FX’s upcoming drama The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story chronicles the infamous 1994–1995 trial of O.J. Simpson, following the murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. The all-star cast features Cuba Gooding Jr., Sarah Paulson, John Travolta, and David Schwimmer playing the real-life figures who became larger than life during the trial. Ahead of the show’s February 2 premiere, we put together a handy guide to refresh your memory on what everyone’s roles were during the trial, and where they all are now.
Simpson, the center of the “Trial of the Century,†was tried for the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. After the eight-month trial, the former football star and actor was acquitted on all charges. A 1997 civil case found him liable for the death of Goldman and battery against Brown, and ordered him to pay $33.5 million in damages to the families of Goldman and Brown.
Where is he now? Since his acquittal, Simpson
frequently faced legal troubles, which culminated in 2007, when he was arrested in Las Vegas on charges of kidnapping, armed robbery, assault, and other felonies, for taking sports memorabilia from a hotel room at the Palace Station. He’s currently serving his 33-year sentence in a Nevada jail. He’ll be eligible for parole on on October 2, 2017.
Photo: Getty Images, FX
Clark, an L.A. deputy district attorney, served as lead prosecutor for the trial. She became a tabloid obsession, and The New Yorker called her the “
most famous prosecutor in American history†at the time.
Where is she now? Clark resigned from her job two years after the trial and co-wrote a book, Without a Doubt, which recounts the Simpson case in great detail. She has since made a steady career from writing novels and appearing as a television correspondent for various news networks. Her upcoming novel, Blood Defense, about an “
ambitious, hard-charging Los Angeles criminal defense attorney,†is out in May.
Photo: Corbis; FX
Kardashian and Simpson had a close friendship that traced back to the ‘70s. The onetime lawyer, and father of Kim, Kourtney, Khloé, and Rob, notably reactivated his law license to serve as a member of Simpson’s defense team. He prompted speculation when he was seen
carrying a large garment bag outside of Simpson’s home the day after the murders.
Where is he now? Kardashian died of esophageal cancer in 2003 at the age of 59.
Photo: Getty Images; FX
A high-profile criminal-defense attorney who often took on celebrity cases, Shapiro frequently butted heads with the fellow members on Simpson’s defense team and was often portrayed in an unfavorable light in the media during the Simpson trial. While Shapiro initially led Simpson’s defense team, he was replaced by Johnnie Cochran.
Where is he now? Still a well-known civil litigator, Shapiro is also the co-founder of LegalZoom and ShoeDazzle.
Photo: Getty Images; FX
No stranger to high-profile criminal cases, Cochran led the successful defense for Simpson’s trial, which ended with an acquittal. He’s remembered most by
his famous line about O.J.’s glove: “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.â€
Where is he now? Before his death in 2005 from a brain tumor, Cochran maintained his status as a popular lawyer for celebrities, including Sean Combs, Michael Jackson, and Snoop Dogg.
Photo: Getty Images; FX
Ito was the judge who proceeded over Simpson’s murder trial. On November 7, 1994, he controversially
decided to allow TV cameras in the courtroom.
Where is he now? Ito continued to serve as a judge in the Los Angeles court system,
overseeing about 500 cases before retiring last year.
Photo: Getty Images
Kaelin was staying in an adjacent guest house on Simpson’s property the night Brown and Goldman were murdered. Because of this, he became a key witness for the prosecution during the trial. Judge Ito declared him to be
a hostile witness upon Clark’s request. Kaelin also frequently became a subject of jokes in popular culture at the time due to his surfer persona.
Where is he now? A D-list television personality, Kaelin has continued to work sporadically in television and film since the trial ended. He most recently appeared in the pilot of FX’s Baskets, and is co-hosting a sports talk show,
Sports Haters, alongside Will Stumpe. Earlier this week, he
fact-checked The People v. O.J. Simpson in a Daily News article.
Photo: Getty Images; FX
Working for Cochran’s law firm, Chapman was a rookie attorney who served as a member of Simpson’s defense team.
Where is she now? Now Shawn Holley, she is a partner at Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump & Aldisert.
Holley’s clients include the Kardashian sisters, Lindsay Lohan, and Mike Tyson. She is also a frequent legal correspondent and analyst for various television networks.
Photo: Getty Images
Kris, the ex-wife of Robert Kardashian, was good friends with Nicole Brown Simpson. The Simpson-Kardashian families were very close before the two couples divorced. Jenner famously sat on Brown’s side of the courtroom during the trial, while Kardashian acted as part of O.J.’s defense team.
Where is she now? Keeping Up With the Kardashians began airing in 2007. A million seasons of reality TV later, Kris is the most famous “momager†in the world and runs her own production company, Jenner Communications. She and Caitlyn Jenner divorced in 2015.
