OJ Simpson's public life crossed decades and boundaries, leaving lasting echoes. Here are a few

O.J. Simpson is gone now. But his life and public journey across seven decades touched multiple areas of American life, from sports to the legal arena to culture. The murder case against him in 1994 — and his acquittal in 1995 — had deep implications for how people talk about race and domestic violence.

Here, Associated Press journalists with expertise in three areas — the law, sports and culture — weigh in on what will endure long after Simpson’s death fades from public discussion.

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THE LAW: DNA AND CELEBRITY TRIAL BY TELEVISION

Simpson’s trial was the first to bring broad public awareness to the burgeoning science of DNA evidence. While jurors in 1995 rejected the forensics when they acquitted him of killing ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ron Goldman, juries thereafter would be forever familiar with the science.

The trial was the first in a series of cases and TV shows in which DNA played a role, including the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal three years later, and the premiere of the original “CSI” two years after that.

Now, DNA is expected by jurors and court observers, frustrating prosecutors in cases that don’t have it.

The choice to televise all nine months of Simpson’s trial drew a level of scrutiny never seen before and made celebrities of nearly every character in the case on Court TV. It caused a long hangover that remains nearly three decades later, and there is no expectation, at least in California, that a trial will be televised wall-to-wall like that again.

Other states still occasionally allow it — and those are the trials, like the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard fight in Virginia in 2022, get the most attention.

— By AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton, who frequently covers trials related to celebrity and the entertainment industry.

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SPORTS: PROWESS, STAR POWER, BUT NO NFL CHAMPIONSHIP

Football made O.J. Simpson a star and he was one of the greatest players in NFL history as well as the best running back of his era in the 1970s. He was a superstar in college at the University of Southern California and received a hero’s welcome in Buffalo when the Bills selected him No. 1 in the 1969 NFL draft. Even teammates were awed by Simpson’s presence.

And though it took coaches four years to figure out how to best use him, he didn’t disappoint.