the following is a cnn special report. o.j. simpson on trial for two grisly murders. >> he killed her because he couldn't have her. after nine months of twists and turns. >> how about that, mr. mung? >> if it doesn't fit, you must acquit. >> the one moment -- >> we the jury find the defendant not guilty of the crime -- >> -- that mattered most. >> now, 20 years later, go

behind the scenes. >> you said you had your killer. why did he walk free? >> inside the jury room. and outside the courtroom for reaction. >> people said, either he's as guilty and terrible as can be or he's an innocent victim of racism. there's no in the middle. >> the o.j. verdict, shock of the century. it's minutes after midnight june 13th, 1994. los angeles police arrive to a crime scene at bundy drive in upscale brentwood. they find no witnesses, no weapon, just two murder victims. >> slashed, stabbed, everything else. >> nicole was nearly decapitated. it was a very bloody seen. >> nicole is nicole brown simpson.

lying dead beside her, 25-year-old ron goldman. the prime suspect? nicole's ex-husband, football legend, o.j. simpson. simpson promises to surrender and then disappears. >> los angeles police department right now is actively searching for mr. simpson. >> gasps from the press room. only a sign of what is yet to come. >> highway patrol. >> yeah, i think i just saw o.j. simpson on the freeway and he's heading north. >> the famous low-speed chase covered live for hours rivets the nation and ends with simpson's eventual surrender at his home on rockingham avenue. it was just the beginning.

>> this was the perfect soap opera, the o.j. simpson murder case was the first true reality show for the country. this was the first wall-to-wall televised trial. >> july 22, 1994, a month after the murders, the legal proceedings against o.j. simpson begins when he enters this defiant plea. >> absolutely, 100%, not guilty. >> and to help him prove that, simpson assembles a legal dream team. >> each one of them was famous. >> jeffrey toobin covered the trial for "the new yorker." >> there has never been, in american history, more prominent defense lawyers on a single trial than in the o.j. simpson case. >> there's harvard law professor, alan dershowitz.

>> an ideal intermediary between the ivory tower and the gritty world of trial practice. >> famed criminal attorney, f. lee bailey. >> the person you go to when you are really in a lot of trouble and can afford it. >> and, of course, johnnie cochran who would take the lead. >> flamboyant. outgoing. approachable. fun. and extremely charismatic, while also having considerable mastery of the details of the case. >> and known for defending celebrities like child actor todd bridges, football legend jim brown and superstar michael jackson. but would the all-star strategy work? >> the o.j. dream team was not a dream team. it was a nightmare team. most of the lawyers didn't get along with each other. there was a lot of competition for the limelight.

this is not just any city where an allegation of racism is being made. this is the lapd. >> and simpson's attorneys know they can strike a cord, with secret knowledge of scathing recordings about to surface, they seek permission to ask lapd detective mark furman if he's ever used the n word. >> ill's use the word because i'm quoting him, all the niggers, put them into a big group and burn them. >> but prosecutor chris darden wants no part of it. >> it's the filthiest, dirtiest, nastiest word in the english language. it will upset the black jurors. it will issue them a test, and the test will be, who's side are you on? the side of the white

prosecutors and the white policemen, or the side of the black defendant and his very prominent and capable black lawyer? >> cochran immediately fires back. >> not every african-american feels that way. it's demeaning to our jurors to say that african-americans cannot hear these offensive >> the battle lines are drawn. and rather will now determine this trial's outcome. january 24th, 1995, the trial of orenthal james simpson has begun. >> there was a forest of satellite trucks, satellite dishes, people working in trailers. all built so that this trial could go out to the world. >> walking into the courtroom every day, it was like the red carpet on an arrivals line at the oscars. how are you doing today, o.j.?

how oh, marcia, how you doing? how are your kids? what are you wearing? it's ridiculous. it was crazy. >> outside the courthouse, it's a circus. inside, a real life drama unfolding. with millions of people watching. >> the simpson case combined everything that obsesses the american public. it had violence, sex, race, sports, and the only eyewitness was a dog. >> the prosecution had it all, oemg with a story of love, lost and loss of control. >> he killed her because he couldn't have her. >> the trail of blood from bundy through his own ford bronco and into his house in rockingham is devastating proof of his guilt.

