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It’s been over 30 years since O.J. Simpson was acquitted on murder charges in connection with the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
But interest in the trial of the century remains high, even after Simpson’s death last year at the age of 76.
Now, a new Netflix documentary titled American Manhunt: O.J. Simpson is shedding new light on the trial and its highly controversial verdict.
The doc features testimony from two individuals who claim to have seen Simpson on the night of the murders.
But neither party was called to testify during the trial.
“The audience gets to listen to witnesses who were not called and consider evidence,” director Floyd Russ tells People magazine. “I want them to feel like the jury.”
Jill Shivley Says She Can Place O.J. Near the Scene of the Crime
A Los Angeles resident named Jill Shivley claims that on the night of the murders, she crossed paths with Simpson less than half a mile from where Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman had been killed.
“I could see who it was and I knew it was a football player, but I wasn’t sure who,” Shively, now 63, says in the doc.
“He was yelling at another driver, ‘Move, move.’ I recognized his voice because I had just seen a Naked Gun movie. It was O.J. Simpson.”
Shivley told her story to the TV news outlet Hard Copy, a move that reportedly prompted lead prosecutor Marcia Clark to shy away from her.
“Marcia thought that tainted any testimony she might provide,” former prosecutor Chris Darden, Clark’s co-counsel on the case, explains in American Manhunt.
Shivley says that 30 years later, she’s still overwhelmed by guilt.
“I’ve spoken to jurors from the Simpson trial who said, ‘I would’ve loved to have heard your story,’” she explained. “I asked them if it would have made a difference. And they said, ‘Maybe.’
Skip Junis Says He Saw O.J. Concealing a ‘Long Item’ on the Night of the Murders
Skip Junis says he crossed paths with Simpson at Los Angeles International Airport on the night of the murders.
He was picking up his wife, an airline employee, when he saw O.J. carrying “a cheap gym bag.”
“O.J. went to a trash can and plopped the bag on top,” Junis recalls in the documentary. “What was really peculiar is when he unzipped the bag, he pulled out a long item that was covered with a white rag or cloth and put it in the trash can.”
Junis says he reached out to both the prosecution and the defense, but was never asked to testify.
“I think Marcia Clark forgot about me,” he says.
“I have spent many, many years now thinking of what he would have had in the bag to throw away without looking at it. Why would he have brought it from his house? It just doesn’t make sense.”
We’ll never know if Shivley or Junis’ testimony would have swayed the jury toward a conviction.
But we do know that the public’s fascination with this case shows no signs of letting up.
