The dude absolutely did it, and my sympathies are with his family.
I'm probably one of the few here who's old enough to remember when he wasn't public enemy #1. He was beloved by pretty much everyone. Appeared in Naked Gun, commercials, and worked for ABC and later NBC Sports until June 1994.
I watched the verdict with my middle school class in the library, and we all erupted in jubilation, because all we thought in our young minds was that a well known black athlete was wronged by the system. He would've passed in prison if not for the LAPD being the bigoted shyts that they are.