>> but johnnie cochran opens with a statement that tells the jurors a very different story. >> the evidence will show that this careless, negligent slipshod handling and processing of samples by basically poorly trained personnel from lapd has contaminated, compromised and corrupted the dna evidence in this case. >> coming up, behind the scenes. >> the first time i've ever really seen a heisman trophy. >> and in court with a juror. >> how did mark furman play a part in your decision when it came down to the verdict? when you're not confident your company's data is secure, the possibility of a breach can quickly become the only thing you think about. that's where at&t can help. at at&t we monitor our network traffic

so we can see things others can't. mitigating risks across your business. leaving you free to focus on what matters most. but i've managed.e crohn's disease is tough, except that managing my symptoms was all i was doing. and when i finally told my doctor, he said humira is for adults like me who have tried other medications but still experience the symptoms of moderate to severe crohn's disease. and that in clinical studies, the majority of patients on humira

saw significant symptom relief. and many achieved remission. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. ask your gastroenterologist about humira. with humira, remission is possible. spending the day with my niece. that make me smile. i don't use super poligrip for hold, because my dentures fit well. before those little pieces would get in between my dentures and my gum and it was uncomfortable. even well fitting dentures let in food particles. just a few dabs of super poligrip free is clinically proven to seal out more food particles

so you're more comfortable and confident while you eat. so it's not about keeping my dentures in, it's about keeping the food particles out. try super poligrip free. excellent looking below the surface, researching a hunch... and making a decision you are type e*. time for a change of menu. research and invest from any website. with e*trade's browser trading. e*trade. opportunity is everywhere. (vo) what'scorn? dog food's first ingredient? wheat? in new purina one true instinct grain free, real chicken is always #1. no corn, wheat or soy. support your active dog's whole body health with purina one. at ally bank no branches equals great rates. it's a fact. kind of like playing the boss equals the boss wins.

wow! this is how we knew o.j. simpson. football icon. celebrity pitchman. >> nobody does it better than hertz. >> and movie star. but prosecutors say that dashing public persona hides a much darker truth, that simpson is a violent man who beat his wife. and it didn't take long before a police detective testifies about

an incident in 1989. >> a woman came running out of the bushes to my left, crossed the driveway. she was a female caucasian, blond hair, wearing a bra only as an upper garment, and she had on dark, lightweight sweatpants and started yelling, he's going to kill me, he's going to kill me. >> then, jurors hear it for themselves, another chilling 911 call from simpson's wife in 1993. >> my husband broke into my house, and he's ranting and raving. >> less than a year before her murder. >> broke the back door down to get in. >> okay, what's your name? >> nicole simpson. >> okay. is he the sports caster or whatever? >> yeah. >> what is he doing, is he threatening you? >> he's going nuts. >> i was like, wow, he can be pretty bad. >> 20 years later, juror number 4, david aldana, remembers that moment vividly. >> so that 911 tape made an

impact? >> yeah, it did, because when you hear someone pounding on the door like that and hearing nicole say, i think you know his record by now. >> nicole's sister denise tells prosecutors she has seen simpson beat nicole in person. >> he's grabbed nicole, told her to get out of his house. wanted us all out of his house. picked her up, threw her against the wall. picked her up and threw her out of the house. >> however, defense attorney robert shapiro counters with a completely different image of o.j. simpson. here he is with the brown family just hours before nicole's murder. >> we played for the jury the june 12th videotape, where you saw o.j. simpson at 6:00, 6:30 in the evening of june 12th. he was kissing the brown family,

shaking hands with lee brown. he picked his son up. didn't look bitter and raging. >> so was simpson a warm family man or a violent attacker who cornered and killed two innocent people? the jurors and simpson take a field trip to his house, and the crime scene. >> i think this assisted the jury in being able to understand the evidence better and the testimony better and how the victims were essentially cornered. >> what do you remember the most about visiting o.j.'s house, actually going to the crime scene? >> i was like, oh, wow, that's the first time i've ever seen a heisman trophy. we couldn't ask questions. nothing was told to us. don't talk amongst yourselves and don't touch anything. >> and it's this home visit that leads to the very heart of the prosecution's case, the physical evidence against o.j. simpson. >> can you please describe the appearance of the gloves? >> it appeared a dark leather

