Background report: The Simpson case

• Civil lawsuits filed
• Plaintiffs: Simpson was abusive
• Defense: Simpson was framed
• Trial differences
• Related stories and sites

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- The civil-trial jury was charged with determining whether Simpson killed Ronald Goldman, and whether the former football hero maliciously battered Nicole Brown Simpson on the night the two were slain. In a complicated set of instructions, jurors also were asked to decide on several other issues.

O.J. Simpson was acquitted of murdering Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman in October 1995, after a lengthy criminal trial. Their bodies were found June 12, 1994, lying in a pool of blood outside Ms. Simpson's Brentwood condominium.

Both victims had been brutally stabbed, but there were no witnesses. After the slayings, Ms. Simpson's Akita was found wandering around the posh neighborhood with bloody paws.

Five days after the murders, Los Angeles Police charged Simpson with the deaths, citing a trail of evidence they said linked the former football star to the crime scene, including a bloody glove found outside the condominium that allegedly matched one found at Simpson's estate.

Simpson's high-powered defense team argued that the evidence was fabricated by police and that their client was en route to a golf outing in Chicago when the crimes were committed.

The jury apparently believed Simpson's version of events. After four hours of deliberation, they found Simpson not guilty -- but the case was far from over.

Civil lawsuits filed

The families of the victims filed lawsuits against Simpson, accusing him of liability in the deaths. Two different lawsuits were filed by three separate plaintiffs, and these were combined into one lawsuit for a single trial.

For the civil case in Santa Monica, many of the same issues debated during the criminal trial arose again, but at stake was Simpson's money, not his freedom.

The plaintiffs contended that Simpson was responsible for the deaths and, therefore, he owed them punitive damages to compensate them for their losses.

Plaintiffs: Simpson was abusive

Plaintiffs' attorney Daniel Petrocelli portrayed Simpson as an egomaniac obsessed with his ex-wife, who routinely beat her. When he was unable to keep her from ending their relationship, he brutally killed her, the lawyer claimed.

Petrocelli backed up his argument by reviewing evidence he said linked Simpson to the crime.

"These crucial bits of evidence are the voices of Ron and Nicole speaking to us from the grave, telling all of you there is a killer in this courtroom," Petrocelli told the jurors.

Defense: Simpson was framed

Simpson's defense attorneys angrily rebutted those charges. Defense attorney Robert Baker accused plaintiffs of "character assassination," and defense lawyer Robert Blasier described the evidence against their client as "garbage."

"Evidence gathered by the LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) was corrupted, contaminated, tampered with or planted," Blasier told the jury. "You cannot rely on physical evidence. What was picked up off the ground was not necessarily the same as went to the lab."

Trial differences

The standard of proof in the civil trial was lower. Jurors were asked to make their decisions based on a "preponderance of evidence," and only nine of the 12 jurors needed to agree for a verdict to be reached.

That meant they could return a decision in favor of the plaintiffs if they determined there was more than a 50 percent probability that Simpson was responsible for the slayings.

In the murder trial, the state had to prove Simpson committed the murders "beyond a reasonable doubt," meaning that all 12 jurors had to agree that Simpson committed the crimes in order to convict him.

Unlike the criminal trial, the civil trial was not televised. In addition, Superior Court Judge Hiroshi Fujisaki banned still photographers and ordered lawyers and witnesses not to discuss the case with the media. Criminal-trial Judge Lance Ito was accused by many observers of allowing his courtroom to become a media circus.

Tell us what you think! You said it...

© 1997 Cable News Network, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.

Terms under which this service is provided to you.