater. it's only 15ft below the ceiling, and that's where they're getting to work, restoring things that have been stained by 100 years of nicotine and otherwise covered in dust and grime. right. >> okay. so we're going to show some of the photos from your exclusive tour. right. you went in and saw the stuff that was going on, i don't know if this is one of them, but you said in your article that the renovation revealed and uncovered some surprises. >> yeah. so it has a little bit of an indiana jones quality to it. apparently a proscenium that had been installed in the 1930s and then covered up in the 50s or 60s when screens, movie screens got bigger to compete with television. it had been there the whole time. it's been covered up for like 70 years. no one even knew that it was still under there, and the renenovatin work discovered that it was there all along. >> whoa. oh, okay, look, let me just ask you. you know, now, what are they going to do? are

they. oh, is this it? is this what you're talking about? i is this the close up? >> yes. so, i mean, a proscenium is not the most familiar terms to a lot of people. the way i try to imagine it is like, if you remember wheel of fortune in the 90s, the kind of frame around vanna white and the puzzle board. yeah. >> okay. thank you. >> that does help. that does help, astrid. so let me just ask you, when you have a renovation like this, it's sort of like the sistine chapel work isn't it? i don't know if you follow that, but it's like, you know, you have to be super careful. you don't want to, like, erase anything. and no matter what you do, some people will criticize and say, now you're changing it. >> so having actually been to the sistine chapel last september, you have you nailed it. you're exactly right. the castro theater to a large part of the bay area's lgbtq community and the cinephile community. i mean, this is like a secular temple. and so a lot of people were not very pleased when these renovations began. they thought it was more of a desecration than a restoration, not putting my opinion there, but they are definitely a painstakingly, laboriously cleaning off these details that

were first put in by the team with timothy pflueger, the original architect who built the castro theater in 1922. >> so with regard to the artistic aspects and the architectural stuff, are they changing things up or is it truly a just polishing off the dust kind of thing? and then how will they bring out the vibrancy of the colors and all that you know, without changing anything? >> yeah, there's a little bit of touch and go to this because some elements were restored in the middle of the 20th century. and there's a tricky part of restoration where you don't want to undo what was done or leave a lot of seams for people who do any future restoration work, like decades from now, to be like, oh, that's what they did in 2024. so there's a lot of like, touch and go elements. they're trying to figure out how best to brighten the ceiling, what kind of solvents are best on what materials. but even two months into this renovation, you know, the results are beginning to appear. you can see incredible detail work on the ceiling. all these figures that pflueger and team had installed.

i mean, these are things that people will be looking at from 60ft below. so they've got to be really bright to pop. >> yeah. you're right. all right, before we go real quickly , what upgrades or changes other than esthetics will the castro theater have when it reopens and when is it going to reopen? >> yeah. so this is a $15 million project. and it's not just making pretty things prettier. it's also like a renovation. so they're going to improve the hvac, the climate control. they're going to get new sound and lighting designs. it's going to be like a whole new venue. >> all right astrakhan thank you so much. can i wait to see i know you'll continue to follow this story and the renovation as it goes on. thank you always a pleasure. >> thanks. all right. >> you can read astrid's article or check out more of the san francisco standard's other original reporting on their website at sf standard, .com and abc7 news will continue to bring you more segments featuring the standards, city focused journalism twice a week right here on getting answers at three. and remember, abc7 news is streaming 24 seven. get the abc7 bay area app and join us

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mugs. ♪ bmo ♪ with experts from around the bay area. world news tonight with david muir is next. have a great day. tonight, the death of o.j. similar p zopp. the former murder defendant, disgraced football star, and actor, dying of cancer. dangerous weather in the northeast. and the staggering sum shohei ohtani's former