they are all testaments to the young mother whose life was so cruelly taken, but whose spirit continues to uplift. if kaylee does get to watch this at some point, then it would be her mom telling her, don't back down. dream big. dream big. run hard. soar. go get them. because you've got the support of this family behind you. [theme music] kris jenner: he was crying over the coffin, kissed the coffin. he said, i'm sorry, nic. i'm sorry. and i said oh my god, he did it. he killed her. i just remembered screaming.

brian kato kaelin: it's probably the scariest moment in my entire life. marcia clark: it was physically painful. that was not justice. josh mankiewicz: the murders took only minutes. reporter (voiceover): mr. simpson, are you a suspect? josh mankiewicz: all these years later, the shock has yet to fade. it was a stunning time in american legal theater. josh mankiewicz: you may think you know the story of the oj simpson case, but there's a lot you probably haven't heard. haven't seen. did nicole brown simpson actually predict her own death? what she said to us was that oj is going to kill me and he's going to get away with it. josh mankiewicz: what really went on in the jury room? juror (voiceover): not guilty of the crime of murder. all people wanted to do was go home. josh mankiewicz: and in a frank interview, prosecutor marcia clark answers the most important question of all. how did you not convict this guy? [music playing]

june 12, 1994, brentwood, california, two horrific murders that came to be defined by just three words-- the oj case. it was a very bloody scene, a very traumatic scene. tom lange: both victims had their throats slashed. oj, please surrender immediately. police dispatcher(voiceover): suspect named orenthal james simpson. i have oj in the car. we do have sufficient evidence to convict him. oj simpson: absolutely 100% not guilty. how about that, mr. fung? if it doesn't fit, you must acquit. juror (voiceover): not guilty of the crime of murder. josh mankiewicz: it was the story that wouldn't go away. if you lived here, and by here, we mean the united

states, you had an opinion. you love evil. josh mankiewicz: a nation made room in its collective consciousness for this collision of pop culture and legal drama. [sobbing] more than a quarter century ago, it touched issues we still can't agree on today-- race, money, privilege, fame, interracial marriage, and domestic violence. back up, please. get out of the way. josh mankiewicz: this became television's first reality show. the case consumed us and then divided us. [cheering] even now, we are still fascinated. because there are still questions about what really happened that night in brentwood and why, despite a staggering amount of evidence, oj simpson was acquitted. (chanting) oj, oj, oj. josh mankiewicz: we'll provide some answers with interviews done over the years, rare footage, and haunting

memories, including a candid interview with prosecutor marcia clark, who doesn't hold back when discussing her unique perspective on the case on everything from the infamous bronco chase-- marcia clark: i'm thinking, we look like the biggest idiots ever. josh mankiewicz: --to the trial of the century. marcia clark: and every day we'd walk into court and something else was blowing up. juror (voiceover): not guilty of the crime of murder. josh mankiewicz: and, of course, the verdict. do you blame yourself for this? you know, i always do. i do. josh mankiewicz: it was a cool late spring evening in brentwood. around midnight, a couple was walking a dog down a quiet section of south bundy drive when something strange caught their attention. then, at the entrance to a condominium numbered 875, they saw it. a body in a river of blood. [sirens]

police arrived and discovered a second victim. investigators would soon follow, including veteran homicide detective tom lange. this isn't a robbery. this isn't for sex. this is a rage killing. nicole was nearly decapitated. nicole was 35-year-old nicole brown simpson, the ex-wife of oj simpson. near the bodies was a bloody leather glove, an envelope with a pair of eyeglasses, and a blue knit cap. cops later id'd the male victim as 25-year-old ronald goldman. at this point, they didn't know much about him. there's numerous wounds on the neck. goldman put up a fight. josh mankiewicz: asleep inside the house where the simpson's two children, sydney and justin, who hadn't heard a thing. they were taken to a nearby police station. tom lange: we need next of kin to take care of these kids. we need to find oj simpson. josh mankiewicz: as dawn broke in brentwood,

