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Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman are stabbed to death. Their bodies found in the front courtyard of the Nicole's condominium in Brentwood.
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O.J. Simpson is notified of the murders while on a business trip in Chicago. He returns to Los Angeles, is temporarily handcuffed, and taken in for questioning. Robert Shapiro is contacted on Simpson's behalf and asked to become defense counsel.
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The funerals of the victims are held.
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About to be arrested for murder, Simpson slips out of Robert Kardashian's home. He is chased by police while riding in his white Ford Bronco, driven by friend A.C. Cowlings. When he returns to his home on Rockingham, Simpson is taken into custody.
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Grand jury recused.
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Six-day preliminary hearing ends with Judge Kathleen Kennedy-Powell ruling there is sufficient evidence for O.J. Simpson to stand trial on two counts of first-degree murder.
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O.J. pleads "absolutely 100 percent not guilty" to the charges. Judge Lance A. Ito assigned to hear case.
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Defense counsel files motion to obtain personnel records of Detective Mark Fuhrman.
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District attorney files motion to sequester jury.
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District attorney announces that the death penalty will not be sought.
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Judge Ito upholds the legality of the search of Simpson's home.
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Jury panel selected: eight black, one white, one hispanic, two mixed race; eight women, four men.
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Alternate jury selected.
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Defense waives hearing for challenge of prosecution's DNA evidence.
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The jury is sequestered. Hearing held on admissibility of domestic-abuse evidence.
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Prosecutor Christopher Darden and defense attorney Johnnie Cochran argue over racist language regarding the upcoming testimony of Mark Fuhrman.
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Trial opens. Prosecutors Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden deliver opening statements.
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Johnnie Cochran makes opening statement for the defense.
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O.J. Simpson's book, I Want to Tell You, is published.
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Nicole Brown's sister Denise testifies about O.J. Simpson's abuse of her sister.
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Jurors take field trip to Simpson home and Bundy Drive crime scene.
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Detective Mark Fuhrman, cross-examined by defense attorney F. Lee Bailey, denies using the word "nigger" at any time in the previous ten years.
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L.A.P.D. criminalist Dennis Fung concedes, under cross-examination by defense attorney Barry Scheck, procedural errors.
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After three sheriff's deputies are reassigned, jurors protest. They first refuse to come to court, then show up dressed in black.
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Wrongful death suit filed on behalf of the Goldmans.
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DNA testimony begins.
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Simpson tries on the bloody gloves. They seem not to fit.
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The prosecution rests.
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The defense calls its first witness, Arnelle Simpson, O.J. Simpson's daughter.
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Controversy over possible conflict of interest concerning Judge Ito. Marchia Clark asks Ito to recuse himself from Simpson trial.
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Clark changes her mind on Ito recusal.
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Chronology of the O.J. Simpson Trials
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Fuhrman tapes played in court, with jury absent.
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Judge Ito rules that jury will hear two excerpts of controversial tapes.
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The jury hears excerpts from Fuhrman tapes.
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With jury absent, Mark Fuhrman appears on stand. He refuses to answer questions, citing his Fifth Amendment privilege against self incrimination.
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The defense announces that Simpson won't testify on his own behalf. The defense asks Judge Ito to instruct jury as to reason for Fuhrman's further nonappearance. Judge agrees, but prosecution objects. The question is appealed.
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Appeals court rejects Ito's jury instruction.
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Defense refuses to rest their case due to the unresolved question of judge's instruction to jury concerning Fuhrman. Judge Ito orders prosecution to begin its rebuttal.
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Prosecution conditionally rests its case.
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Detective Vannatter is cross-examined by Shapiro on statements he made to mob informants about why police went to O.J. Simpson's residence.
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Both defense and prosecution rest their cases. In a statement to judge waiving his right to testify, Simpson says "I did not, could not, and would not have committed this crime." Judge Ito gives jury instructions.
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Clark and Darden deliver prosecution's closing arguments.
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Cochran and Scheck deliver defense's closing arguments. Cochran makes controversial statements to the jury comparing Fuhrman to Hitler.
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The case goes to the jury.
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After less than four hours, jury announces that it has reached a verdict.
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Jury finds O.J. Simpson not guilty of two counts of murder.
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Opening statements in civil trial. Jury consists of nine whites, one black, one Hispanic, and one person of mixed Asian and African ancestry.
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Simpson testifies before a jury for the first time. He denies killing Goldman or his former wife, but cannot explain the physical evidence against him.
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Fred Goldman, Ron's father, testifies. Plaintiffs rest.
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Simpson awarded custody of his children by an Orange County judge.
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Simpson on the stand again.
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Both sides rest. Jury has heard 101 witnesses over 41 days of testimony.
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Closing argument of Daniel Petrocelli for the plaintiffs. Petrocelli points at Simpson and says, "There's a killer in this courtroom."
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Closing argument by Robert Baker, representing Simpson.
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Jury finds Simpson liable and awards plaintiffs $8.5 million in in compensatory damages.
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Court orders Simpson to turn over his assets, including 1968 Heisman trophy, a Warhol painting, and his golf clubs.
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Simpson's attorneys appeal wrongful death award against him, caaling award "excessive and the clear result of passion and prejudice on the part of the jury."
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The Brentwood estate is auctioned off (and the new owner soon demolishes it).
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Brown and Goldman families split proceeds from an auction of O. J. Simpson's belongings.
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Brown and Goldman families split proceeds from an auction of O. J. Simpson's belongings.