The former football star was acquitted of the 1994 killing of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman in what became known as"The Trial of the Century."O.J. Simpson, a former football star who was acquitted of killing his ex-wife and her friend in what became known as"The Trial of the Century," but who was then found liable for their deaths in a civil procedure, has died after a battle with cancer, his family said.
After college, Simpson was drafted in the NFL as the number-one pick by the Buffalo Bills. He became the first running back to gain 2,000 yards in a season in 1973 and became a Hall of Famer. He spent 11 years in the league, mostly with the Bills, and was considered to be one of the greatest running backs of all time. He retired from the NFL with the San Francisco 49ers in 1979.
Then, in 1994, Simpson was accused of the double murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman at Simpson’s home in Brentwood, California. In what became known as “The Trial of the Century,” Simpson was acquitted of the double slayings. The trial itself was a spectacle, the focus of breathless gavel-to-gavel TV coverage, with Simpson represented by a legal “Dream Team” that included the late Johnnie Cochran Jr. and F. Lee Bailey.
Simpson insisted he only wanted to retrieve personal mementoes and items stolen from him following his acquittal in the double killings.