lange and three other detectives were sent to simpson's estate on nearby rockingham avenue. one of them was detective mark fuhrman. arriving detectives feared the worst, that simpson may have suffered the same fate as his ex-wife. we've just left a bloody crime scene. is simpson in there as one of the victims? josh mankiewicz: so without a search warrant, detective fuhrman jumped the wall and let in the other cops. in one of the estate's bungalows, detectives found simpson's 25-year-old daughter, arnelle. they learned her father was out of town on a business trip in chicago. in the other bungalow, detectives woke up a shaggy-haired young man named brian kato kaelin. kaelin had been living at simpson's house for five months. he'd come to la to be an actor, and now he was about to star in the role of his life, answering questions about where he'd last seen simpson.

i'd seen him earlier in the day, and he was talking about women problems. he needed someone to talk to, and i was the only guy probably available. this wasn't normally the relationship you had with him? absolutely not. josh mankiewicz: later that evening, kaelin said, simpson came by his door to get change for a $100 and also mentioned getting something to eat. so just after 9:00 pm, they hopped in simpson's bentley and went to mcdonald's. did simpson ask kaelin to go with him to establish an alibi? brian kato kaelin: i invited myself. he didn't ask me, and i thought, oh, i was starving. josh mankiewicz: kaelin told detectives they got back around 9:40 pm. he returned to his bungalow and didn't see simpson again for approximately an hour and a half. then, around 10:45 pm, kaelin says he heard three strange sounds. brian kato kaelin: it was a loud-- it was a banging noise as if someone bumped into a wall. josh mankiewicz: kaelin came outside to check on the noise and saw limo driver allan park at the gate,

waiting to take simpson to the airport. a few minutes later, simpson came out of the house. his luggage was loaded and the limo sped off. kaelin's story seemed to add up. so now it was simpson the cops really wanted to talk to. he was in his hotel in chicago when detectives told him what had happened in la. there were no details given except that nicole was dead. he said, i'll be on the next plane back there. josh mankiewicz: now, came another phone call. the one tom lange dreaded, notifying nicole's family. you hear that phone ring and i hear a scream from my mom's room that i had never heard before. i mean, it was just awful, awful, awful. josh mankiewicz: denise brown, nicole's older sister, remembers rushing to her mother's room. denise brown: she says, your sister's dead. and i said oh my god, he did it. he killed her.

josh mankiewicz: he, being oj simpson, denise's former brother-in-law. detective lange was stunned at this sudden new lead. that was my first inkling that perhaps simpson was involved in this. josh mankiewicz: nicole's family, devastated in an instant, continued the grim task and called her best friend, kris jenner. kris jenner: i was like, what? what do you mean nicole died? it was like, it was devastating. i think i almost passed out. it was just the worst feeling you could possibly imagine. josh mankiewicz: kris had known nicole since 1978. they met through kris's former husband, robert kardashian, who was simpson's best friend and attorney. kris adored simpson too, she said, like a big brother. kris jenner: he was very charming, a lot of fun to be around. you could tell he was the type of person who really enjoyed life. josh mankiewicz: kris and nicole had become fast friends, and the two

couples were like family. now, all of that was suddenly gone. everyone's life changed. nicole died and nothing would ever be the same. josh mankiewicz: the world had changed forever for kris jenner, for the brown and goldman families, and for oj simpson, who would soon be back home in la where a trail of evidence led right to his front door. coming up, someone else's world was also about to change-- a deputy da named marcia clark-- marcia clark: he goes, you know who it is? oj simpson. who's that? oh, wait. oh yeah, "naked gun"? hertz commercial, right? you're not a big football fan? no, i wasn't a big football fan. but i know who he is now. josh mankiewicz: --when "dateline" continues. [music playing] - bye, bye cough. - later chest congestion. hello 12 hours of relief.

