SINGAPORE — At the height of his career, OJ Simpson seemed to have had it all. The former American football player-turned-actor was known for his good looks and prowess on the football field. 

That all changed in the summer of 1994, when he was charged with the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. 

Both were found dead outside his ex-wife’s home in Los Angeles, the United States. 

Simpson, who died at 76 on Wednesday (April 10) following a battle with prostate cancer, was acquitted in 1995 after a nine-month highly televised “trial of the century”. 

During the trial, the spotlight was also on the Kardashian family, particularly their patriarch Robert Kardashian, as the relationship between Simpson and Kardashian became widely known. 

As a prominent lawyer and member of Simpson’s legal defence team then, the late Robert Kardashian was the world's unofficial introduction to his family. He was the father of Kim, Khloe, and Kourtney Kardashian, who later had their own reality television series. 

The acquittal was not the end of Simpson’s brush with the law. In 2007, he was sentenced to 33 years’ jail after being found guilty of armed robbery. 

However, he was released on parole after serving nine years. 

Considering how Simpson’s trial transfixed a nation and other parts of the world, TODAY takes a look back at the highlights of the case, why his trial was such a big deal, and his connection with the Kardashians.

LIFE BEFORE INFAMOUS TRIAL

Orenthal James Simpson was born on July 9, 1947 in San Francisco to a mother who was a nurse’s aide and a father who was a cook.

At two years old, he contracted rickets — a childhood disease where weak bones bend and break more easily. He was forced to wear leg braces until he was five, but recovered so well that he became one of the most celebrated American football players of all time, Reuters news agency reported.

During his sports career with the Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers, Simpson also took on acting, notably for his role in The Naked Gun comedy movies that starred Leslie Nielsen. He worked as a sportscaster for American news networks as well.

He once told People magazine: “I want people to like me. I think that’s my biggest motivation.”

In 1967, Simpson married his high school sweetheart Marguerite Whitley and they had three children, American news channel CNN reported.

However, one child died at the age of two after drowning in a pool in 1979, which was also the year Simpson divorced his wife. 

The couple had separated a year earlier after he met teenager Nicole Brown, who was then 18 years old and working as a nightclub waitress. They moved in together later.

In 1985, he married Brown and they went on to have two children. The couple's relationship was said to be volatile, with allegations of domestic violence and reports of abuse.

KEY MOMENTS OF OJ SIMPSON'S MURDER TRIAL 

It was the summer of 1994 when the news broke that Brown and her friend were found brutally murdered. 

The violent nature of the crime sent shockwaves through the nation, as Simpson quickly became the prime suspect in the double homicide. 

He was accused of stabbing both victims. 

The ensuing trial would become one of the most-watched events in television history, marked by numerous dramatic moments. 

One of them was the slow-speed chase through the Los Angeles area when Simpson was considered a fugitive at the time, five days after the killings.

He supposedly fled in a car with a former teammate while carrying his passport and a disguise, Reuters reported.

The chase ended at Simpson's mansion and he was later charged with the murders.

Another moment was when the prosecution asked Simpson to try on a pair of gloves similar to the ones found at the crime scene. 

Simpson struggled to put on the gloves as they were too small for him, leading to the now-iconic phrase uttered by defence attorney Johnnie Cochran to the jury: "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit." 

The glove moment was dubbed by another defence lawyer Alan Dershowitz as "the greatest legal blunder of the 20th century". It became a pivotal point in the trial, seemingly supporting the defence's argument of tampered evidence.

Blood evidence was one of the main points of contention during the trial, with questions raised about the way blood was collected, preserved and analysed. 

Allegations had surfaced that blood samples taken from the crime scene were improperly stored and contaminated, potentially compromising the integrity of the evidence. 

Moreover, DNA evidence was relatively new at the time of the trial, so there were also concerns about the proficiency of the technicians involved in analysing the DNA samples. 

The defence team argued that the DNA evidence presented by the prosecution was unreliable due to contamination and mishandling, casting doubt on its validity.

After nine months of trial proceedings, the jury made up mostly of African-Americans deliberated for just four hours before returning a not-guilty verdict in October 1995. 

The news was met with a wide range of reactions, from shock and disbelief to jubilation and relief.

The trial's conclusion sparked intense debate and further fuelled talk about Simpson's innocence or guilt.

WHY WAS HIS TRIAL AND ACQUITTAL SUCH A BIG DEAL?

Despite his acquittal, Simpson would later be found liable for the deaths of Brown and Goldman in a civil trial two years later. 

He had subsequent run-ins with the law, including the armed robbery conviction, further tarnishing his reputation and cementing his status as one of the most polarising figures in American society.

Although it has been almost three decades since the murder trial, it remains a touchstone for discussions of race and justice in the US. 

A Reuters report said that the saga "had everything: a rich celebrity defendant; a black man accused of killing his white former wife out of jealousy; a woman slain after divorcing a man who had beaten her; a ‘dream team’ of pricy and charismatic defence lawyers; and a huge gaffe by prosecutors”.

Professor Amilcar Shabazz who specialised in Afro-American Studies at a Massachusetts university said that Simpson’s treatment by the police and media was viewed by many in the black community as proof that even wealthy celebrities were unable to escape racism in the US. 

“When the verdict was reached, we had one side of the screen with white people crestfallen and crying.

“And then we had, on the other side of the screen, black people jumping up and down for joy,” he told The Washington Post, adding that those racial divisions remain. 

Mr Dershowitz the defence lawyer said that Simpson’s trial also exposed police corruption among some officials in the Los Angeles Police Department.

"He will leave a mixed legacy. Great athlete. Many people think he was guilty. Some think he was innocent,” he told AP news agency. 

SIMPSON’S CONNECTION WITH THE KARDASHIANS

Simpson’s defence team comprised prominent defence counsels including Robert Kardashian, who was also Simpson’s close friend. He had renewed his law licence to assist Simpson in the trial. 

The lawyer was also a key figure in the case because he was spotted carrying away a mysterious bag from Simpson's house the day after the murders. 

However, he was never called to testify on the grounds of lawyer-client privilege.

In 1996, a year after the acquittal, Robert Kardashian, whose friendship with Simpson had crumbled by then, said in an interview with American television network ABC News that he had doubts about Simpson's innocence. 

“The blood evidence is the biggest thorn in my side; that causes me the greatest problems. So I struggle with the blood evidence.''

Robert Kardashian died from esophageal cancer in 2003 at the age of 59.