- Johnnie Cochran: [trying to make amends after the verdict] I appreciate how hard you fought. Especially that closing. This was war, and you did a superb job. I respect that. I... I know how difficult this has been on you. And when the dust settles, I'd like to help bring you back in to the community.
- Christopher Darden: Hmmm... well I never left. You think I don't understand the situation? I get it. It's payback. O.J.'s the first black defendant in history to get off because he's black.
- Johnnie Cochran: The people will see who the police really are...
- Christopher Darden: [interrupting] All the people saw was how well you can twist the system. This isn't some civil rights milestone. Police in this country will keep arresting us, keep beating us, keep killing us. You haven't changed anything for black people here. Unless, of course, you're a famous, rich one in Brentwood.
- [repeated line in Black Box's "Everybody Everybody" over shots of O.J. at the closing party]
- Martha Wash: Sad and free...
- [Cochran and Darden meet in private, after the verdict]
- Johnnie Cochran: Got a minute? I... I appreciate how hard you fought. Especially that closing. This was war. And you did a superb job. I respect that. I... I know how difficult this has been on you. And when the dust settles... I'd like to help bring you back into the community.
- Christopher Darden: Hmm. Well, I never left. You think I don't understand the situation? I get it. It's payback. O.J.'s the first black defendant in history to get off because he's black.
- Johnnie Cochran: The people will see who the police really are...
- Christopher Darden: All the people saw was how well you can twist the system. This isn't some civil rights milestone. Police in this country will keep arresting us, keep beating us, keep killing us. You haven't changed anything for black people here.
- [beat]
- Christopher Darden: Unless, of course, you're a famous, rich one in Brentwood.
- [Marcia Clark's final statements]
- Marcia Clark: Ladies and gentlemen, we are coming close to the end, I promise. And I want you all to know how much I appreciate what you're doing here... For justice... And to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for the incredible sacrifices that you've made. Thank you. I would like to begin by first addressing the issue of Mark Fuhrman. Just to be clear, is he a racist? Yes. Is he the worst LAPD has to offer? Yes. Should LAPD ever have hired him? No. Should such a person be a police officer? No. In fact, do we wish there were no such person on the planet? Yes. But the fact that Mark Fuhrman is a racist and lied about it on the witness stand does not mean that we haven't proven that the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. And it would be a tragedy if O.J. Simpson were found not guilty because of the racist attitudes of one police officer. There is an ocean of evidence that has been unchallenged by the defense. In an attempt to distract you from it, they took you through a twisted road. One moment saying the police are bumbling idiots, the next moment saying the police are cunning conspirators. They threw out alternate theories, hoping one would stick. But instead of focusing on those distractions, I ask you to consider the evidence the defense did not, and cannot, refute. The shoe prints at Bundy were from a size-12 Bruno Magli shoe. The defendant wears a size-12. Hair from the defendant was on the knit cap at Bundy. Hair from the defendant was on Ron Goldman's shirt. The glove found at Rockingham contains fibers that match Ron's hair. The glove contains fibers that match Nicole's hair. It has Nicole's blood. It has Ron's blood. It has the defendant's blood. The gloves are extra-large, the defendant's size. Here are photos of the defendant wearing the Aris gloves at numerous football games. When limo driver Allan Park arrived, there was no Bronco out front. When he left with the defendant, there was now a Bronco parked outside. A drop of blood in the Bundy driveway matches the defendant at a rate of one-in-170-million. Nicole's blood was on the defendant's sock. This was a match at the rate of one-in-6.8-billion. The blood on the rear gate at Bundy matches the defendant at rate of one-in-57-billion. There are only five billion people on the planet. That, ladies and gentlemen, is an identification. When the defendant was informed of his wife's death, he did not ask how she died. Think about that. He did not ask how she died. And then ask yourself, "Why?"
- Judge Lance Ito: Mr. Cochran, it is my understanding that you have discussed with your client his right to testify.
- Johnnie Cochran: Yes, Your Honor. Mr. Simpson is waiving his right. But if the court pleases, he would like to make a brief statement regarding the waiver.
- Marcia Clark: Your Honor, the People object to the defendant making any statement other than the waiver at this time.
- Judge Lance Ito: Counsel, he's not before the jury.
- Marcia Clark: Yes, but we are all aware of the realities of this case, the problem with conjugal visits and telephone calls that are only monitored on one side. This is an obvious attempt by the defense to get material to the jury that has not been admitted in court. It is inappropriate and deliberate. I strongly urge the court to exercise control and not permit testimony without cross-examination. Please, Your Honor, don't do this.
- Johnnie Cochran: My goodness. There's a great deal of fear of the truth in this case. Your Honor, this is still America. Can we still talk?
- Judge Lance Ito: All right, go ahead, Mr. Simpson, briefly.