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in 1994, the city of angels was about to get an education. back then, most of us had never heard the name kardashian, today's powerful bond between dna evidence and criminal guilt didn't yet exist, and the name oj simpson belonged to a friendly, recognizable sports star, actor, and corporate ambassador, someone the nation knew, trusted and liked from his "naked gun" movies to his nfl broadcasts, as his colleague bob costas remembers. he was always the quintessential hail fellow well met. he was outwardly as likeable a person as you could ever want to encounter. [police radio chatter] josh mankiewicz: but on day two of this story, much of that history was in the process of being rewritten. the brentwood crime scene was now crawling with cops looking for clues and collecting evidence.

blood was everywhere. and leading from it, a trail of bloody shoe prints. near the bodies was a bloody left-handed glove and a blue knit cap. and inside the walls of simpson's rockingham estate, detective mark fuhrman went behind kato kaelin's bungalow and discovered a moist, bloody glove similar to the one at the crime scene. so we look at the glove and it looks the same type. and it was a right-handed glove? yeah, same everything. josh mankiewicz: detectives also found a trail of blood drops on simpson's driveway, leading from the white ford bronco parked on the street. lange braced himself for what was to come. this is very sensitive now. it's a celebrity case. at midnight last night, a passerby observed the body-- a female white body and a male white body. josh mankiewicz: by now, the news media had the first sketchy reports. deputy district attorney marcia clark was

with the special trials unit. she was consulted about getting a search warrant for rockingham by tom lange's partner, detective phil vannatter, who already considered simpson a suspect. marcia clark: he goes, you know who it is? oj simpson. who's that? oh, wait. oh yeah, "naked gun"? hertz commercial, right? you're not a big football fan? no, i wasn't a big football fan. but i know who he is now. josh mankiewicz: some 13 hours after the murders, simpson returned to la from chicago, a journey that took him from household name to potential suspect. you never thought of him as a killer? no. no. to me, he was bigger than life and had a great personality. he loved, you know, being oj simpson. josh mankiewicz: bad enough that simpson might be involved in the murder of her best friend, but now kris was further conflicted because her former husband, robert kardashian,

was simpson's longtime personal attorney. kardashian was also at rockingham and was caught on camera carrying what appeared to be simpson's garment bag. josh mankiewicz: much has been speculated about what might have been in that bag. could you conceive of him loving his friend so much that he would help him dispose of evidence? absolutely not. i guarantee you 150% that he had this character and integrity and christian values and believed in the truth. reporter (voiceover): oj, what can you say about this? back up, please. get out of the way. step back here. get back. reporter (voiceover): you don't know anything, you say? josh mankiewicz: detectives now wanted to bring in simpson for questioning. his attorney, howard weitzman, said his client would fully cooperate. he's shocked and he had nothing to do with this tragedy. josh mankiewicz: after arriving at police headquarters, simpson's lawyers met privately with him

and then went to lunch, leaving their client alone with two veteran homicide detectives, phil vannatter and tom lange. i was flabbergasted. unless he just thinks he's glib enough to say anything he wants and he's going to get around us. josh mankiewicz: detectives and oj simpson now settled into a small interrogation room for a critical interview that could make or break the case. it would be the first and last time simpson would tell his story to police. [music playing] coming up-- oj simpson knows just how bad things look. and he's not the only one-- reporter (voiceover): mr. simpson, are you a suspect? josh mankiewicz: --when "dateline" continues. [music playing]

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parker center in 1994, police headquarters in downtown la. it's seen a lot of high profile murder investigations and thousands of interrogations. but on that june afternoon, perhaps none more pivotal than the talk detectives were about to have with oj simpson. simpson didn't have to be there. he wasn't under arrest. and his attorneys weren't with him in the interview. so they talked, tape rolled, and we have a copy of it. simpson was surprisingly calm for a man whose ex-wife had just been murdered. very narcissistic, self-assured, has to be in charge at all times. josh mankiewicz: cops were drawn to a cut on simpson's left middle finger. and this is where simpson's answers

started becoming more vague. police had found a blood trail from the bronco to his house. now, simpson offered a few new details to help explain it. we don't know what direction this is going to take us. but there's enough that i want your blood, i want to document that finger, i want your fingerprints. josh mankiewicz: by now, simpson appeared to be sensing trouble and attempted to straighten out his story.

