WASHINGTON — White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre offered her condolences Thursday over the death of OJ Simpson — but made no mention of the two people he was charged and acquitted of sensationally almost three decades ago.
“Our thoughts are with his families (sic) during this difficult time – obviously with his family and loved ones,” Jean-Pierre said during his regular press briefing.
“And I will say this, I know they asked for some privacy. And so we’re going to respect that. And I’ll just leave it at that.
Simpson’s family announced his death from prostate cancer on social media Thursday morning. He was 76 years old.
A star running back for the University of Southern California, Simpson won the Heisman Trophy as the nation’s outstanding college player in 1968 before playing 11 seasons in the NFL with the Buffalo Bills and his hometown San Francisco 49ers .
However, Simpson is best remembered for being arrested and charged on June 12, 1994, for the murder of his estranged wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman.
Brown had repeatedly accused Simpson – at the time a popular actor, NFL analyst and television pitchman – of physical abuse during their seven-year marriage, which ended in 1992.
After arranging to turn himself in five days after the murders, Simpson instead led police on a bizarre highway chase, broadcast on prime time nationwide, that ended with his arrest in the driveway of his Brentwood, California mansion.
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The ensuing proceedings, dubbed the “Trial of the Century”, are best known for Simpson’s “Dream Team” of lawyers, led by Johnnie Cochran, arguing that the arrest and prosecution were fueled by racial animus of Simpson. from the Los Angeles Police Department. Department.
Despite overwhelming physical evidence linking him to the murders, Simpson was found not guilty on October 3, 1995, by a jury of nine black panelists, one Hispanic citizen, and two white Angelinos.
Following a civil suit filed by Goldman’s family, a jury found Simpson responsible for the deaths of Brown and Goldman in 1997 and ordered him to pay $33.5 million.