glove, appeared to be somewhat moist or sticky. i didn't touch it, but it appeared that parts were sticking to other parts of the glove. >> we don't know it just yet, but detective mark furhman was about to take on a starring role in this unfolding drama. >> and now mark fuhrman came up to you and told you he made some discoveries, correct? >> yes. >> so we're clear, it was mark furhman who allegedly found this glove out there near kato kaelin's room, correct? outside? >> yes. >> and it was mark fuhrman who allegedly found the spot on the outside of the bronco, is that correct? >> that's correct. >> and then came this unforgettable witness. >> i heard a thumping noise. >> how many thumps did you hear? >> three. >> simpson's shaggy house guest, kato kaelin.

did you ever expect what was going to happen when you got up there and took the stand? >> no, not at all. that was my first time in a courtroom in my entire life. and i think i was 35 at the time. >> kaelin's four days on the stand thrust him into the national spotlight. >> i even come up with a thing saying never has a man done so little to be recognized by so many. >> today he testified, he said that o.j.'s maid never really liked him. sure. she had to work for her room and board. >> why was kato kaelin so memorable? >> he's an idiot. >> really? >> he's so full of sh- -- oh, sorry. >> that's pretty harsh. >> as a matter of fact, when we were doing our deliberations, he was like a no-brainer. the guy's an idiot and nothing we says, we can't go with or against it. he's null and void. >> i was called so many things. i was called a celebrity, a

pariah, a traitor, a dummy, a freeloader. >> so it seems like you were pretty much misunderstood for a really long time? >> 100% misunderstood. this was something i took so serious that i was making sure i answered everything correctly. so i was in deep thought going, okay, answer this right, kato and that was it. if you pause, people go, he's making something -- he's lying, he's doing this. furthest thing from the truth. it's for me to become even more honest. for me to make sure i answer this thing 100% honest. >> which brings us to the night of the murder. kaelin and simpson make a mcdonald's run. >> about what time was it when you got home? >> it was about 9:40. >> kaelin goes to his bedroom and prosecutors say simpson disappears. a crucial hour passes before kaelin hears a loud noise outside. [ pounds ] >> where did the noise seem to be coming from? >> from the back of the wall.

>> that, prosecutors say, is simpson hitting an exterior wall and dropping a bloody glove. at 10:55, a limo driver waiting to take simpson to the airport spots a black person, six feet tall, 200 pounds. >> i saw a figure come into the entranceway of the house. >> allen parks said he was buzzing the intercom since 10:40 and received no response. proving, prosecutors say, simpson had not been home. >> this time, there was an answer, which was mr. simpson. he told me that he overslept and he just got out of the shower and he'd be down in a minute. >> both park and kaelin notice a dark duffel bag near the rear of simpson's bentley. >> he came out and kato offered to get the bag. he said, no, that's okay.

i'll get it. i'll get it. >> what was in the bag? and what did simpson do with it? detective tom lang has a theory. >> you want to know what happened to the knife and the clothes, we know that from a witness at the airport. i believe. saw him getting out of the limousine the night of the murders and had his arm buried in a trash container. next, with so much evidence, what went wrong? >> that's people's 77. >> that's people's 77. >> chris darden blew it.

mi'm a lineman here in oakland. day in, day out, a large part of what we do is about providing reliable power to our customers. pg&e is dedicated to the community. i love working here because this is my home. oakland is my home. this is where i'm raising my children so it's important to me to make sure my family and friends have the power and energy that we provide. this is very personal to me. it makes me work a lot harder knowing that this is my community. together, we're building a better california.

no weapons, no witnesses but a wealth of forensic evidence. the team prosecuting o.j. simpson for murder believes they can prove he butchered ron goldman and nicole brown simpson. >> this appeared to be an overkill or a rage killing. >> there was blood everywhere. at the bundy crime scene, at simpson's rockingham estate, and scattered along the route in between. blood, prosecutors say, is simpson's.

