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N-WORD—The politically sensitive description used in the courtroom and in most press accounts for the racially offensive epithet, “nigger.” Use of the term was especially prevalent during the fierce battle over introduction of portions of the Fuhrman tapes as evidence. It was used 42 times in the tapes. (See: Fuhrman Tapes.)

NAKED GUN—A series of three movies O.J. acted in with comedian Leslie Nielsen beginning in 1988. The first of the movies, Naked Gun: From The Files of Police Squad, was based on a failed television series and also starred Priscilla Presley, George Kennedy and Ricardo Montalban among others. Other movies O.J. appeared in include The Towering Inferno, a 1974 suspense thriller that won Oscars for cinematography, editing and best song.

NATION OF ISLAM—As the trial wound down chief defense attorney Cochran was flanked outside the courtroom by six huge black stern-faced guards from the Nation of Islam. The guards were dressed in neatly pressed suits with white shirts and bright bow ties. Members of the organization are commonly known as Black Muslims. (See: Death Threats.)

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BLACK JOURNALISTS—African-American media professionals were addressed by Simpson’s lead defense attorney Cochran, at a convention in Philadelphia. He advised them to champion black causes in their reporting. Prosecutor Darden also spoke at the meeting, and said concern for victims of violent crime was what kept him on the job. Earlier, in an interview reported by The Los Angeles Times, he said he was “ashamed” to be part of the Simpson case. Darden said the trial shook his faith in the system, and he was unsure if he even wanted to continue practicing law. He stressed however, that he wasn’t ashamed of the prosecution team.

NATIONAL DOMESTIC VIOLENCE MONTH—Some people believed it was especially ironic that the Simpson trial verdict was finally reached in October—National Domestic Violence Month.

NATIONAL ENQUIRER—Spurred by its aggressive coverage and repeated news scoops kicked off within a few hours of the time the murders were discovered, the nationally distributed supermarket tabloid became a story in itself. Reporters for the Lantana, Florida-based celebrity gossip sheet rapidly began tracking down witnesses, friends and acquaintances of the suspect and of the victims, consistently beating other elements of the media to the punch—and frequently getting to sources before investigators for police and prosecutors.

Potential witnesses, some who already testified before a grand jury or at preliminary hearings, were dropped from prosecution witness lists because they had sold stories to the “Inky” or to other tabloids. Members of the establishment media began quarreling among themselves when the prestigious New York Times published major stories acknowledging the stellar job turned in by the tabloid. But other journalists also began belatedly giving the “Devil its due” as the trial wore on. The Wall Street Journal and the Columbia Journalism Review paid homage to the tabloid. Even television’s Nightline with host Ted Koppel finally journeyed to Enquirer’s Lantana, Florida headquarters with a film crew.

“In a story made for the tabloids, it stands head and shoulders above them all for aggressiveness and accuracy,” a Times reporter wrote in one of the articles. The plaudits from the nation’s biggest and most powerful daily newspaper were a bitter pill for some other media mavens to swallow and the Times came under heavy criticism in editorials and by news columnists. Basically, the story marked the first time the hard-hitting tabloid received recognition from another major media source for its professionalism.

Actually, the Enquirer began printing stories five-years earlier about incidents that later took on significance in the trial, when it disclosed the ferocious New Year’s Day 1989 fight between the couple. At various times the tabloid had as many as 20 reporters sniffing out Simpson trial stories, and initially the effort paid off handsomely. For awhile circulation at the Enquirer and some of its fellow weekly tabloids shot up by as much as 30 percent. At one point circulation reportedly reached 3.5 million copies at $1.29 each, almost a half-million more than the immediate “pre-Simpson days.” As the trial dragged on and public interest dragged, sales dropped closer to previous levels (See: Callahan, Peter; Checkbook Journalism Law; and Margolick, David.)

NATURAL BORN KILLAZ—Rap video featuring Dr. Dre with Ice Cube, which feeds off a re-enactment of the grisly twin murders that occurred just outside the front door of the split-level condo on South Bundy.

NBC-TV—Before Johnnie Cochran moved onto the “Dream Team” he toiled briefly as an NBC-TV news consultant, providing his personal analysis of the rapidly developing case. (See: Cochran, Johnnie L., Jr; and Reiner, Ira.)