- O.J. Simpson: [stands] Good morning, Your Honor. As much as I'd like to address some of the misrepresentations made about myself and my Nicole, concerning our life together, I am mindful of the mood and the stamina of this jury. I am confident, a lot more it seems than Miss Clark, about their integrity, and that they will find, as it now stands, that I did not and could not and would not commit this crime. I have four kids. Two kids I haven't seen in a year. And every week they ask me, "Dad, when are you coming home? How much longer?"
- Marcia Clark: [clears throat] All right...
- O.J. Simpson: I just want this trial to be over.
- Judge Lance Ito: All right, thank you, Mr. Simpson.
- O.J. Simpson: Thank you, Your Honor.
- Marcia Clark: You want to address misrepresentations about you and Nicole? Take a seat in the blue chair and we can have a discussion.
- [O.J. quickly shakes his head no]
- [Johnnie Cochran's final statements]
- Johnnie Cochran: At the outset... let me just say that not one bit of domestic violence is tolerable. O.J. Simpson is not proud of some of the things that happened during his marriage. Does that add up to murder? No. Mr. Darden talked about 1985, but he missed the whole point. Something interesting happened in 1985. Mark Fuhrman responded to a call on Rockingham. He saw a white woman married to a powerful black man. He didn't like that. He didn't like that. Because he's a hardened racist. Mark Fuhrman is the one who said, "If I see an interracial couple, I'm gonna stop them. If I don't have a reason, I'm gonna make something up." So you have a lying Mark Fuhrman, the personification of evil, who found the gloves. But don't be fooled. This isn't just one officer. Mark Fuhrman represents the entire LAPD. Now, you may not know this, but you are empowered. Your decision has a major implication both in this courtroom and outside of it. Things happen for a reason in life. Maybe that's why we're gathered together. Something in your background, your character, helps you to know that this is wrong. Maybe you're the right people at the right time to say, "No more. We can't have this!" O.J. Simpson is entitled to an acquittal. They have entrusted this case to a man who says he'd like to see all niggers gathered together and killed. That is *genocide*. That man speaks like *Adolf Hitler*. Now, since you can't trust the man and you can't trust the People, is it any wonder, in the defining moment in this trial, when they asked O.J. Simpson to try on the glove and the glove didn't fit. It didn't fit because it wasn't his. If you don't stop this cover-up, who will? Send them a message. Let them know that your verdict will travel far outside these walls. Ladies and gentleman, remember these words: if it doesn't fit, you must acquit. If it doesn't fit, you must acquit. If it doesn't fit, you must acquit.
- Clerk: Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles in the matter of People of the State of California versus Orenthal James Simpson, case number BA097211. We the jury in the above-entitled action find the defendant Orange... Orenthal James Simpson *not guilty* of the crime of murder in violation of penal code section 187A, a felony, upon Nicole Brown Simpson, a human being, as charged in count one of the information.
- [Chris Darden's final statements]
- Christopher Darden: Ladies and gentlemen, to grasp this crime, you must first understand Mr. Simpson's relationship to his ex-wife, Nicole. It was a ticking time bomb. The fuse was lit in 1985, the very year they were married. Officers responded after Mr. Simpson beat Nicole and took a baseball bat to her Mercedes. Then in 1989, Nicole had to call 911 again, fearing for her life. When officers arrived, Nicole ran towards them, yelling, "He's going to kill me. He's going to kill me." She had a black eye, a cut forehead, a swollen cheek. In her torn bra, Nicole pleaded with the officers, "You've come up here eight times. You never do anything about him."
- [scoffs]
- Christopher Darden: And they want to tell you that the police conspired against Mr. Simpson. This case is not about the "N" word.
- [Darden turns and points directly at Simpson]
- Christopher Darden: It is about O.J. Simpson and the "M" word, "murder." I'm not afraid to point to him and say he did it. Why not? The evidence all points to him. In February 1992, Nicole filed for divorce. She was running away from the man who said he'd kill her. She saw the explosion coming. Why else fill a safe-deposit box with threatening letters from the defendant, a will and police photos of past beatings? She knew that the bomb could go off at any second. And then it did. On June 12, 1994, while their daughter danced, the defendant kept his eyes fixed on Nicole. Spurned. Now imagine this defendant in the Bronco. He is full of anger, and he is full of rage, and it is nighttime, and he is driving, and the focus of his anger is Nicole. It is 10:00, and he's driving as fast as he can. He is out of control, folks. The fact that the kids are in the house means nothing to this man. Simpson has lost Nicole, and he is upset and angry. The fuse is getting shorter. The anger is building. The rage he has, the anger, the hate, flows out of him and into the knife and from the knife into her. With each thrust of the knife into her body, there's a release, a small release. And he stabs and cuts and slices until that rage is gone. Until Nicole and Ron are gone. He's a murderer. He was also one hell of a great football player. But he's still a murderer.