Written by Michael Martinez and Ray Sanchez at CNN.com
Americans revisited one of the most sensational murder trials of modern times when a new twist appeared Friday in the O.J. Simpson case.
Los Angeles police announced that a knife was allegedly found on Simpson’s former estate in Brentwood, stirring memories of the stabbings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman outside her condominium in 1994.
The development conjured up a cast of characters from the trial that gripped the nation’s attention in the mid-1990s: Remember the televised slow-speed chase of O.J. Simpson in the white Bronco? His all-star legal team? The glove that did not fit? Judge Lance Ito?
And who can forget the ongoing crusade of Goldman’s outraged family against Simpson, who is now imprisoned in Nevada for armed robbery and kidnapping in a separate case.
Emotions still burn fiercely about the case and its underlying issues that sound remarkably familiar today: race, justice and policing in America.
A jury acquitted Simpson in the killings in 1995, but questions endure about his guilt in popular culture — fairly or not. His acquittal largely split the country along racial lines. He cannot be tried again.
The weapon used in the stabbing deaths was described as a long, serrated knife. It was not found. The double-murder case remains open but Simpson was found liable in the civil wrongful death suit brought by the victims’ families two years later.
Now-retired officer reportedly given knife in ’90s
Los Angeles police said Friday they are examining what’s been described as a knife reportedly found years ago at the estate that once belonged to the former football great who became a movie star.
“The actual item is described as a knife. I’m not going to go into the description of the knife because that could be germane to determining whether or not this actual piece of evidence is in fact evidence or is just a facsimile or a made up story,” Los Angeles police Capt. Andy Neiman said.
Police learned within the last month that an ex-Los Angeles traffic officer received the item from a construction worker who found it “back in the 90s,” possibly when the estate was being demolished, Neiman said. The home was razed in 1998.
