Even the prestigious BBC covered the verdict with breathtaking excitement. Ever since 95 million Americans (that’s one third of the country) tuned in to news networks’ live coverage of former football star Orenthal James Simpson dashing escape attempt via a friend’s white Ford Bronco, chased across Los Angeles roads by innumerable police cars and just as many television choppers, the trial of OJ — nay, “the trial of the Century” — had become a multinational media circus.

On this day, October 3, 150 million viewers tuned in to see the denouement of a trial that lasted a year and a week, and resolved, via a unanimous jury decision, in less than eight hours. O.J. Simpson was found not guilty of the murders of his estranged ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ronald Goldman.

The LAPD were put on tactical alert, prepared for a possible riot the likes of which were seen just two years before when in another highly racially-charged case four white police officers were found not guilty of the beating of a black man, but this time there were no riots. A great cheer went up from the crowd outside the courthouse. The prosecution expressed deep disappointment in the verdict. The defense denied that race was an issue in the case: counsel Johnny Cochran, coiner of the famous “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit” ditty, said it wasn’t the “race card” he played. “We choose to call it the credibility card,” he said.