New Investigation Discovery documentary series asks: What if O.J. Simpson is innocent?
This Nov. 30, 1995, file photo shows former football player and actor O.J. Simpson looking at a new pair of Aris extra-large gloves that prosecutors had him put on during his double-murder trial in Los Angeles.
In the words of Investigation Discovery group President Henry Schleiff, you can “never get enough juice” out of the murder trial of O.J. Simpson.
That’s why the popular true-crime cable channel has ordered yet another program that examines the murder case of O.J. Simpson’s ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman. But this one takes a new approach that’s evident in the title, “Hard Evidence: O.J. Is Innocent.”
The six-episode documentary series is in production and scheduled to premiere on ID in early 2017. It is based on the work of Dallas-based private investigator William C. Dear. He teamed with former LAPD forensic psychologist Dr. Kris Mohandie and Rhode Island police Sgt. Derrick Levasseur to re-examine the case. They claim their work comes up with a new suspect in the murders.
While Simpson was acquitted of the murders, he has been presumed guilty by a large segment of the public. The former NFL star and media personality is serving prison time for his role in a 2007 robbery in Las Vegas.
“For the first time I asked myself, ‘Did O.J. really do it and is the other killer really out there?’ ” Schleiff said Friday in an interview on NBC’s “Today.” “I think people will ask themselves for the very first time to re-examine this evidence.”
Martin Sheen is an executive producer of the series and also will narrate.
The 21-year-old murder case has become a cottage industry for television. The scripted FX series “American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson” is one of the season’s biggest and most talked-about hits and has introduced a new generation to the story that transfixed a nation in the 1990s.
In June, ESPN will launch its five-part documentary, “O.J.: Made In America,” directed by Ezra Edelman. Part of ESPN’s much-heralded “30 for 30” series, the program is a deep look into the racial divide created by the much-publicized trial of one of the country’s most admired sports heroes and celebrities.
MORE:
One key player wouldn’t talk for ESPN’s Simpson murder epic ‘O.J.: Made in America’
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