>> does that mean that these characteristics that mr. simpson has that are also found in the bundy walk bloodstain are only found in approximately 1 out of 170 million caucasians or african americans? >> yes, approximately. >> and that's not all. blood consistent with both victims was found in simpson's bronco, on that glove discovered behind his house, and on these socks in his bedroom. >> you described that material, that bloodstaining as matching nicole brown, is that right? >> that's correct. >> and then there were the bloody shoe prints in the bronco and nicole's dress. fbi expert william bodziak says those prints came from bruno mali designer shoes, in simpson's size 12. >> can you include him as a candidate who could have worn the shoes that created the

impressions in this case? >> yes, i could include him as a candidate for having possibly worn the shoes. >> as the trial wears on, attention turns from socks and shoes, to gloves. one found at the murder scene. the other behind simpson's house. proof, prosecutors believe, prove that simpson is a cold-blooded killer. >> handing mr. simpson the glove. >> that's people's 77. >> what were you thinking when you heard prosecutor christopher darden request that simpson try on the gloves? >> i was sitting in the courtroom, i couldn't find a seat, so i was kind of in the back. and when he did that, f. lee bailey came up to me and he grabbed me and whispered into my ear, he was kind of laughing, why the hell did you let him do

that? i didn't know he was going to do anything. chris is a good man, a good prosecutor, a bright man. he should have known better. i remember watching the gloves in the courtroom and thinking to myself, he's not going to ask o.j. to put on the glove. that's too much of a risk. you never ask a question in a courtroom, much less do a demonstration, where you don't know what the outcome is. and it was like a slow-motion disaster movie for the prosecution as o.j. milked the moment for all it was worth and pretended to try on the gloves. >> christopher darden would later admit that it was a mistake. >> when it happened in court, did you know you were in trouble? >> i knew that it hadn't gone as well as i had hoped it should

have gone. >> did you regard it as earth shattering to the case? >> no, not necessarily. not particularly. it wasn't until i went upstairs and left the courtroom that i realized people thought it was a monumental failure, a monumental mistake. >> was it chris darden that blew this case? >> chris darden blew this case. marsha clark contributed very heavily, too, but chris darden blew it. when o.j. was able to walk in front of the jury and say, it's too small, he didn't have to testify. because he had testified in front of the jury and he wasn't cross-examined. so for us, it was a win-win. >> he appears to have pulled the gloves on, counsel. >> but to juror david aldana, it didn't seem like a big deal. >> o.j. simpson was in front of you when he put on the glove.

>> he was maybe about two feet away from me. >> what do you remember from that moment? >> you know, a lot of people make a big deal about it, but i was a truck driver. i wear gloves all the time. i know that when my gloves get wet, they shrink up. >> after 92 exhausting days of testimony, 58 witnesses and 488 exhibits -- >> we ask the court to receive all the people's exhibits and the people rest. next -- >> the lapd's laboratory is a cesspool of contamination. >> the defense unleashes a blistering attack. >> how about that, mr. fung?

♪ [engine revving] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ iflike i love shrimp, come to red lobster's endless shrimp... ...for as much as you want, any way you want it... sweet, spicy, and crispy.

like wood-grilled teriyaki shrimp... ...and buttery garlic shrimp scampi. and yeah, it's endless, but it won't last forever. glad i could help you plan for your retirement. alright, kelly and promise me that you'll try that taco place on south street. and we have portfolio planning tools to help you manage your ira. yeah, you're old 401k give me your phone. the rollover consultants give you step-by-step help. no set-up fees. use your potion. sorry, not you. my pleasure. goodnight, tim. for all the confidence you need. who's tim? td ameritrade. you got this.

san fwhile this parking loting lies still. life, proposition d and mission rock will create a new neighborhood right here with 40% affordable housing, 8 acres of parks and open space, all connected to public transit, and generate $25 million a year in revenue for san francisco. vote yes on d to turn this into this. ♪

>> we think the evidence will show he did not, could not and would not have committed these particular crimes. >> johnnie cochran on the attack. >> the lapd laboratory is a cesspool of contamination. >> citing police incompetence. >> some had gloves, some didn't have gloves. picking up the evidence. >> even suggesting a conspiracy to frame o.j. simpson. >> the fact that blood mysteriously appears on vital pieces of evidence is devastating evidence of something far more sinister.

>> then came a turn no one expected. >> how about that, mr. function! >> defense lawyer gary schepp blasts lapd criminologist dennis function. >> con fronting him about not wearing gloves while handling evidence and picking apart inconsistencies in his testimony. >> so you did begin evidence collection before the coroners left. >> yes. >> so what you said before wasn't true? >> it was the best of my recollection at the time.

