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O.J. Simpson, 20 Years After THAT Car Chase

by Abby Johnston

It was 20 years ago Tuesday that former football superstar O.J. Simpson led police on a super-low-speed chase through Los Angeles, as 95 million people watched it unfold on television. Since then, Simpson has embroiled himself in more legal trouble and revealed snippets of details surrounding the alleged double murder.

Let's backtrack: On June 17, 1994, Simpson was set to turn himself in to LAPD for killing his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. Instead, Simpson hit the road with former teammate Al Cowlings in the now-iconic white Ford Bronco. News stations got their first-ever taste of reality TV, airing two hours of non-stop coverage of the slow roll.

Simpson was finally arrested shortly before 9 p.m. that day, outside of his LA mansion. His supporters gathered around, rocking the police cars. Though Simpson was buoyed by support from his fans, his credibility took a hit when it was discovered that he carried a fake mustache, adhesive glue, and his passport with him in the Bronco. (The Bronco's whereabouts today are unknown.)

It was a dramatic beginning, but the debacle would stretch out for years after the cruise seen 'round the world. Simpson's trial stretched for over 16 months, and served as a veritable law school case study on how not to prosecute a high-profile case. After several bizarre missteps from both the prosecution and the crime scene investigators, Simpson was acquitted on live television Oct. 3, 1995. But in February 1997, Simpson was found liable for wrongful death suit filed against him by the victims' families. He was ordered to pay $33.5 million to the Goldman and Brown estates, but did not face jail time.

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Okay, so now he's off. So the natural inclination is to sink into the the background, right? Right? Wrong.

Simpson did a terrible job of staying out of the spotlight. There was the Miami road rage incident in 2001. He wrote an ill-advised "hypothetical" book, "If I Did It." Then, in 2007, he was arrested, along with five other men, in connection with a robbery in a Las Vegas hotel, where he was supposedly recovering memorabilia of his being sold for profit. Lucky for four of his co-defendants, the prosecution was so eager to book Simpson they offered them felony plea deals.

Simpson wasn't so lucky this time. Oct. 3, 2008, 13 years after he walked from the double murder case, he was found guilty of 12 counts, including kidnapping and armed robbery, and eventually hauled off to Lovelock prison in Nevada.

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And that's where he's stayed. Though his legal team has tried desperately to prove that he was not represented properly in the initial case, the only change in the 33-year sentence is a reduction in period before he his eligible for parole.

It's been a relatively quiet few years for Simpson, stuck in Lovelock. But his infamy lives on, particularly on the 20th anniversary.