NEAL, JUDGE RICHARD—(See: Startifacts, Inc.)

NETWORK COSTS—The estimated costs of covering the trial was $30,000-per-week each for the television networks.

NEUFELD, PETER—A member of the defense team who is a nationally known specialist in forensic uses of DNA. During cross-examination of Dr. Cotton, Neufeld repeatedly questioned the integrity of the evidence, and stressed the defense’s ongoing theme of a reputed police conspiracy and evidence tampering.

The defense strongly criticized police for loading blood evidence in an unrefrigerated crime scene truck. But Neufeld was blocked by Judge Ito from eliciting testimony dealing with collection and handling of evidence by police, or about possible deterioration of blood evidence in hot weather. “Hold on. We have an attorney from New York. We have an expert witness from Maryland talking about June weather conditions in Santa Monica. We’ve got a problem,” Ito grumped. (See: Cotton, Dr. Robin; DNA Wars; Rebuttal; Scheck, Barry; and Simon and Garfunkel.)

NEWS LEAKS—Judge Ito and other officers of the court had a constant problem with news leaks, information getting out to the press that wasn’t supposed to be publicly revealed, or was disclosed before the proper time. At different times both the defense and the prosecution were warned or castigated by the judge for reputedly planting stories that were considered favorable to their particular side.

One of the most significant incidents of a reputed leak occurred during the period of jury selection when a local television station broadcast a report saying DNA tests had confirmed traces of Nicole’s blood were on one of the socks police gathered from the defendant’s bedroom as evidence. At that time, DNA tests hadn’t yet been conducted on the socks, and Judge Ito denounced the broadcast report as irresponsible. The timing of the news report was especially troubling to the court because the jury pool wasn’t sequestered and potential jurors still had access to media information.

When DNA tests were finally conducted and turned up the exact results publicized in the televised report, the defense claimed it was proof that whoever leaked the information from the LAPD knew the results ahead of time. The police source was involved in planting Simpson’s blood on the sock and knew it would show up in the tests, according to the defense reasoning. Ito disagreed. “This record does not support a finding that access to the results means access to the evidence itself,” he declared.

Another embarrassing newsleak that created a major flap revolved around quotes from the incendiary Fuhrman tapes that dribbled out piecemeal to the press before being officially revealed in the courtroom, or that was never officially disclosed at all. (See: Bosco, Joseph; Diaz, Martha Lorrie; KNBC; and Savage, Tracie.)

NEWSTALK 1560 RADIO—The San Juan, Puerto Rico radio station made an on-air apology to listeners for nudging aside its daily coverage of the Simpson trial to make room for updates about the approach of Hurricane Luis. The super-storm was bearing down on the island and packing winds of 140-miles-per-hour at the time.

NEWSWEEK—(See: Time.)

NEW YORKER—Detective Fuhrman filed a $50 million libel suit against the magazine and writer Jeffrey Toobin, and in an amended complaint added Simpson’s attorney Robert Shapiro and his law firm to the list of defendants. Toobin’s story appeared in the July 25, 1995 issue of the magazine. In the civil suit, filed long before the shocking Fuhrman tapes were located and disclosed, the police detective claimed his reputation was damaged by a story outlining a defense plan to attack him as a possible racist who may have planted the bloody glove.

NICKNAMES—The names of sitting jurors were shielded throughout the trial, so reporters hatched their own nicknames for the anonymous men and women. They included such monickers as “Aunt Bea,” “Big Hair,” “Old Man” and “Pepsi Man.”

NICOLE BROWN SIMPSON: THE PRIVATE DIARY OF A LIFE INTERRUPTED—A best-selling tell-all reminiscence by one of Nicole’s closest friends, Faye Resnick, with National Enquirer columnist Mike Walker. It was published by Dove Books on October 20, 1994 weeks before opening statements were presented at the beginning of the trial. Sales of the book were given a huge boost when Ito blasted it in a statement from the bench, providing it with an instant notoriety. (See: Resnick, Faye D; Peterson, R. W. “Pete;” and Walker, Mike.)

NICOLE BROWN SIMPSON CHARITABLE FOUNDATION—The foundation was set up by members of Nicole’s family to educate the public about domestic violence. “We turned it into something positive and reached out our hands to all those other women and their families who are going through the same thing,” Nicole’s sister Tanya Brown said of the foundation and campaign against domestic violence during an appearance on NBC-TV’s Leeza (Gibbons) show.

