"If These People Convict Me, Maybe I Did Do It"
FACT: Vanity Fair's Dominick Dunne, who covered the whole trial for the magazine, reported later that he had been told Simpson really did lean over to Cochran when the jury was seated and say, "If this jury convicts me, maybe I did kill Nicole in a blackout." The show's version sounds even more realistic.
Judge Ito Shows Off His Signed Photo of Arsenio Hall
FACT: With one minor difference. He showed it to The New Yorker's Jeffrey Toobin, who penned the ACS source material The Run of His Life, not Vanity Fair columnist Dominick Dunne.
Johnnie Cochran Is Pulled Over, a Victim of Racial Profiling
FACT: Cochran's story about being pulled over by an LAPD officer while driving his Rolls Royce on Sunset Boulevard with his two little kids in the car and being needlessly cuffed—until the cop realized he was an assistant district attorney—became a frequently mentioned part of his biography.
Johnnie Cochran Whispers ''N----r, Please" to Chris Darden in Court
FACT: The anecdote is in Toobin's book, and Cochran later told Time magazine how that reaction immediately ran through his head when Darden tried to get Judge Ito to rule that the jury shouldn't hear testimony about Mark Fuhrman's alleged use of the N-word.
A.D.A. Bill Hodgman Collapses in Court
FICTION: But close. Marcia Clark's original co-prosecutor was hospitalized after falling ill during a trial strategy meeting at the work, the same day but not within minutes of the defense springing a series of new witnesses on them during Johnnie Cochran's opening statement.
Johnnie Cochan Redecorates O.J.'s House to Add "Blackness"
FACT: Fellow defense attorney Carl Douglas later told Dateline that they changed up the decor in the Rockingham house before the jury toured the property. "This is not tampering with evidence," he insisted.
Mark Fuhrman Collects Nazi Memorabilia
FACT: According to a lot of hearsay, anyway. It was reported in September 1995 that the defense had been informed by an deputy D.A. that she had been apprised of allegations made against Fuhrman by fellow cops that he had painted swastikas on a colleague's locker and wore Nazi paraphernalia on the weekends.
Marcia Clark's Ex Sues Her for Primary Custody of Their Kids During the Trial
FACT: Gordon Clark, her second husband, did sue, insisting he be the primary caretaker while she was working such long hours.
Marcia Clark & Chris Darden Dance in the Office
FACT: Clark made light of rumors that they were ever in a romantic relationship, writing in her own book Without a Doubt, "Fact of the matter is, Chris Darden and I were closer than lovers." But sure enough, Darden recalled in his 1996 book In Contempt, "We sat up listening to hip-hop and R&B. We danced a few times and drank a few bottles of wine. In my mind, that is a relationship."
Johnnie Cochran Blindsides a Witness
FICTION: Cochran did make a big deal out of Det. Tom Lange taking O.J.'s shoes home with him overnight to Simi Valley (where the cops who beat Rodney King were tried and acquitted), but it was a defense investigator who learned through friendly small talk that Lange lived in Simi and then tipped off Cochran to that fact.
Chris Darden Writes a Note to Marcia Saying He Loves Her New Hairdo
FICTION: But not necessarily. Though that cute moment couldn't immediately be verified, it doesn't sound entirely unlike something he would have done at the time.
A Tabloid Prints Nude Pics of Marcia Clark During the Trial
FACT: The National Enquirer did indeed run old topless pics of the prosecutor on vacation with her first husband. Trying to get a laugh out of her, Darden later recalled saying, "Personally I thought they looked pretty good."
Alan Dershowitz Would Fax Messages to the Courtroom
FACT: The Harvard Law professor predicted that "virtual representation" was the wave of the future, and he would regularly fax his 2 cents to L.A. while holding down his day job at Harvard.
Johnnie Cochran Led a "Double Life"
FACT: The attorney did play house with longtime mistress Patty Sikora, a legal secretary, while still married to his first wife, Barbara, with whom he had a daughter. In her 1995 book Life After Johnnie Cochran, Barbara alleged that Johnnie beat her several times, including when she confronted him about Patty. During the 10-year period, Cochran and Sikora had a son together and he had a second daughter with Barbara.
Robert Shapiro Wore a Police Solidarity Pin in Court
FACT: Not wanting to fracture his relationship with the LAPD in the long run, the defense attorney absolutely did wear a blue ribbon pin signifying police solidarity on his lapel.
Robert Kardashian Opened O.J.'s Garment Bag With Al Cowlings
FICTION: At least according to Kardashian's account of events to Barbara Walters in 1996. He said during an in-depth interview on 20/20 that he never opened the bag he was spotted carrying away from O.J.'s house on Rockingham (which led to speculation that he disposed of evidence for his longtime pal). The attorney told Walters that police found the bag in the room O.J. stayed in at his house and didn't even bother to test it for blood traces—or even take it with them.
Marcia Clark & Chris Darden Go Away for the Weekend
FACT: Details on the particulars are sketchy, as both have played coy about the true nature of their admittedly close relationship, but they both relayed in their later books that they traveled to the Bay Area together.
The Glove Debacle
FACT: Albeit embellished. Sterling K. Brown has said that the show's narrative leading up to that fateful moment unfolds a little differently than did the actual event. But it was indeed Darden who wanted O.J. to put on the gloves and when he hesitated, due to Clark's insistence he not go there, F. Lee Bailey really did goad him on, per a recollection from Cochran later on. While the defense seized on the image of the ill-fitting gloves, many others there or watching that day seemed to think the gloves weren't that ill-fitting.
O.J. Plays Poker in Jail With His Visitors
FICTION: Robert Kardashian talked about not even being able to hug his friend when he'd visit, and Jeffrey Toobin talked about O.J. being behind glass at all times during jail visits, even when talking to his lawyers.
Jurors Started Dropping Like Flies
FACT: Though The People v. O.J. Simpson doesn't pick up the jury's angst until month eight (after they were told it would be an approximately two-month trial), 10 people were dismissed for various reasons out of the original pool of 12 seated jurors and 12 alternates over the course of the trial.
The Jury's Target vs. Ross Shopping Fiasco
FACT: Per Toobin's book, one woman did complain to Judge Ito that some of the jurors only got a half-hour to shop at Ross and Target while another group got a whole hour at Ross. The show consolidates the issue, making it one of the examples of the tension between the black and white jurors—"They know that blacks like Ross more!" juror Tracy Hampton protests on the show—but otherwise the "famous Target/Ross shopping incident" was real.
O.J. Simpson Really Wanted to Testify
FACT: He also apparently regularly used as many football metaphors as the script calls for. Despite his willingness to take the stand, no one on the Dream Team—except F. Lee Bailey—wanted him to testify and Cochran said they really did have mock-cross-examinations to gauge the validity of the idea.
Robert Kardashian Shares His Doubts & Apologizes to Kris
FICTION: As far as this being a documented encounter goes, that is. O.J.'s longtime friend did express doubts about his innocence in his 1996 sit-down with Barbara Walters, and Kris Jenner was on the side supporting Nicole's family...but the most gotcha Kardashian moments in the series so far have been largely scripted for creative purposes. Kris later said that she and her ex-husband didn't discuss the case during the trial.
O.J. Starred in an Exercise Video 2 Weeks Before the Murders
FACT: The former football star looking fit and healthy in O.J. Simpson Minimum Maintenance for Men neutered the defense's argument that Simpson was physically unable to commit the crime.