The day they set OJ Simpson free – and left America in turmoil

The reporter who covered the trial for the Observer recalls the twists and turns of the double murder trial - and how the jury reached its verdict with astonishing speed

When the jury sent word they would deliver their verdict in the OJ Simpson double murder trial, the rest of America was caught by surprise, myself included. It had taken four hours to rule on nine months of evidence as to whether one of the country's most famous black men had killed his former wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her young friend, Ronald Goldman.

It felt far too quick. The televised case in 1995 had been an astonishing spectacle, its twists and turns drawing vast numbers of viewers from the nation's daytime soaps.