The acquittal of OJ Simpson

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 3 October 2025

⏱️ 11 minutes

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Summary

It’s 30 years since American football star OJ Simpson was acquitted of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.

Ron Shipp was a close friend of OJ Simpson's and also a police officer, he decided to testify against him in the criminal trial.

In 2017, Ron spoke to Rebecca Kesby about why he wanted to testify.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.

(Photo: OJ Simpson at his double murder trial. Credit: VIince Bucci/AFP via Getty Images)

Transcript

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1:09.2	It's 30 years since American football legend and movie star
1:12.7	OJ Simpson was acquitted of double murder on the 3rd of October 1995. His ex-wife, Nicole Brown
1:20.3	Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman, were killed in 1994. Ron Schip was a close friend of Simpsons
1:27.0	and also a police officer.
1:29.0	He was persuaded to testify against him and spoke to Rebecca Kesby in 2017.
	...

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