OJ Simpson murder trial: Suppressed witness testimony casts shadow over verdict
2025-02-02
Category: america

Two potential witnesses who say they ran into OJ Simpson on June 12, 1994 – the night his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman were brutally hacked to death outside her upscale condo – are sharing their stories in a new docuseries decades after they were left out of the ensuing murder trial. One, who later sued prosecutors for libel, could have placed Simpson within a mile of the crime scene after she said she narrowly missed crashing into his SUV.&nbsp; The other said he saw Simpson acting oddly and dumping a wrapped item in a trash can at Los Angeles's largest airport 30 minutes later. Due to his fame as a football star, a TV sports commentator and actor, he was highly recognizable at the time. FBI RELEASES HUNDREDS OF PAGES ON OJ SIMPSON MURDER INVESTIGATION  Both appear in Netflix's new docuseries, "American Manhunt: O.J. Simpson." The first is Jill Shively, who lived in Santa Monica at the time and encountered Simpson in a traffic altercation around 11 p.m. on the night of the murders.&nbsp; Less than a mile from the crime scene, Shively told investigators she nearly crashed into a white Ford Bronco with no headlights on. "I could see who it was and I knew it was a football player, but I wasn't sure who," she elaborated to People Wednesday. "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."&nbsp; GET REAL-TIME UPDATES DIRECTLY ON THE TRUE CRIME HUB&nbsp;  OJ SIMPSON PROSECUTOR MARCIA CLARK DISSECTS EVOLVING MEDIA'S IMPACT ON TRIALS AND TRUE CRIME Shively testified before the grand jury, then sold her story to the tabloid TV show "Hard Copy" for $5,000, the Los Angeles Times reported. Her then-boyfriend also allegedly told prosecutors that she was a "felony probationer" and not a credible witness. She sued him and county officials over the latter claim but was never called to the stand at trial.&nbsp; SIGN UP TO GET TRUE CRIME NEWSLETTER  The other is Skip Junis, who claimed to have seen Simpson arrive at Los Angeles International Airport around 11:30 p.m. the same evening. PHOTOS: OJ SIMPSON THROUGH THE YEARS As he was waiting to pick up his wife, he claimed, he saw Simpson get out of a limo with a duffle bag.  "O.J. went to a trash can and plopped the bag on top," Junis told People. "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." A murder weapon was never found in connection with the case.  Simpson's lawyers had maintained that he was home at the time of the murders, waiting for a limo to LAX. He took a red-eye flight to Chicago for a golf outing but was asked to return to Los Angeles by police the next morning.&nbsp; Junis said he told police what he had seen but was not called to the witness stand during the trial. "I think Marcia Clark forgot about me," he told the outlet, referring to the lead prosecutor on the case.  Clark declined to comment when contacted by Fox News Digital. She also declined to appear in the docuseries, according to Netflix.&nbsp; Simpson had an elite team of attorneys known as the "Dream Team" that included Johnnie Cochran, Alan Dershowitz, Robert Kardashian, Shawn Holley, Robert Shapiro and others. They ultimately convinced jurors of enough reasonable doubt to acquit Simpson in the murders. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP  A Heisman Trophy winner from USC nicknamed "Juice," Simpson went on to a stellar NFL career as a running back with the Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers. But after briefly flirting with Hollywood stardom, he became the most prominent U.S. figure to face murder charges after the brutal double stabbing left Brown Simpson and Goldman dead at her Brentwood condo. FOLLOW THE FOX TRUE CRIME TEAM ON X The two victims were not believed to have been romantically involved.&nbsp; Although he was acquitted in that case, Simpson later lost a civil lawsuit connected to the deaths. Years later, at the age of 61, he took part in an armed robbery to steal some of his own memorabilia. He served the minimum nine years of a 33-year sentence before receiving parole.  CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Simpson died last April after a private cancer battle. Near the end of his life, he remained in Las Vegas and returned to the public eye on X, posting reactions to current events. The Associated Press contributed to this report.