josh mankiewicz: then, after just 32 minutes, detectives wrapped up their interview and whisked simpson to a lab where he was printed, his finger photographed, and most importantly, his blood drawn. tom lange: if this guy is our suspect, his blood is going to convict him. at the core of this case is blood. blood everywhere. and he's got the evidence that we want in his body. reporter (voiceover): mr. simpson, are you a suspect at all? josh mankiewicz: for now, simpson was allowed to leave. juror (voiceover): oj, anything you can tell us? josh mankiewicz: that may have been a measure of his celebrity or that police had suspicions they couldn't yet back up. but back at simpson's estate, more evidence was turning up, including a pair of bloody socks on his bedroom floor. and at the crime scene itself, more blood drops

were swabbed from the walkway leading to the alley, suggesting the killer was bleeding as he fled. reporter (voiceover): we have now video tape showing the bodies of simpson's ex-wife and an unidentified man as they were removed from a walkway in front of her west side condominium. josh mankiewicz: monitoring all of this from her office at the criminal courts building was deputy da marcia clark, who had not yet been officially assigned the case. did you campaign to be put on this case? at that time, it was just another big case. that's what our unit did. in special trials, we handled high profile murder cases. that was it. it's a good case, so of course i wanted it. did i want it for fame and fortune? hell no. josh mankiewicz: all that day, fred goldman had been following the news reports about those murders in brentwood. he had no idea how much or in how many ways, his life was about to change, because when fred got home, he and his wife received a phone call from the coroner's office.

and this individual said to me, did you hear on the news today that nicole brown was killed and your son was the other person? that's how we found out, over the phone. and the two of us stood there crying our eyes out. through his shock, fred knew he had to tell his daughter, kim, who sensed something was wrong the minute she heard his voice on the phone. and he said, did you-- did you hear the news at all today? and i said, no, what's going on, dad? and then he just said that ron had died and that ron was killed. i don't really remember too much after that. i just remembered screaming and he told me to get home. [music playing] josh mankiewicz: ron goldman was just 25, handsome, athletic, popular. i love you very much and i'll see you soon. bye.

josh mankiewicz: this rare footage was taken the year before his murder. (chanting) go, ron. go, ron. go, ron. josh mankiewicz: the goldmans didn't know it, but this would be their last big celebration as a family. in june of 1994, ron had been working at mezzaluna restaurant, where nicole and her family had dined the night of the murder. when nicole's mother left her eyeglasses there, it was ron who later brought them to nicole's condo, and the lives of two families were suddenly tied together forever in grief. fred goldman: i believe he walked into a crime in process and he had a chance to walk away and run, but he didn't. so he died trying to do the right thing. and that's painful. josh mankiewicz: as night descended on brentwood, oj simpson was back at his estate. kato kaelin says simpson wanted

to have a little chat to discuss the timing of their mcdonald's meal. it was a conversation kaelin tells "dateline" that had simpson suggesting a cover up. he had tried to tell me, you know, where i was, kato. you know i was in the kitchen at this time. and he was trying to convince me about what i believe now is an alibi for him. he was trying to get you to agree that you had spent more time with him that last evening than you actually had? yeah, i think it was in the time-frame that he was with me. i said, no, you weren't. and inside i'm going, he's trying to make me say something that's not true. josh mankiewicz: kato kaelin was seeing another oj simpson, far different from the affable, glad-handing celebrity image that simpson had so carefully cultivated and protected. but simpson also had a dark and violent side, one that had nicole fearing for her life just weeks before her murder.

[music playing] coming up-- did nicole brown simpson predict her future-- kris jenner: she said things are really bad between oj and i and he's going to kill me and he's going to get away with it. josh mankiewicz: --when "dateline" continues. [music playing] go-friends, gather! keke! chris! jason! boop! friends. let's go, let's go, friends! hold onto your dice. woohoo!! -nice frosting, pratt. -thank you! how we doin', keke? tastes like money to me. i can't go back to jail! wait, did you rob my bank? -hehe. -are we winning!? -ha ha ha! -oh boy! yeah! money, power, friendship. let's go!