Photo: Getty Images; FX
Simpson is the son of O.J. and his first wife, Marguerite L. Whitley.
Where is he now? It’s been
newly rumored, although not substantiated, that the younger Simpson was somehow involved with the murders. He has stayed out of public life.
Photo: Getty Images
Resnick and Brown became friends in the early ‘90s. She was a houseguest at the Simpson house in the days leading up to Brown’s murder, which was also days before Resnick entered rehab for drug addiction. Simpson’s defense team harped on her cocaine habit, building a defense that drug lords could’ve hired hitmen to kill Brown while in pursuit of Resnick for money she owed them. Resnick wrote a book during the trial,
Nicole Brown Simpson: The Private Diary of a Life Interrupted, which the Los Angeles Times called “the most lurid chapter yet in the double murder trial of football legend O.J. Simpson.â€
Where is she now? She is a frequent guest on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, where she is good friends with housewife Kyle Richards. She also appeared on Keeping Up With the Kardashians last year as a guest at Kris Jenner’s birthday party.
Photo: Getty Images
Garcetti’s first term as Los Angeles’s district attorney was dominated by Simpson’s trial, where he and his office led the prosecution.
Where is he now? Garcetti served as district attorney for a second term that ended in 2000, after he lost a reelection. In his later years, he turned to the arts, serving as a consulting producer for TNT shows The Closer and Major Crimes. His photographic work has been featured in various museums across the country. His son, Eric, is the current mayor of Los Angeles.
Photo: Getty Images
A homicide detective for the LAPD, Fuhrman was interrogated during the trial for having used the N-word frequently in the past. The defense alleged that he had planted a bloody glove he found on Brown’s property in a racially driven attempt to frame Simpson. This resulted in a breakthrough in the defense’s case and an eventual perjury conviction for Fuhrman.
Where is he now? Fuhrman has published a number of true-crime books and frequently appears as a guest on Fox News. His radio show, The Mark Fuhrman Show, was broadcast between 1999 and 2007.
Photo: Getty Images
Douglas acted as a defense attorney for Simpson’s trial. He was the managing attorney at Cochran’s law office.
Where is he now? Like Cochran, Douglas has served a high number of celebrity clients, including Jamie Foxx and Queen Latifah, since the trial ended. He continues to practice law today and established his own firm,
Douglas Hicks, in 1998.
Photo: Corbis
A friend and former football teammate of Simpson’s, Cowlings was the driver of the white Ford Bronco (not Simpson’s, but a second Bronco owned by Cowlings) that prompted the infamous freeway chase in Los Angeles a few days after Brown’s murder. Cowlings claimed Simpson held a gun to the back of his head and forced him to drive.
Where is he now? He has stayed out of public life since the trial ended, and relatively little information is known about him. A representative of Cowlings recently told
TMZ that he is “threatening to sue FX†if the show portrays him in a bad light.
Photo: Getty Images
Dershowitz, a noted scholar in the fields of constitutional and criminal law, as well as a lawyer, acted as an appellate adviser for Simpson’s defense team.
Where is he now? Still very active in the political, civil liberty, and lawyer communities, he is perhaps known best for providing legal assistance to Jeffrey Epstein during his trial for sexual misconduct involving underage girls. Dershowitz himself has
come under fire for allegedly engaging in sexual acts with minors, which he has adamantly denied.
Photo: Getty Images
Serving as a prosecuting attorney in the trial, Darden became known for asking Simpson to put on the bloody glove in court. (It did not fit.) Before the case, he had little trial experience.
Where is he now? After the trial, Darden left the law profession to teach at California State University, Los Angeles. He later started his own law firm, Darden & Associates. In 2012, he accused the late Cochran of
tampering with Simpson’s gloves.
Photo: Getty Images
Scheck acted as a defense attorney for Simpson’s trial, specializing in DNA evidence.
Where is he now? Scheck currently serves as the director of the Innocence Project, a professor of law at Yeshiva University, as well as a partner at
Neufeld Scheck & Brustin.
Photo: Getty Images
A member of Simpson’s defense team, Bailey’s cross-examination skills during the trial became legendary. His cross-examination of Fuhrman is considered one of the key reasons why Simpson was eventually acquitted.
Where is he now? He was eventually disbarred from the states of Massachusetts and Florida for actions taken while representing drug dealer Claude DuBoc back in 1994, specifically for mishandling DuBoc’s stock in Biochem, worth about $6 million. In 2014,
Maine refused to grant him a law license after he moved to the state.
Photo: Getty Images
Hodgman was one of the lead prosecutors on the trial, as well as a deputy district attorney. After experiencing a series a health problems, he had to scale back his involvement in the case.
Where is he now? As of 2012, Hodgman was one of Los Angeles’s
three assistant district attorneys.
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