>> what do you remember the most about fung getting torn apart? >> oh, man. >> does that refresh your recollection? are you sure of that? >> barry scheck is one heck of an attorney. >> you truly believe that evidence was planted? >> yes. from this day until the day i die, i think it was planted. >> who do they say planted the evidence? mike gur man. >> did you find a glove inthe bronco, detective furhman? >> no >> did you ever, for a moment, believe that the police wanted to frame o.j. simpson? >> frame him? i think that was in furhman's mind. >> and you say on your oath that you have not addressed any black person as a nigger or spoken about black people as niggers in the past ten years, detective furhman?

>> that's what i'm saying, sir. >> so that anyone that comes to this court and quotes you as using that word in dealing with african-americans would be a liar, would they not? >> yes, they would. >> all of them? >> all of them. >> i was focused on mark furhman, his every twitch, his every eye movement and so forth. i had no notes. i only wanted one thing from him. denial. >> no. never. no. >> once he said never in ten years have i ever used the "n" word, i knew we had him. >> when he was asked that question by f. lee bailey about using the "n" word, everybody in the world knew that he was being set up but him. >> what i didn't know was we also had him on tape. >> four months after bailey versus furhman, the defense gets a tip from an unlikely source, a screen writer laura hart mckinney. she interviewed mark fuhrman for a story she was writing, a var

candid conversation all on tape. >> he's just a real racist scum. >> now all we're going to look at is furhman and what a scum bag he is. >> furhman says the "n" word dozens of times but judge ito decides the jury will only hear two. the excerpts are brief, yet powerful and disturbing. >> after the excerpt ended of the furhman tapes, you broke down and cried at that moment. why? >> because i was worried about the ramifications because i watched them with this look of horror and disgust and watched them turn. i was like, that's it. >> that's it. furhman had lied on the stand and used a racial slur.

the defense now feels confident they have a racist who planted evidence, a charge furhman denies today and refused to address at the time. >> detective furhman, did you plant or manufacture any evidence in this case? >> i assert my fifth amendment privilege. >> he refused to answer that question on the grounds it might tend to incriminate him. what more does anyone need? >> furhman is disgraced and dismissed from the case. >> there's no doubt, furhman's a liar. coming up -- >> if it doesn't fit, you must acquit. >> the unforgettable closing arguments. he said humira is for adults like me who have tried other medications but still experience the symptoms of moderate to severe crohn's disease. and that in clinical studies,

the majority of patients on humira saw significant symptom relief. and many achieved remission. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. if you're still just managing your symptoms, ask your gastroenterologist about humira. with humira, remission is possible. when you're not confident your company's data is secure, the possibility of a breach can quickly become the only thing you think about. that's where at&t can help.

at at&t we monitor our network traffic so we can see things others can't. mitigating risks across your business. leaving you free to focus on what matters most. diis critical for brain health?n brain food, hmmm. ensure has b vitamins that help support brain health - now that's smart nutrition. ensure's complete balanced nutrition has 26 vitamins and minerals and 9 grams of protein. ensure. take life in.

late september 1995, for nine long months, the trial of the century has been a national obsession. >> stop domestic violence! break the code of silence! >> but a casualty of the constant hype is the freedom of 14 men and women. the jury has been sequestered hundreds of days. >> we were told it was going to be about three months, and then

when the third month came and then it was four and then five and it kept going, it just went on and on and on. >> back in court, o.j. simpson cites the juror's fatigue as one reason he's not going to testify. >> i'm mindful of the mood and stamina of this jury, a jury i have confidence, a lot more than it seems miss clark has, of their integrity and that they will find, as the record stands now, that i did not, could not and would not have committed this crime. >> four days later, the end is finally in sight. >> you have heard all of the evidence. >> no more witnesses, no more delays. just closing arguments. first up, lead prosecutor, marsha clark. >> let me go back to mark furhman, just to be clear. did he lie when he testified here in this courtroom and said he did not use racial epithets