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i'm jessica layton with the hours top stories. cease-fire between israel and hezbollah now in the third day he appears to be holding after israel conducted a airstrike on what it said were militants. civilians are moving back to their homes in southern lebanon, for more than 1 million people had been displaced by fighting. black friday is here. the national retail federation

expects americans to spend about $900 billion this year, and now, let's go back to dateline. w, let's go back to dateline. mile from the crime sc ene. this was a gathering of nicole's family and friends, including the man police already suspected of her murder, her ex-husband. that was a really tough day. how did simpson react at the funeral? he was crying over the coffin, kissed the coffin. he said, i'm sorry, nic. i'm sorry. josh mankiewicz: close friend kris jenner remembers when nicole met simpson. she was just 18. he was 29. kris jenner: and they were just really happy together. he didn't want to live without her. josh mankiewicz: she was every bit as crazy about him. and in 1985, they married-- the same year simpson was inducted into the pro football hall of fame. but there would be trouble.

some parts of a star athlete's life remained allure and simpson saw other women. the two quarreled. and when that would happen, it would sometimes turn violent. nicole kept all of it a secret, writing about it in her diary. what kind of things were in those diaries? she had to go to the emergency room. she had been beaten so badly that she-- but she told the doctors that she fell off her bicycle. josh mankiewicz: on new year's day, 1989 after an especially ugly incident, nicole stopped covering for her husband. she called both the police and her sister, denise. she says, can you do me a favor and come over here and take pictures of me? and so i went over. how did she look? she had her face all scratched up. she had the black and blue all over her and she just said he went crazy. josh mankiewicz: they divorced in 1992. but soon after, they tried getting back together. kris jenner: i felt like they really loved each other, but it was tough for them to be together.

and she just always felt like he was cheating on her. why would she go back to him? she couldn't live with him and she couldn't live without him. josh mankiewicz: nicole's sister, denise, says things got worse, simpson stalked her. denise brown: she says, he's always there. he's always around. he won't leave me alone. josh mankiewicz: and just months before her murder, nicole was on the phone to 911, sounding at first more exasperated than frightened. nicole hung up, but called back 10 minutes later as things apparently escalated.

no charges were filed against simpson. his all-american public image remained intact. but privately, the last several months of nicole's life with simpson were a series of break-ups and make-ups, says kris jenner. in april, 1994, came one last reconciliation. the two took a trip to mexico, but things didn't work out. nicole returned home with her mind made up. kris jenner: she said she was done, and there was something different within nicole that time. josh mankiewicz: but simpson apparently wasn't ready to let go. according to kris jenner, he was devastated at being dumped and retaliated by threatening nicole. just weeks before her death, says kris, nicole revealed something shocking. things are really bad between oj

and i and he's going to kill me and he's going to get away with it. and soon after, kris jenner was attending her best friend's funeral. and as the funeral was winding down, things were busy at the lapd crime lab, where preliminary results comparing simpson's blood to the samples collected at the crime scene were now in. and they matched. the bloody trail at bundy, rockingham, and inside the bronco all came back to simpson, which meant-- we wanted to go out and get him and bring him in and book him like we would anybody else. josh mankiewicz: instead, a deal was struck with simpson's recently hired defense attorney, robert shapiro. to avoid all the media, simpson would discreetly turn himself in at the jail in the back of parker center. the deadline was friday, june 17, 1994, 11:00 am, sharp.

but oj simpson never showed. as the nation was about to learn, he had simply disappeared. coming up-- oj, wherever you are, for the sake of your family, for the sake of your children, please surrender immediately. josh mankiewicz: oj simpson could run, but he couldn't hide. al cowlings: this is ac. i have oj in the car. josh mankiewicz: and marcia clark gets a preview of things to come-- he has murdered two innocent people, slaughtered them, and you're cheering his escape? josh mankiewicz: --when "dateline" continues. [music playing] billy: one second, grandma. this guy is going to buy my car. okay? grandma: you need carvana... entering plate number... grandma: no accidents, right? billy: no. grandma: generating offer... carvana can pick it up tomorrow! billy: that's an amazing offer. announcer: sell your car the easy way with carvana. - bye, bye cough. - later chest congestion. hello 12 hours of relief. 12 hours!! not coughing?

