1995: “If It Doesn’t Fit, You Must Acquit”: O.J. Simpson Walks Free
O.J. Simpson, the former football star, stood accused of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman outside her Los Angeles home in June 1994. The trial became a media spectacle, dominating television and public debate across the United States and beyond. The defense seized on a single moment: prosecutors had Simpson try on the bloody glove found at the scene, and it appeared too tight to fit. Defense attorney Johnnie Cochran turned the moment into a rallying cry, “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit,” and on October 3, 1995, the jury returned a not guilty verdict after less than four hours of deliberation.
