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The June 12, 1994, killings of Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman brought what’s dubbed the „Trial of the Century“ that culminated with O.J. Simpson’s acquittal of the murders. The announcement Thursday that Simpson is dead has brought renewed attention to the closely watched trial and the fascinating cast of characters who played a role in the case.
Here’s a look at where they are now.THE DEFENDANT
Two years after Simpson’s 1995 acquittal, a civil court jury found him liable for the deaths of his ex-wife and Goldman, and ordered he pay their survivors $33.5 million. He got into a series of minor legal scrapes ranging from a 2001 Florida road-rage incident to racing his boat through a protected Florida manatee zone in 2002; He was acquitted for the former and fined for the latter.
His most serious transgression came in 2007, however, when he and five others barged into a Las Vegas hotel room with guns and seized property from memorabilia dealers that Simpson claimed to own. He served nine years in a Nevada prison and was paroled in 2017. In recent years, Simpson lived quietly in Las Vegas, where he played golf and sometimes posed for selfies with those still enamored with his celebrity.
He died Wednesday from cancer.THE VICTIMS‘ FAMILIES
Ron Goldman’s sister, Kim, was 22 and broke into sobs when the not guilty verdict was read. Since then, she counseled troubled teens as executive director of a Southern California-based nonprofit, The Youth Project, until it closed during the pandemic.
A best-selling author and public speaker, Goldman also has launched several podcasts including „Confronting: OJ Simpson“ and, most recently, „Media Circus.“
Fred Goldman, Ron’s father, has relentlessly pursued Simpson through civil courts, maintaining it is the only way to achieve justice for his son.
Goldman’s family has seized some of Simpson’s memorabilia, including his 1968 Heisman Trophy as college football’s best player that year.
The family has also taken the rights to Simpson’s movies, a book he wrote about the killings and other items to satisfy part of the $33.5 million judgment that Simpson refused to pay.
Denise Brown, Nicole Brown Simpson’s sister, has remained the family’s most outspoken critic of Simpson, although like the Goldman family, she refuses to speak his name.
The former model has become a victims‘ rights advocate and a speaker, urging both women and men to leave abusive relationships.