But Nicole’s sister, Denise, took the lead role in the family effort and criss-crossed the country speaking out about the issue on radio and television and in the print media. “I want to let people know that if he hits you once, he will hit you again,” she said in an interview on WWCP-TV in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. In other interviews, she told reporters she didn’t realize her sister was a battered woman until she read her diaries. (See: Brown, Denise; Brown, Tanya; Domestic Discord; 911 Calls; and Spousal Battery.)

NICOLE’S VOICE FROM THE GRAVE—After the civil damage suit was filed by the Brown family against Simpson, their lawyer said, “California allows the victims of violent crime to have a voice from the grave. This is Nicole’s voice from the grave.” (See: Kelly, John Quinlan.)

NIGG, MICHAEL—Violent crime didn’t take a holiday in Los Angeles county after the Simpson case broke, and one of the new victims was a young man who befriended Goldman while they were waiters at the Mezzaluna. Nigg, 26, was with his girlfriend, Julie Long, in a parking lot preparing to go inside a Hollywood restaurant in September 1995 when they were confronted by two robbers. Nigg refused a demand for money, and one of the men killed him with a shot in the head. The victim, an aspiring actor from Colorado, quit his job at the Mezzaluna a month before Goldman was slain, and was working at the Sanctuary, a restaurant in Beverly Hills.

911 TAPES—Tapes and transcripts of different 911 telephone calls figured prominently in the investigation and in the trial. The most immediately important were tapes of a telephone call to police by Nicole on New Year’s Day, 1989 after Simpson spotted a photo of an old boyfriend in her picture album and beat up on her.

When law enforcement authorities released the tapes to the press early in the investigation, it led to a nasty round of accusations that the State was unfairly trying to manage public opinion, and to dissolution of the grand jury that was already considering an indictment. The defense lawyer was also doing its share of media manipulation, defenders shot back. (See: Domestic Discord; Edwards, John; Grand Jury; Gretna Green Way, 327; Lerner, Robert; Mills, Judge Cecil J.; Moore, Terri; Spousal Battery; and Trial By Media.)

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER—Chief defense lawyer Cochran mistakenly credited would-be witness Dr. Kary Mullis with winning the famed award that had previously gone to such glowing world luminaries as Martin Luther King, Jr., President Theodore Roosevelt and Dr. Albert Schweitzer. The lawyer was also wrong about Mullis as a witness. The California based scientist was never called to the stand. (See: Elvis Presley; and Mullis, Dr. Kary.)

NORRIS, CHUCK—Martial arts expert Chuck Norris was reported in the tabloid press to have turned thumbs down on a proposed guest appearance by “Kato” Kaelin on the macho actor’s western series, Walker, Texas Ranger. National Enquirer columnist Mike Walker revealed that Norris told company bigwigs he had no personal beef with Kaelin but refused to capitalize on the murders of two people. (See: Kaelin, Brian “Kato.”)

NORRIS, MICHAEL—A courier who was with a friend at Los Angeles International Airport when they spotted Simpson, and struck up a conversation. Norris testified for the defense that Simpson, who took time to sign an autograph for his companion, didn’t seem especially hurried or preoccupied. (See: Gladden, Michael.)

NORTH CAROLINA STATE COURT OF APPEALS—In a decision announced at the state capitol in Raleigh, the appeals court ruled that a lower court judge erred when he ruled that Laura Hart McKinny was not a material witness in the California murder case. The lower court judge was ordered to issue a summons instructing the woman to testify and to take all tapes, transcripts and documents related to her interview with Fuhrman with her if she was called as a witness. (See: Fuhrman Tapes; McKinny, Laura Hart; and Wood, Judge William.)

NOT GUILTY—Final verdict in the O.J. Simpson trial. The defendant was found not guilty on all counts on Tuesday, October 3, 1995 and released the same day.

NUMBER 1 TARGET—In May a tabloid TV-show broadcast a startling audio tape of Simpson’s interview with homicide investigators on the day after the slayings. “I know I’m the Number 1 target, and now you’re telling me I’ve got blood all over the place,” Simpson was heard to say on the Hard Copy scoop. (See: Hard Copy.)