His family confirmed his cause of death on April 11.
OJ Simpson, the former NFL star who was acquitted of murder in one of the highest-profile criminal cases in U.S. history, has died at age 76, his family said on April 11.
The former Buffalo Bills running back died in Las Vegas on April 10, they said.
“On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer,” the family said in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren. During this time of transition, his family asks that you please respect their wishes for privacy and grace.”
In 1994, Mr. Simpson’s ex-wife and the mother of two of his children, Nicole Brown Simpson, was found dead along with her friend Ron Goldman. Mr. Simpson was accused of killing them both but was later acquitted in a heavily publicized murder trial that lasted weeks.
Before he was arrested, Mr. Simpson and a friend drew worldwide coverage when he attempted to flee police in a white Ford Bronco.
The trial was the focus of intense media coverage, in part because Mr. Simpson had a number of high profile lawyers such as Johnnie Cochran, Robert Shapiro, F. Lee Bailey, and Robert Kardashian. Former Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz was also involved and was preparing to appeal the case if Mr. Simpson had been convicted.
But his legal problems were far from over.
Years after his criminal trial ended, Mr. Simpson was found liable in a civil lawsuit that was brought by the families of the victims. The former NFL player, however, long maintained his innocence and had publicly promised to find the “real killer.”
In 1997, he was ordered to pay $33.5 million for the wrongful deaths of the two victims. Some of his property was seized and auctioned, but most of the judgment has not been paid.
Mr. Simpson later served nine years in prison for robbery and kidnapping over an attempt to steal back some of his sports memorabilia from a Las Vegas hotel room. He insisted his conviction and sentence were unfair but said: “I believe in the legal system and I honored it. I served my time.”
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