By Griffin Thurston

This month marks when the jury was sworn into court for the historic OJ Simpson case. These past couple months, OJ Simpson has been hidden in the newspaper in a “Where’s Waldo” fashion, but now it’s time to learn about his story and the start of DNA analysis evidence.
OJ Simpson in known as a star football player for the University of Southern Carolina Trojans where he won the Heisman trophy, as well as the star running back for the Buffalo Bills from 1969 – 1977, and a one-year tenure for the San Francisco 49ers. But he’s also very well known for the man who might’ve gotten away with murder.
On June 12, 1994, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman were stabbed outside of the Simpson’s condo in Los Angeles. OJ Simpson was the prime suspect for the murders and was involved in a low speed chase inside of the infamous Ford Bronco SUV. The chase leads them all the way to his home, where he eventually surrendered himself to the authorities.
This case, from the start, is regarded as one of the biggest screw ups in history. From the start, the police officers who were on the case walked on the bloody footprints leading outside of the house, compromising every piece of evidence that they could give you. Secondly, the body was wrapped inside of a plastic bag, ruining multiple fingerprints that might’ve been on the bodies. Thirdly, the low speed chase was never brought up in court, because it might’ve brought sympathy for the Juice as he had a gun to his head threatening suicide, which would’ve resulted in a not-guilty verdict.
Lastly, the biggest mistake of all was the inclusion of the racist and crooked cop that took the stand, and the inclusion of the glove. Mark Fuhrman was caught in a tough situation, while being cross-examined by the defense, he was asked the question “Have you used the (the n word) in the last 10 years?” and of course, as any moral person would say, he replied with “No.” This was trying to prove he was a racist, and when the Fuhrman tapes came out that undoubtedly showed him saying it came out, he was labeled as a racist and a liar.
This was destructive on many levels and swayed the jury into believing that OJ was framed, and the glove only proved suspicions.
The black glove found outside of the home had blood on it, which put OJ Simpson at the crime scene, and the one who was wearing the glove. When asked to put it on, the glove didn’t fit, and this event shocked the nation. Many people were starting to have their doubts about Mike Fuhrman and the entire forensic defense, “If the glove doesn’t fit, you must acquit”, was the famous line given by defense attorney Johnny Cochran and was beginning to be the cases entire defense.

DNA evidence not collected or compromised swayed in favor for OJ, and after 250 days on October second, 1995, OJ Simpson walked as a free man. He later went to civil court and was convicted of the two killings and lost out $25 million dollars. His name was also tarnished for life, and now when you think of OJ, murderer comes to mind.
Walking around the school, you can ask anyone who has general knowledge about the case and they all agree. “Oh, he’s definitely guilty” says senior Jack Binfet. Everyone has a dead set idea on why he’s guilty, and just the trial only proved how hard it is to convict someone when different factors play out.
The racist cop and DNA evidence being compromised killed the case and made the Kardashians famous. Not because they walk around half naked all the time, but because OJ Simpson had money to spend, and paid his legal team that included Kris Kardashian millions of dollars. The amount of money that was spent on making him innocent is around 5 million dollars.
Forensic science has since then improved to what it is today because of this case, with more precautionary steps being put into place at crime scenes. Nowadays most police officers aren’t even allowed on the site of the crime scene once everything has been investigated, which includes crime scene analysis and picture taking. Evidence now has to be logged at all times; where it goes, who takes it, when they took it, etc.. This case did shed light on how DNA evidence can get many people out of jail, as following this case multiple people were proven innocent by DNA evidence by showing that someone else was at the scene of the crime.