Former American football star O.J. Simpson, acquitted in the “trial of the century”, died at the age of 76

O.J. Simpson, ex-star du foot américain acquittée lors du “procès du siècle”, est mort. EPA POOL – ISAAC BREKKEN/POOL

Acquitted during the "trial of the century", former American football star O.J. Simpson died on Wednesday April 10, at the age of 76.

Former American football superstar O.J. Simpson, whose 1995 double murder trial captivated America before his acquittal, died of cancer ;age 76, his family announced Thursday.

"On April 10, our father, Orenthal James Simpson passed away following his battle with cancer. He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren", wrote on ~/p>

An overhyped trial

Former NFL star running back, converted to cinema, O.J. Simpson was found not guilty of the 1995 murder of his ex-wife and her friend in Los Angeles after the over-publicized and extremely racially charged "trial of the century”.

Suffering from rickets as a child, he later became an exceptional athlete and had a brilliant career in the National American Football League NFL.

He was crowned player of the year in 1973 while playing for the Buffalo Bills (northeast).

Attractive, charismatic, the one who will be nicknamed "The Juice" ("le jus") , due to its initials corresponding to "Orange Juice", enjoyed immense popularity that he would maintain well after the end of his professional career, at the end of the 1970s.

A chase followed on television

Even before hanging up his boots, he was in demand by cinema and television, notably in the series "Racines" (1977), and delights advertisers with his charm and slightly deep voice.

On June 12, 1994, his wife Nicole Brown was discovered dead in Los Angeles in a pool of blood, alongside the body of her friend Ronald Goldman, also brutally murdered.

After a pursuit lasting several hours on the highways of Los Angeles, followed live by television cameras filming from helicopters, Simpson was arrested by the police.

RIP Orenthal James Simpson pic.twitter.com/jtmT9cmjDa

— Evan (@lncrementum) April 11, 2024

Genetic analyzes identify Simpson's blood at the crime scene, that of the victims in his car and at his home. "O.J." maintains his innocence but is charged with double murder.

A year later, at the end of a spectacular trial, also broadcast live on television, a Los Angeles jury acquitted him.

This decision provokes a wave of indignation in the United States and divides opinion between Blacks and Whites, three years after bloody racial riots in the Californian megalopolis.

The ex-player was later found responsible for the deaths of the two victims during a civil trial in 1997 and ordered to pay damages of more than $33 million to their families. that he will never do.

On parole since 2017

He then settled in Florida (southeast), where his property was safe from seizure aimed at satisfying the decision of the civil court in California, to the other side of the country.

But he does not disappear from the public space, monetizing his appearances, notably… during a conference of serial killer enthusiasts.

In 2007, he was talked about again in the legal chronicle, arrested in Las Vegas for having stolen sports souvenirs with five henchmen in a hotel-casino in the city, under threat of ;a weapon.

At the beginning of October 2008, he was found guilty of 12 counts, then sentenced to 9 to 33 years in prison. He had been on parole since 2017.

Although he still owed tens of millions of dollars to the families of his ex-wife and her partner, the law allowed him to keep his retirement pension professional footballer: 25,000 dollars per month.