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oj, wherever you are, for the sake of your family, for the sake of your children, please surrender immediately. josh mankiewicz: simpson did leave behind what many felt was a suicide note. a note his friend robert kardashian read on live tv. everyone understand, i have nothing to do with nicole's murder. i loved her. don't feel sorry for me. i've had a great life. josh mankiewicz: and no one seemed to know where simpson was. the los angeles police department right now is actively searching for mr. simpson. oj simpson is not at this location. there is nothing going on here. police dispatcher(voiceover): all units, attention to a suspect wanted for a double 187 in west la division.

suspect named orenthal james simpson. josh mankiewicz: then around 6:30 pm, some seven hours after he was supposed to have turned himself in, a white ford bronco was spotted with simpson in the back seat and his close friend al cowlings at the wheel. yeah, i think i just saw oj simpson on the 5 freeway. and within a minute, the orange county sheriffs were on him. police dispatcher(voiceover): in the number one lane at 40-miles-per-hour. josh mankiewicz: what followed was a surreal, low speed chase, which, by the way, involved al cowlings bronco, not simpson's. al cowlings: this is ac. i have oj in the car. police dispatcher(voiceover): ok, where are you? al cowlings: please, i'm coming up the 5 freeway. police dispatcher(voiceover): ok. al cowlings: right now, we are ok. but you got to tell the police to just back off. he's still alive, but he's got a gun to his head. josh mankiewicz: 95 million americans now tuned into the watch what was suddenly the best show on tv. tom brokaw (voiceover): here is tom brokaw.

we are looking live pictures of interstate 5 in los angeles. josh mankiewicz: until that moment, many viewers had settled in to watch the nba finals between the knicks and the rockets. now, they would watch a split screen of the game and the chase. bob costas was hosting the pre-game and halftime shows for nbc. bob costas (voiceover): and then all of a sudden, this greek tragedy becomes part of the mix. and it's going on concurrently. police dispatcher(voiceover): in the number two lane, 25-miles-per-hour. bob costas (voiceover): this is a drama without a script. police dispatcher(voiceover): suspect is possibly armed. use caution. tom lange: a real gun. it was loaded. he could have used it. and you can't take a chance with someone who certainly had been accused of murder. police dispatcher(voiceover): there are pedestrians all over the roadway. 10-4. josh mankiewicz: detective tom lange had simpson's cell phone number and amazingly was able to reach him. "dateline" has obtained the actual

recording of that conversation, which was not released at the time. tom lange: are you there? oj simpson: just let me get to my house. tom lange: ok, we're going to do that. oj simpson: i swear to you, i'll give you-- i'll give you me. i'll give you my whole body. josh mankiewicz: lange used every bit of police and pop psychology he knew to keep simpson's hand on the phone and off the trigger. tom lange: please, you're scaring everybody, though. you're scaring them. oj simpson: just tell them i'm all sorry. you can tell them later on today and tomorrow that i was sorry and that i'm sorry that i did this to the police. tom lange: listen, i think you should tell them yourself. and i don't want to have to tell your kids that. your kids need you. oj simpson: i already said goodbye to my kids. josh mankiewicz: marcia clark, who by now had been assigned to prosecute simpson for nicole and ron's murders, was watching all of this furious that he was still free. we look like the biggest idiots ever. and then i thought, this looks like flight to me. and that is consciousness of guilt in the law. josh mankiewicz: kim goldman was watching, too,