in the last ten years? yes. is he a racist? yes/ but the fact that he lied about it on the witness stand does not mean we have not proven the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. >> then comes defense attorney barry scheck. >> there's no doubt furhman's a liar and a genocidal racist. there's no doubt about that. there's really no doubt either that they planted the sock there, and if that can happen, that's a reasonable doubt for this case, period. end of sentence, end of case. >> finishing for the defense, johnnie cochran with probably the most memorable quote of the trial. >> if it doesn't fit, you must acquit. >> you have not used that word -- >> after nine months of testimony, hundreds of exhibits, more than 260 days isolated in a

hotel, jurors are finally sent to determine o.j. simpson's fate. >> thanks for joining us on a day that many of you probably thought would never arrive. >> and everybody had an opinion. >> i think it's going to be a conviction. >> i would say probably a hung jury. >> i believe absolutely there's sufficient evidence to acquit. >> why were you so confident he was going to be found guilty? >> i just couldn't possibly grasp the notion that with all of the overwhelming amount of evidence against him, that they could possibly find him anything other than guilty. >> by the time jury deliberations begin -- the tension surrounding the trial is transparent.

and a clear racial division emerges. >> this idea of race was something that the defense wanted out there. they wanted that in the dialogue because it benefited them. >> two-thirds of americans think o.j. is guilty. 77% of whites think he's guilty. 72% of blacks think he's innocent. >> based upon the way this case was going along racial lines by the end of the case, that if you had a videotape confession and even a videotape of the murder, you'd have people say, i don't believe it. that tape was doctored. that's how bad it got. >> despite rampant speculation outside the courtroom, there are only 12 opinions that really matter. >> we walked into that room, let's see, what do you want to do first? well, let's just see where everybody stands. we went around the room, you know, guilty, not guilty. >> it's two votes guilty, ten not guilty. >> now, you guys had been

sequestered for nine months. you were tired. you hadn't seen your families, your kids, your friends. you wanted to get out of there. were the majority of you working hard to get those two to come on board? >> actually, no. it wasn't arguing or yelling or anything like that. we just came to the -- took another vote and the other two came on board and they said "not guilty" and it wasn't because they thought that he was innocent. it was because the prosecution just didn't prove it. >> aldana still believes the police framed o.j. how is it that with all of this evidence against o.j. that he's set free? >> some of that stuff was planted. and when some of it was planted, what was and what wasn't? >> how did mark furhman play a part in your decision when it came down to the verdict?

>> quite a bit. because everything that he had anything to do with it pretty much got thrown out. i knew he was dirty. after a while, you get a sense of people. >> do you truly believe that the police, the detectives, the criminologists were as incompetent as the defense had made them out to be? >> yeah. i think so. coming up -- >> mr. simpson, would you please stand and face the jury. >> -- the dramatic verdict revealed. and a country divided.

i accept i'm not the rower i used to be.. i even accept i have a higher risk of stroke due to afib, a type of irregular heartbeat not caused by a heart valve problem. but i won't accept is getting out there with less than my best. so if i can go for something better than warfarin, i will. eliquis. eliquis reduced the risk of stroke better than warfarin, plus it had significantly less major bleeding than warfarin. eliquis had both. that really mattered to me. don't stop taking eliquis unless your doctor tells you to, as stopping increases your risk of having a stroke. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. while taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily and it may take longer than usual for any bleeding to stop. seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines.

tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. i accept i don't have to set records. but i'm still going for my personal best. and for eliquis. reduced risk of stroke plus less major bleeding. ask your doctor if switching to eliquis is right for you.

after a marathon trial, millions of people hold their breath, waiting for the verdict to come. >> how long do you think they're going to debate? >> i would very surprised if they came back in less than two weeks. >> i think at least ten days. >> you just never know. people always say, what do you think is going to what happen? nobody knows. >> another developments in the o.j. simpson trial, the jurors are being brought back into the

courtroom. >> gu no one expected this. >> after eight months of trial, it took 12 jurors just four hours to reach a unanimous conclusion. >> we couldn't believe that it was so fast the. >> it took longer to reach the jury restrictions than the verdict. >> simpson's fate was decided. >> we are missing, as you can tell, several of the attorneys. and i've indicated to them i will accept the verdict from you tomorrow morning at 10:00. >> the judge decides to hold the verdict until the next morning. the world would have to wait one more day. >> stunned and shocked may be underestimates as far as reactions go. >> october 3rd, 1995, the sun rises and everyone everywhere is waiting and watching. we were at the beverly wilshire

