presiding over all of this would be judge lance ito. a former prosecutor who had been on the bench for six years. >> this blood drop you see here marked as the item #112 matches the defendant. >> reporter: the heart of the prosecution's case was all that blood and dna evidence which pointed squarely at o.j. simpson. but first, prosecutors detailed simpson and nicole's troubled, sometimes violent relationship, which they said culminated in >> and in that final and terrible act, ronald goldman, an innocentysnd, s viciously and senselessly murdered. >> reporter: later denise brown gave the jury a chilling account of how simpson brutalized her sister right in front of her. >> picked her up, threw her against the wall. picked her up and threw her out of the house. >> reporter: was it tough to go in there and recount what you had seen? >> yeah, it was. i had just lost my sister. yeah, everything was just right there. i mean, just so fresh. >> reporter: prosecutors also focused on the timeline of the murders to show that simpson was alone and

this one made by judge lance ito televised. >> reporter: do you have enough evidence to convict o.j. simpson? >> of course we do. >> reporter: 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. >> reporter: but privately, as clark told us, she sensed trouble early on. >> right off the bat, you 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 wanna see him taken down. >> reporter: 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 -- and, as he was quoted famously saying, "i'm not black, i'm o.j." >> reporter: still clark says she was convinced a strong case could be built primarily on the blood and dna evidence. >> there was a trail of evidence,

presiding over all of this would be judge lance ito. a former prosecutor who had been on the bench for six years.ou see here the defendant. >> reporter: the heart of the prosecution's case was all that ood and dna evidence which pointed squarely at o.j. simpson. but first, prosecutors detailed simpson and nicole's troubled, sometimes violent relationship, her murder. >> and in that final and terrible act, ronald goldman, anwas viciously and senselessly murdered. >> reporter: later denise brown ling account of how simpson brutalized her of her. >> picked her up, threw her against the wall. picked her up and threw her out of the house.tough to go in there and recount what you had seen? >> yeah, it was. i had just lost my sister.ng was just right there. i mean, just so fresh. >> reporter: prosecutors also focused on the timeline of the alone and unaccounted for at least an hour. enough time to kill ron and nicole.aelin. >> reporter: kato kaelin took the stand to testify about that night he was with simpson. but first came one of those "kat

judge lance ito retired in 2015 after serving more than 25 years on the bench. the once mostly-white lapd is now much more racially representative of the city it polices, though far from perfect race relations have dramatically improved between the cops and the city's black community. >> and we hope that that injustice will be prevented in a civil trial. >> reporter: and dan petrocelli, he is still practicing law in los angeles and now lives in brentwood, not far from where o.j. simpson once did. but simpson's rockingham estate was sold, and the new owner demolished the house in 1998 to build a new one. and finally nicole's condo, it's still there with a remodeled exterior and a new address number, but gawking busloads of that was supposed to guarantee a slam dunk case? most of it's still around. buried deep in the lapd's archives. that's all for now. i'm lester holt. thanks for joining us. >> a ride involving dozens of bikers took a tragic turn. and fans filling the citrus bowl opener. late breaking, police put a name robbery.