OJ Simpson statue will be built says Arthur Joseph Rooney II …
O.J. Simpson, the former football great who was accused of and ultimately acquitted of the brutal 1994 slayings of his ex-wife and her friend, has died, according to his family. He was 76.
“On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer. He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren. During this time of transition, his family asks that you please respect their wishes for privacy and grace,” a statement from his family said.
- O.J. Simpson has died of cancer at age 76, his family announced Thursday. The former NFL star and broadcaster’s athletic achievements and fame were eclipsed by his 1995 trial in the brutal killings of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman.
- Simpson assembled a “dream team” defense for the trial. The proceedings captivated the country, with tens of millions of viewers tuning in at home and at work.
- The former running back was a household name at the time, having appeared in TV shows, movies and national ad campaigns after emerging as a star in college and professional football.
- In 1997, a civil trial jury unanimously deemed Simpson liable for the deaths and ordered him to pay $33.5 million in damages.
- He later served about nine years in prison for an unrelated case involving a memorabilia robbery in Las Vegas. He was released in 2017.
Simpson’s death is a reminder of the system “failing battered women,” attorney Gloria Allred says
Gloria Allred, the star Los Angeles attorney who represented Nicole Brown Simpson’s family during O.J. Simpson’s criminal trial, said the former football star’s death is a reminder of the justice system “failing battered women” and allowing “celebrity men to avoid true justice.”
Simpson was acquitted of murder in the 1995 criminal case stemming from the brutal killings of Brown Simpson, his ex-wife, and her friend Ron Goldman. A civil trial jury unanimously deemed Simpson liable for the deaths two years later.
The couple’s years together were rife with allegations of domestic violence and reports of abuse.
In a statement Thursday, Allred once again accused Simpson of the murder, and she referenced an alleged episode of domestic violence that occurred five years prior to Brown Simpson’s death.
“Even though he beat her, inflicted a black eye on her, and left her terrified hiding in the bushes, in 1989 he was never jailed by a judge for the spousal violence to which she was subjected and to which he plead no contest,” the lawyer wrote.
“Simpson’s death reminds us that the legal system even 30 years later is still failing battered women, and that the power of celebrity men to avoid true justice for the harm that they inflict on their wives or significant others is still a major obstacle to the right of women to be free of the gender violence to which they are still subjected,” Allred wrote.