hotel. standing out, no one was on the street in beverly hills. no one was on ro did he o drive. no one. >> i heard that there was no crime for, like, two hours because everybody was too busy watching, waiting for the verdict. >> people around the world stop what they're doing. the final moment in the trial of the century. >> in the matter of the people of state of california versus orenthal simpson, we tell jury in the aboved entitled action find the defendant not guilty of the crime of murder in violation of -- >> they reads it and we heard that i just fell. >> fred and kim goldman are devastated. >> it was as if your insides got

yanked out of you. everything that we knew to be certain, that he had killed nicole, sd suddenly as if, wait a minute, how is that possible? >> and then our side was in shock and then you hear the cheer cheers. on the other side. >> and that division became what was seen -- for several days. there was blacks cheering and whites crying. >> was that verdict about murder or about race? >> the verdict was undeniably about race. >> not guilty of -- [ cheers ]. >> the people saw what they wanted to see. and it's interesting how it was divided in this case right along racial lines.

i'll never forget when it was over, a woman came over to me and said the verdict was like being punched in the stomach. i said you don't know any of the people. why was it like being punched in the stomach? she said it was as if this was my brother and sister. everybody was involved. everybody took sides. >> everyone had an opinion. and now, how do you feel 20 years later? did he do it? >> my opinion still is i think he is guilty. that hasn't changed. i found him innocent and i believe he's innocent. >> with all your heart? >> all my heart. >> what's the one thing you don't get out of your mind 20 years later from that trial? >> that's easy for me. >> what's that? >> the son of a [ expletive ] got away with it. simple as that. >> as for simpson, he returns to his home in brentwood.

but the goldman and brown families don't give up. they sue simpson for wrongful death in civil court. cameras are not allowed this time, but o.j. simpson's deposition tapes are later revealed to the world. abc's 2020 played excerpts from the tapes. goldman family attorney daniel petrichelli questions o.j. simpson. watch as he explains the bruising on nicole's face. >> you see those bruises on her face? >> no. >> you don't see anything? >> no. i mean, i see this eye thing. >> you don't think this picture reflects any bruising or injuries or marks on nicole's face? >> no, i don't. >> what do you think this reflects? >> i think it reflects doing a movie that we're doing and we're doing makeup. >> and what about the shoes that left bloody footprints at the crime scene? >> i know if bruno magli makes shoes, that look like the shoes

in court involved in this case, i would have never worn those ugly [ expletive ] shoes. >> simpson denies wearing those shoes. but petrichelli does something the prosecutors in the criminal trial never could. he proved o.j. simpson owned the very same pair of shoes. >> and that is a picture of you looking at exhibit 1, correct? >> yes. >> looking at a close-up of the shoes, do you believe those were shoes that you owned at that time? >> no. >> the victim's families win the civil case and are awarded millions of dollars. but o.j. simpson still leaves court a free man. until 2007. >> simpson back in jail, accused of rounding up a middle aged posse and sticking someone up in a vegas hotel room in a low rent casino. >> o.j. simpson was on trial

again for armed robbery and kidnapping in nevada. but this time, a different verdict. >> the state of nevada plaintiff versus orenthalj. simpson, defendant. we tell jury in the above entitled case find the defendant guilty. >> exactly 13 years to the day after he was acquitted in the murders of nicole brown simpson and ron goldman, o.j. simpson is found guilty on all charges. he's sentenced to 3 yea3 years prison. at his age, it's possible he'll spend the rest of his life behind bars. but in the eyes of lapd detective tom lang, it's for the wrong crime. does o.j. simpson deserve to rot in jail? >> not for what he's there for now. that's almost laughable. but, yeah, he deserves to be in jail for murder, for slaughtering two people.

and not giving a [ expletive ] one way or the other. the following is a cnn special report. he was a rising nfl star racing toward greatness. >> he was projected to be one of the greatest tight ends in the nation. >> he was a regular guy, trying to figure out what his future would be. >> my son was rich because he had a lot of us. >> then their unlikely paths cross. >> i know. i am sorry mom, but your son was shot and killed. >> tonight, the evidence. >> he said he was innocent. >> he is charged with murder. >> the verdict.