O. J. Simpson was on trial.
O. J. Simpson . In 1995 , Simpson was acquitted of the 1994 murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman after a lengthy and internationally publicised trial . The families of the victims filed a civil suit against him , and in 1997 a civil court awarded a $ 33.5 million judgment against Simpson for the victims ' wrongful deaths . The O. J. Simpson murder case ( officially titled People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson , or People v. O. J. Simpson ) was a criminal trial held at the Los Angeles County Superior Court , in which former National Football League ( NFL ) player and actor O. J. Simpson was tried on two counts of murder for the deaths of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend and restaurant waiter Ron Goldman on June 12 , 1994 .