From football hero to murder suspect: An O.J. Simpson photo timeline
Simpson earned fame through football and show business, but all that was forever changed when his ex-wife and her friend were brutally knifed to death in June 1994.
O.J. Simpson, with the Buffalo Bills in the mid-1970s, was considered the best running back of his era.Focus On Sport / Getty Images
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By The Associated Press and Matt Nighswander
O.J. Simpson was the star tailback for college football’s powerful University of Southern California in the late 1960s.
Simpson then played 11 NFL seasons, nine of them with the Buffalo Bills, where he became known as “The Juice” on an offensive line known as “The Electric Company.”
Simpson married Nicole Brown in 1985. They had two children, Justin and Sydney, and divorced in 1992.
A passerby found Brown Simpson’s body near a gate to her West Los Angeles condominium in June 1994. Police found Ronald Goldman’s body in shrubbery nearby.
Live TV coverage of Simpson's arrest after a famous slow-speed chase marked a stunning fall from grace.
One of Simpson’s lawyers, Johnnie Cochran, coined a phrase that would endure in pop culture: “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.”
A criminal court jury found Simpson not guilty of murder in 1995, but a civil trial jury found him liable in 1997 for the deaths and ordered him to pay $33.5 million to family members of Brown Simpson and Goldman.
In 2008, a jury convicted Simpson of armed robbery and other felonies after he led five men into a confrontation with two sports memorabilia dealers in a cramped Las Vegas hotel room.
Imprisoned at age 61, he served nine years in a remote northern Nevada prison, including a stint as a gym janitor.
The Associated Press
The Associated Press
Matt Nighswander
Matt Nighswander is a Senior Photo Editor at NBC News Digital.
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