O.J. found 'not guilty'

Simpson released after year in jail The Associated Press LOS ANGELES -- Acquitted of murdering his ex-wife and her friend, O.J. Simpson walked home a free man yesterday, pledging to track down the real killers who are ''out there somewhere.'' In a courtroom on the verge of exploding with emotion, a hush fell at just past 1 p.m. as Judge Lance Ito's clerk, Dierdre Robertson, read the two words: ''Not guilty.'' Simpson smiled, mouthed the words ''thank you'' at the jury, then clasped his hands together. Lead defense attorney Johnnie Cochran, standing behind Simpson, slapped him on the back and laid his forehead on his shoulder. Tears of anguish and shouts of joy burst from the three families whose lives were torn apart by the bloody June 12, 1994 slayings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. ''Oh my God!'' exclaimed Simpson's grown daughter, Arnelle, embracing her brother Jason. ''We did it!'' a family member exulted to Cochran. Eerily, the Simpson saga ended much as it had begun, with the fallen football superstar being transported in a white van to his estate while news helicopters tracked him overhead. On June 17, 1994, Simpson led police on a low-speed chase in a white Bronco with his friend Al Cowlings driving. Cowlings was at the door to embrace Simpson when he arrived home an hour after the verdicts were read. Later, family members gathered for a champagne party on the lawn of Simpson's lush estate. Florists, caterers and musicians pulled up to the house and told reporters they were there for a celebration. The gaiety stood in marked contrast to the solemn mood in the district attorney's offices. ''Last June 13, '94 [the day he learned of his son's death], was the worst nightmare of my life. This is the second,'' Goldman's father, Fred, said at a prosecution news conference. ''This prosecution team didn't lose today. I deeply believe this country lost today. Justice was not served.'' At a defense team news conference, Cochran insisted the issue of race, which he played heavily in the trial, did not overcome the facts. ''This verdict speaks justice,'' Cochran said. ''This was a case based upon the evidence.'' He denied playing ''the race card,'' saying instead that credibility had won out. ''Race plays a part in everything in America,'' he said. ''But this stuff about playing a race card is preposterous.'' But fellow defense attorney Robert Shapiro disagreed, saying he was ''deeply offended'' that Cochran had compared the police detective who found the bloody glove to Adolf Hitler. He also said would never work with Cochran again and would never talk to attorney F. Lee Bailey. As the words setting Simpson free were spoken in court, his elderly mother, Eunice, seated in a wheelchair, wiped her eyes, held up her hands prayerfully and murmured words of thanks. ''I was always in prayer. I knew my son was innocent,'' she said at the defense meeting with reporters. Across the room, Goldman mouthed the word ''murderer'' as the verdict was announced. Kim Goldman, who spent most of a year in court honoring her dead brother's memory, doubled over and sobbed along with a younger brother and sister. At the courthouse, Simpson's older son, Jason, read a statement from his father: ''My first obligation is to my young children, who will be raised the way that Nicole and I had always planned?But when things have settled a bit, I will pursue as my primary goal in life the killer or killers who slaughtered Nicole and Mr. Goldman. They are out there somewhere. Whatever it takes to identify them and bring them in, I will provide somehow.'' Police Chief Willie Williams, however, said he had no plans to reopen the investigation.