Speaking with PEOPLE in the wake of Simpson’s death, his defense attorneys reflect on the “Trial of the Century”
Former attorneys for O.J. Simpson are speaking out about the “” following .
Simpson was arrested in 1994 in connection with the deaths of his ex-wife, , and 25-year-old waiter . The victims were brutally stabbed to death outside on June 12, 1994.
“This is just a reminder for us of how long Ron has been gone, how long we have missed him and nothing more than that,” Fred Goldman, Ron’s father, . “That is the only thing that is important today. It is the pain from then until now. There is nothing today that is more important than the loss of my son and the loss of Nicole. Nothing is more important than that.”
Simpson had — Robert Blasier, Alan Dershowitz, Carl Douglas, , , , Barry Scheck, , Peter Neufeld, Gerald F. Uelmen, and Shawn Holley. Blasier, Dershowitz, and Douglas exclusively share their recollections of Simpson’s trial with PEOPLE.
“He will always have a mixed legacy,” Dershowitz, 85, tells PEOPLE. “But, he’ll always be remembered as the defendant in the very important trial of 1995.”
“He was very smart. He didn’t always listen to his lawyer’s advice,” explains Dershowitz, adding that he “told [Simpson] once he got acquitted to assume a low profile,” but “[he] did not.”
“He did some foolish things writing a book []or he went on a lot of television shows,” says Dershowitz. “[He] did not do himself very much good.”
Dershowitz continues that although Simpson has “a mixed legacy,” he notes that Simpson and his trial “had a big impact on the American justice system, on media coverage of trials, on corruption.”
“He had a big impact on racial divisions,” Dershowitz says, adding that “he left a mark,” and notes the significance of Simpson’s trial being the first that was “tried live on television.”
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“Obviously, it was a huge case in everybody’s past,” Blasier, 76, tells PEOPLE. “And it was remarkable. The whole case was just remarkable, both the civil and the criminal case.”
Blaiser reveals to PEOPLE that he and his ex-wife lived with Simpson during the civil trials. Brown and Goldman’s families pursued a wrongful death lawsuit against Simpson in civil court in 1996. The next year, . He was subsequently ordered to pay $33.5 million in damages.
“I lived down there with him and got to know him very well,” shares Blaiser. “It was a wonderful experience for me and getting to know him was special for me.”
He notes how his client “had a very strong ego, as you can probably understand,” adding “that kind of clouded a lot of his reactions.”
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“O.J. just loved the affection of the adoring public, and he always hoped that he would be able to recapture that adoration after this trial,” Douglas, 68, tells PEOPLE. “He relished that positive attention.”
“There could be three people out of a hundred who were saying things positive and he would only remember the three that were positive and care less about the others and what they thought about him,” explains Douglas.
Douglas adds that Simpson’s “legacy is a complicated one.”
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