American Crime Story (TV Series)

The Verdict (2016)

Sterling K. Brown: Christopher Darden

Photos 

Quotes 

• Johnnie Cochran : [trying to make amends after the verdict]  I appreciate how hard you fought. Especially that closing. This was war, and you did a superb job. I respect that. I... I know how difficult this has been on you. And when the dust settles, I'd like to help bring you back in to the community.

  Christopher Darden : Hmmm... well I never left. You think I don't understand the situation? I get it. It's payback. O.J.'s the first black defendant in history to get off because he's black.

  Johnnie Cochran : The people will see who the police really are...

  Christopher Darden : [interrupting]  All the people saw was how well you can twist the system. This isn't some civil rights milestone. Police in this country will keep arresting us, keep beating us, keep killing us. You haven't changed anything for black people here. Unless, of course, you're a famous, rich one in Brentwood.

• [Cochran and Darden meet in private, after the verdict] 

  Johnnie Cochran : Got a minute? I... I appreciate how hard you fought. Especially that closing. This was war. And you did a superb job. I respect that. I... I know how difficult this has been on you. And when the dust settles... I'd like to help bring you back into the community.

  Christopher Darden : Hmm. Well, I never left. You think I don't understand the situation? I get it. It's payback. O.J.'s the first black defendant in history to get off because he's black.

  Johnnie Cochran : The people will see who the police really are...

  Christopher Darden : All the people saw was how well you can twist the system. This isn't some civil rights milestone. Police in this country will keep arresting us, keep beating us, keep killing us. You haven't changed anything for black people here.

  [beat] 

  Christopher Darden : Unless, of course, you're a famous, rich one in Brentwood.

• [Chris Darden's final statements] 

  Christopher Darden : Ladies and gentlemen, to grasp this crime, you must first understand Mr. Simpson's relationship to his ex-wife, Nicole. It was a ticking time bomb. The fuse was lit in 1985, the very year they were married. Officers responded after Mr. Simpson beat Nicole and took a baseball bat to her Mercedes. Then in 1989, Nicole had to call 911 again, fearing for her life. When officers arrived, Nicole ran towards them, yelling, "He's going to kill me. He's going to kill me." She had a black eye, a cut forehead, a swollen cheek. In her torn bra, Nicole pleaded with the officers, "You've come up here eight times. You never do anything about him."

  [scoffs] 

  Christopher Darden : And they want to tell you that the police conspired against Mr. Simpson. This case is not about the "N" word.

  [Darden turns and points directly at Simpson] 

  Christopher Darden : It is about O.J. Simpson and the "M" word, "murder." I'm not afraid to point to him and say he did it. Why not? The evidence all points to him. In February 1992, Nicole filed for divorce. She was running away from the man who said he'd kill her. She saw the explosion coming. Why else fill a safe-deposit box with threatening letters from the defendant, a will and police photos of past beatings? She knew that the bomb could go off at any second. And then it did. On June 12, 1994, while their daughter danced, the defendant kept his eyes fixed on Nicole. Spurned. Now imagine this defendant in the Bronco. He is full of anger, and he is full of rage, and it is nighttime, and he is driving, and the focus of his anger is Nicole. It is 10:00, and he's driving as fast as he can. He is out of control, folks. The fact that the kids are in the house means nothing to this man. Simpson has lost Nicole, and he is upset and angry. The fuse is getting shorter. The anger is building. The rage he has, the anger, the hate, flows out of him and into the knife and from the knife into her. With each thrust of the knife into her body, there's a release, a small release. And he stabs and cuts and slices until that rage is gone. Until Nicole and Ron are gone. He's a murderer. He was also one hell of a great football player. But he's still a murderer.