‘The Lord will deal with him’, Stephen A. Smith goes on live First Take rant over ‘guilty’ OJ Simpson’s death aged 76
STEPHEN A. Smith has said he believes OJ Simpson did murder his wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman in 1994.
The infamous ex-NFL star, who died of cancer at the age of 76, was acquitted on both counts the following year in what was described as the trial of the century.
But Smith, 56, said he will forever be remembered as a double-murdered.
“I know that if I was on that jury, he would’ve been the under the damn jail. I know that much,” the ESPN sportscaster said while calling in during Thursday’s First Take.
“I believe he was guilty, but I don’t know.
“I’m talking about, based on the evidence that was placed before us during the trial, overseen by Judge Lance Ito, this is what we saw on national television.
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“And by most accounts, you found yourself believing he was guilty as hell. In the end, that’s what this comes down to.”
Smith suggested Simpson’s acquittal was likely the result of the work of his stellar defense team, spearheaded by attorney Johnnie Cochran, combined with the incompetency of the prosecutors.
“We’re also not going to forget how bad Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden were as prosecutors because that’s a test case of what not to do as prosecutors,” he said.
“You’ve got a glove with blood on it that obviously shrunk over a period of time and you tell the man to try on the glove.
“That’s not going to work, everybody remembers that.”
He added: “I think about Johnnie Cochran and Johnnie Cochran, ultimately, his firm went national and he became a household name as a result of the OJ trial.
“‘If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.’ Nobody will forget that line by the late, great Johnnie Cochran.”
Stephen A. said he felt sympathy for Simpson’s family.
“You don’t want to say that devoid of a high level of sensitivity on this particular day towards his family who were innocent of all that stuff,” he said.
“They had nothing to do with it, they can’t control his actions.
OJ Simpson's football career
OJ Simpson played for 10 years in the NFL with the Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers from 1969 to 1979.
After starring in college for the University of Southern California in 1967 and 1968, he was drafted No. 1 overall by the Bills in 1969.
Simpson spent nine of his 11 seasons in western New York and was named NFL MVP in 1973.
He was also a five-time Pro Bowler and led the league in rushing four times.
The former running back had two seasons with the 49ers before retiring in 1979.
Simpson scored 75 touchdowns during his career – 61 rushing and 14 receiving.
“But based on his actions that we all witnessed on trial over national television for months upon months at a time, by and large, the belief is he’s guilty.
“So you’re not going to hear nor see an abundance of people feeling a lot of sympathy for him today. The Lord will deal with him.”
Simpson’s family shared the news of the ex-Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers running back’s death on Wednesday.
He was diagnosed with prostate cancer earlier this year.
The 1973 NFL MVP claimed to be “in good health” just two months before his passing.
But the last known photos of Simpson showed him looking frail and using a walking stick.