O.J.: Made in America

All right, let's see what O.J. can do.

He's got it up and he holds it good enough

to get a call from the referee.

O.J. Simpson stands up

and that one is hit hard to left.

High enough, wind helps, it's gone.

Watch this.

Tell me how many right-handers you've ever seen do this,

pick off the five ten.

Juice is moving 'em out.

He's gotta good run going.

Ready for the hurdle, this is gonna be a good time for O.J. Simpson.

_

Ladies and gentleman, thank you for your patience.

I have just a few final instructions that I need to give

to you before you start your deliberations on this matter.

You are reminded that you must not be influenced

by mere sentiment, sympathy,

passion, prejudice,

public opinion, or public feeling.

Both the prosecution and the defendant have a right

to expect that you will conscientiously consider and weigh

all the evidence,

apply the law as I have instructed you

and reach a just verdict regardless of the consequences.

There's a rough rule of thumb

for jury deliberations.

One day of deliberation for each week of trial.

So, we all settle in and we think, okay.

We're gonna be here awhile.

All the lawyers on the case were going to do something

that first day that the jury was out,

because everyone knew we had at least one day.

It was Johnnie's birthday.

He and his wife had taken a one-day excursion

up to the wine country,

and I called Johnnie from the courtroom.

I said, "Jay, Jay, we got a verdict."

He said, "What?!"

"We got a verdict, man."

We reached the verdict.

We were happy about that.

After more than eight months of testimony,

more than 100 witnesses and more than 45,000 pages

of court transcripts, the jurors,

who'd been advised not to talk about the case

since it began, came to their decision

over the course of a morning's work.

We had to go home.

That's all I got to say.

We'd been gone a year.

We had to come home.

Being held up for nine months,

I wouldn't want that.

But why don't we talk about a couple of things

that may be on our mind?

They did not deliberate.

I truly was offended.

267 days.

That's how long the trial lasted.

1,105 pieces of evidence.

45,000 pages of trial transcript from 133 witnesses.

How the hell did you deliberate for three and a half hours?

How many days was it again?

267 days.

266 nights.

266 nights I went back to that room, alone.

Wasn't able to talk to other jurors.

Wasn't able to talk to family.

Nobody but me and my thoughts.

I waited til the end to come up with a decision,

but each night that I went home

after listening to testimony,

I stored that.

By the end of that trial, I knew where I was.

And it was clear.

O.J. was extremely emotional.

Puts his hand on the glass like you see on TV,

and he said, "Look guys,

if it is guilty, I never wanna see you guys again.

Don't come see me in prison,

because your lives are gonna be changing,

and what am I gonna say?

My life is the same as what it was yesterday.

Same as it's gonna be tomorrow.

Nothing will ever change.

So, I don't wanna see you guys again, ever."

We got there around 3:30 in the morning.

By 6 o'clock it was just very crowded.

People everywhere.

Policemen everywhere.

We were underneath the criminal courts building,

in case there was trouble.

They brought in police on horseback,

as if they were preparing for a riot.

Why don't you get the fuck out of here, you fucking asshole?

I had reporters coming to my front door,

and I had really had it.

Can I fucking hit him?

No.

I think part of me knew which way that verdict was going.

For a trial that seemed to go on forever,

the fact that it will end has produced a national surge

of adrenaline.

Did you have a rather sleepless night

last night, Mr. Garcetti?

Sleepless night? I had my usual four hours' sleep.

I have to fully admit, I thought he was guilty.

I thought it was obvious he was guilty.

So I thought the jury agreed with me.

And the record should reflect

that we have now been rejoined by all the members

of our jury panel and our alternates.

All right, Mrs. Robertson, do you have the envelope

with the sealed verdict, please?

Yes, Your Honor.

All right, would you give those to Deputy Trower?

The Judge had admonished us not to say a word,

not to make a sound,

not to move, not to do anything

but sit there and listen to the verdict.

All right, Mr. Simpson, would you please stand

and face the jury?

In the matter of The People

of the State of California vs Orenthal James Simpson,

case number BA097211.

We, the jury, in the above entitled action find

the defendant Orenthal James Simpson not guilty of the crime

of murder in violation of penal code section 187a,

a felony upon Nicole Brown Simpson,

as charged in account...

It was almost like an out of body experience.

I had a feeling of numbness.

Did this really happen?

They really did it, they acquitted him.

They really did it, they walked him out the door.

Johnnie is in back of O.J. and Johnnie's saying,

"Juice, you're going home,"

and he's putting his head against his back.

"You're going home, Juice, you're going home!"

It was fabulous.

I actually thought I might pass out from shock.

I was so astonished.

Orenthal James Simpson,

not guilty of the crime of murder

upon Ronald Lyle Goldman.

One of the young guys,

either one of the Goldman families or the Brown family,

he said, "Murderer, murderer."

I was focused on Kim Goldman.

Convicted of at least one crime of murder

of the first degree and one or more crimes of murder

of the first or second degree to be not true.

It hurt me to know that I had to hurt somebody else

like that, and I didn't want to.

My mom and dad, just stoic.

I'm the more emotional one.

There was this deputy there,

and I was like, "Can I leave?"

And she goes, "You can't leave."

The other piece of this was that kind of moment

of triumphant Simpson.

I remember thinking that that gesture,

that's a competitor.

He had been through a big ordeal.

He fought hard and he'd won.

One of the jurors, I believe it was juror number six,

a male black, stood in the jury box

and raised his fist like this.

What?

This was a guy who presented as the most mild mannered,

and then we find out, yeah, he was a member

of the Black Panthers, years ago.

Later, I was talking with the Deputy Sheriff.

He had taken jurors to where they were released.

So glad to be back, I'm free.

He said, "All across this parking lot,

there was high fives and cheers and smiles."

He said, "I heard it over and over.

That was payback for Rodney King."

We the jury find the defendant not guilty

of the crime of assault with a deadly weapon.

Do you think that there were members

of the jury that voted to acquit O.J.

because of Rodney King?

Yes.

You do?

Yes.

How many of you think felt that way?

Oh, probably 90% of them.

90%?

Did you feel that way?

Yes.

That was payback?

Uh-huh.

You think that's right?

The majority of the world or the majority of Americans

think that we're a group of idiots who didn't get it right.

I think that the jury was made to be the scapegoat

for their faults.