and worrying simpson might not survive. kim brown: i'm thinking, we need to bring him to the court. he needs to have his day at trial. fred brown: if he's not guilty, then what's he running for? oj simpson: all i did was love nicole. all i did was love her. tom lange: i understand. oj simpson: i loverybody. i try to show everybody my whole life that i love everybody. kris jenner: it was surreal. it was devastating. it was, you know, could this get any worse? police dispatcher(voiceover): 10.4. suspect taking sunset boulevard off-ramp from the northbound 405. josh mankiewicz: well, maybe not worse, but certainly more weird with crowds cheering on simpson as if he were making a heisman like dash for the end zone. police dispatcher(voiceover): 10.4 copy. there are pedestrians running in front of the suspect's vehicle. josh mankiewicz: but marcia clark, who was glued to the screen, wasn't cheering. she says she was seething. marcia clark: i saw the people by the side of the road cheering and i thought oh my god, this is not good.

that's a little sample of what's to come. exactly. he has murdered to innocent people, slaughtered them, and you're cheering his escape? and it gave me a full on view of what we were up against. josh mankiewicz: finally, after nearly 90 riveting minutes-- police dispatcher(voiceover): possibly getting close to the house there. josh mankiewicz: --simpson and cowlings pulled into rockingham. police dispatcher(voiceover): use your own discretion. you take him down if you have to. bob costas (voiceover): we don't know what the hell is going to happen. you don't know if he's going to get out of the car and have a shootout with the police. i couldn't have written off the possibility that he was going to kill himself. josh mankiewicz: for nearly an hour, simpson sat in the bronco as police tried to coax him out. finally, he emerged and collapsed into the arms of several waiting officers. it was finally over. inside the bronco was a loaded 357 magnum

and simpson's travel bag containing his passport, a fake goatee, and mustache. simpson was taken away and would soon be charged with two counts of first degree murder. oj simpson is in custody. he's been transported here to parker center. josh mankiewicz: convicting him seemed almost certain, especially given all that blood evidence. but district attorney gil garcetti would soon make a crucial decision that would alter the course of this case long before it ever went to trial. coming up-- we're ready to proceed to trial. we want to see justice for oj simpson. and we believe he'll be acquitted. josh mankiewicz: --they were called the dream team. this was the kind of case where you attack the police and their credibility. josh mankiewicz: but one of the team had another name for his fellow attorneys-- i call them the nightmare team. --when "dateline" continues. [music playing]

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josh mankiewicz: he once wore number 32. now, oj simpson had a brand new number. and for the next 15 months, a new home, a dingy cell at the la county jail, where he was being held without bail. simpson had visits from his family, friends, attorneys, and even his former colleague, bob costas. i went to visit him. he tried to convince me several times of his innocence. look, bob, you know me, i'm a smart guy. would i leave a glove behind? would i do something like this? this doesn't make sense. that doesn't make sense. josh mankiewicz: but simpson was facing a mountain of evidence-- we work in the crime lab. josh mankiewicz: --as district attorney gil garcetti confidently told "nbc news" back in 1995. no case that i am aware of in the history of this country has had so much dna evidence. but for the fact, this were oj simpson, this is what you would call in sports

language a slam dunk winner. then. da garcetti made a critical decision. he decided to move the case here to downtown los angeles from santa monica. downtown, the jury pool would be mostly minority and thought to be more sympathetic to a black defendant. at the time, garcetti claimed the change was made for a number of reasons, including that the santa monica courthouse, which recently had sustained earthquake damage, couldn't handle a long trial. reporter (voiceover): can you tell us anything at all at this point? josh mankiewicz: but former detective tom lange believes that trade-off may have also involved a different calculus-- the hope that a conviction by a predominantly black jury would head off what happened here in 1992-- [shouting] josh mankiewicz: --when rioting broke out after a mostly white jury acquitted lapd officers in the beating of rodney king. can we-- can we all get along? can we-- can we get along? josh mankiewicz: in hindsight, that decision

