judge lance ito s courtroom was now part of our popular culture. o.j. l.a. o.j. l.a. it was o.j. every day. products. pundits. and a whole new class of tv shows that yammered about everything that happened that day in court. hi, everyone, i am geraldo riviera. the face of a batterer, an abuser, a controller, the face of ron and nicole s murderer. if the audience loved it. 12 jurors didn t see it. because they were sequestered, confined to this high-rise hotel a few blocks from the courthouse. one of the jurors who actually decided the case. for 265 days, more than eight months, their lives were limited to a courtroom and a hotel room. if you are not in any common
idol. at that point i knew he was a stone cold killer. but he extended his hand out for me to shake it. i just couldn t resist. i shook his hand. i ve always regretted that. that i literally shook the hand of that probably wielded the knife that killed my client s son, and killed his ex-wife. but that was as friendly as it ever got as we discovered in these rarely seen video depositions. for 13 days, he grilled simpson about the night of the crime, the cut on his finger, and the shoes. did you ever buy shos that you knew were bruno magli shoes? no. how do you know that? because i know if bruno magli make shoes that look like the shoes they have in court, i would have never worn those ugly ass shoes. the deposition turned out to
honest to god, that s one of those moments of a little blur. crying, and shock, and anger and all shoved together. and then we left. with nothing after nine months resolved, settled. america s newly insatiable appetite for trial binge watching had ended without simpson getting the just desserts many had hoped for. but this would not be the last we would see or hear of o.j. simpson because simpson would soon be back in court. and this time things would be quite different. coming up o.j. simpson on the spot and under oath, in rarely seen videotapes. if her face was black and blue, the next day, two days later, i was responsible for it. when dateline continues.
[ cheers and applause ] i just remember sheer relief. i turned around and hugged fred. and he had tears streaming down his eyes. and as did i. [ cheers and applause ] i saw you smile that day. yeah. finally i had a court say he did it. it was only con fir maegs of what we knew. it was only confirmation of what we knew. but he did it. the families were awarded $33.5 million in damages. of which they have only received a fraction. but simpson lost what was left of his reputation. once again, he walked out of court that day a free man. it turned out justice was coming for o.j. sim sill in ways he never imagined. coming up o.j. simpson on trial again. but this time, the verdict is different.
but a civil court could find simpson liable for killing ron and nicole. and that meant filing a wrongful death lawsuit. if simpson lost he wouldn t go to prison but may have to pay damages to the families. of course this wasn t about the money. for us the pursuit of justice is incredibly important to the honor and integrity of what my brother went through the night that he was stabbed to death. off ought goldman s hired a relatively unknown attorney, named dan petrocelli to represent them. he had never handled a case that involved murder. petrocelli would argue the case here in santa monica where the jury would be selected from a largely white population. unlike in the criminal case, the burden of proof was lower this jury wouldn t have to agree unanimously on a verdict. and as a matter of law, o.j. simpson would have no choice but to testify in pretrial dech s