New Netflix O.J. Simpson Trial Doc Speaks to Potential Witnesses Who Were Never Heard in Court

The O.J. Simpson murder trial continues to be an area of fascination over 30 years since the former football star was acquitted of the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and aspiring actor Ron Goldman.

In a new Netflix docuseries, American Manhunt: O.J. Simpson, premiering today, Wednesday, January 29, potential witnesses who claim to have seen Simpson on the night of the murders but were never called to testify in court speak out about what they saw.

“The audience gets to listen to witnesses who were not called and consider evidence,” Floyd Russ, the doc’s director, told People. “I want them to feel like the jury.”

People also spoke to two potential witnesses, including Jill Shively, who says she drove to the Westward Ho Market in Brentwood, California, just before 11 pm on the night of the murders. On her way there, she said she nearly struck a white Bronco with no headlights on.

“I could see who it was and I knew it was a football player, but I wasn’t sure who,” Shively stated. “He was yelling at another driver, ‘Move, move.’ I recognized his voice because I had just seen a Naked Gun movie. It was O.J. Simpson.”

At the time, Shively sold her story to the show Hard Copy, which caused the lead prosecutor, Marcia Clark, to avoid calling her as a witness because she thought it might have tainted her testimony.

Shively noted that she’s lived with the guilt of that for over 30 years and has spoken to jurors from the Simpson trial, “who said, ‘I would’ve loved to have heard your story.’ I asked them if it would have made a difference. And they said, “Maybe.'”

Another potential witness was Skip Junis, who was waiting to pick up his wife outside Los Angeles International Airport just after 11:30 pm on June 12, 1994. He claims that a limo pulled up about 40 feet away, and Simpson stepped out holding a cheap gym bag.

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“O.J. went to a trash can and plopped the bag on top,” Junis recalled. “What was really peculiar is when he unzipped the bag, he pulled out a long item that was covered with a white rag or cloth and put it in the trash can.”

Junis said he called the defense and prosecution about what he saw but never heard back. Eventually, LAPD detective Philip Vannatter contacted him, and he was taken to the prosecutor’s office to draw a picture of the bag he’d seen Simpson carrying. They told him he’d be called as a witness, but they never did.

“I think Marcia Clark forgot about me,” Junis told the outlet, adding that detectives later told him that Clark thought she wouldn’t be able to corroborate his story.

He added, “I have spent many, many years now thinking of what he would have had in the bag to throw away without looking at it. Why would he have brought it from his house? It just doesn’t make sense.”

American Manhunt: O.J. Simpson, Streaming, Netflix

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