to move the trial downtown may have been the first of many that, taken together, would influence how the case and the verdict played out. tom lange: the thinking was if you have a minority jury convicting a minority defendant, everything is cool. you're not going to have any problems. josh mankiewicz: but prosecutor marcia clark says there was no choice about where to try the case. it was always going to be downtown. there was no discussion about it. and so people who say oh well, they gave up the mostly white jury pool of santa monica and ended up in a mostly minority jury pool downtown, and that it was all over at that point, those people don't know what they're talking about? they really don't. i mean, they might be right in terms of would we be better off with a white jury? well, yes, i don't think there's any disputing that now. but justice kind of demands that we try the case in front of the jury that we have, and we do our very best to convince them. josh mankiewicz: then, another critical decision, this one made by judge lance ito, who ruled

the trial could be televised. judge ito: do you have enough evidence to convict oj simpson? of course, we do. josh mankiewicz: publicly, marcia clark seemed highly confident in her case back then. the fact that the case has been filed means that we do have sufficient evidence to convict him. josh mankiewicz: but privately, as clark told us, she sensed trouble early on. right off the bat, we've got a big push back in the african-american community. they don't like this case. they don't want to believe it. there was a sense of loyalty of investment in protecting an african-american icon who had made it. he was successful. he had made it. they did not want to see him taken down. even though he'd done virtually nothing for the community he'd come from? it was surprising. virtually nothing. this was not exactly your civil rights firebrand. and as he was quoted famously saying, i'm not black. i'm oj. josh mankiewicz: still, clark says she was convinced a strong case could be built primarily on the blood and dna evidence. marcia clark: there was a trail of evidence literally from bundy that led all the way into his bedroom

at rockingham. and that included the blood, the hairs, the fibers. it was a huge amount of evidence. the question was, would it be enough to overcome the incendiary issue of race. judge ito: how do you plead to counts 1 and 2? oj simpson: absolutely 100% not guilty. josh mankiewicz: race would soon become front and center in the case, thanks to a new attorney simpson added to his team just before he was arraigned. his name-- johnnie l. cochran jr. we're ready to proceed to trial. we want to see justice for oj simpson. and we believe he'll be acquitted. josh mankiewicz: cochran had been a thorn in the lapd side for years, running a lucrative practice, trying police misconduct cases. from the outset, his strategy was simple. was this was the kind of case where you attack the police and their credibility. josh mankiewicz: especially in 1995. at that time, the only way to describe the situation between the black community and lapd

was a state of open warfare. josh mankiewicz: connie rice is a civil rights attorney who lives in los angeles. the black community experienced lapd as a hostile occupation force that viewed the black community with racist contempt. so it was the perfect time for that defense to be raised? it's the perfect time for that defense to be raised, that this is a black man being persecuted and he ought to be let go. josh mankiewicz: but oj simpson-- for years, he lived on la's mostly white west side. he spent much of his time playing golf, dating white women, and seemed to have little to do with la's black community. i'm not sure he knew how to get to south la. that's right, he didn't have to identify with the black community. what the black community understood was that you're being targeted? you're back with us. josh mankiewicz: cochran knew that. and helping him were several other legal superstars like f. lee bailey, dna expert barry scheck, and harvard law

professor alan dershowitz. they were known as the dream team. but dershowitz had his own name for them. i call them the nightmare team. it was a terrible, terrible group. we didn't get along. there was tremendous amount of dissension behind the scenes. josh mankiewicz: coming up-- a limousine pulled up and oj simpson got out of the limousine. josh mankiewicz: --was oj simpson getting rid of something at the airport the night of the murders? he was pulling things out and dumping them in the trash can. josh mankiewicz: and kato kaelin in the biggest role of his life-- i don't think we're going for the same parts. [chuckles] josh mankiewicz: --when "dateline" continues. regina king is in our studio looking radiant as ever. don't cover up your glow. ♪♪ flawless. all eyes on you. skin esteem is a beautiful thing. ♪♪

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josh mankiewicz (voiceover): day one of what was being called the trial of the century. it's no exaggeration to say, it felt as if the whole world