Ten years ago today, an estimated 150 million people gathered in living rooms, newsrooms, classrooms, storage rooms, department stores, restaurants and wherever they could find a television set to watch the conclusion of a true crime story that had riveted the nation for more than a year.

Myung J. Chun, Associated Press O.J. Simpson, center, reacts as he is found not guilty of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman in Los Angeles on Oct. 3, 1995. To his left is F. Lee Bailey; to his right, Johnnie Cochran Jr. Click photo for larger image. Related article O.J. Simpson trial boasted memorable cast

Americans were spellbound by the case of the People of the State of California vs. Orenthal James Simpson, with its hot button issues of race, fame, wealth and domestic violence. It turned the cast of characters into household names, shaped future media coverage and presented a distorted view of criminal proceedings.

The former NFL star running back, B movie actor and rental car pitchman was on trial for the murder of his former wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, a casual acquaintance. Both were found stabbed to death outside her Los Angeles home.

The not guilty verdict, which prompted outrage from whites and elation from blacks, served as a reminder of the different prisms through which blacks and whites view America and its legal system.

It's a divide that still exists today, as shown by the opinions whites and blacks have expressed about the government's response in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Then-President Clinton said of the divided response to the verdict in an interview with NBC: "I'm concerned about it, and I hope the American people will not let this become some symbol of the larger racial issue in our country."

In a Gallup Poll conducted at the time, 44 percent of whites believed the verdict was wrong while only 10 percent of blacks thought so.

"When whites examine the court system they see fairness; when blacks examine it they see injustice and unfairness," said author and political commentator Earl Ofari Hutchinson.

The view blacks have of the legal system, he said, is that there is a double standard when it comes to who's prosecuted and, once prosecuted, what kind of sentence is handed down.

"Now a lot was made of blacks cheering the acquittal and whites looking grim-faced and sad saying 'how could this happen'," Mr. Hutchinson said. "Blacks were not cheering O.J. What they were cheering was 'we finally won one in an unfair judicial system.' "

Many whites believed that the system had been duped by Simpson's legal "Dream Team" led by the late Johnnie Cochran, said Mary Frances Berry, a professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania and former head of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

"The people that didn't like his acquittal figured here's this rich black man that got off, and Johnnie Cochran somehow manipulated the system to get him off," Ms. Berry said.

A decade later, many say those divergent perceptions of America still exist. "I think the hurricane experience does show us 10 years after O.J. in graphic terms," Ms. Berry said, "how much race plays out as a factor of what happens to people not just in court but in their lives."

Another parallel between the Simpson case and Hurricane Katrina is the constant media coverage.

Dubbed the "perfect storm" of a trial, it ushered in the era of immersion journalism, with entire news programs developed to cover it in non-stop detail, making television stars out of previously unheard-of attorneys such as Greta Van Susteren.

Prosecutor Marcia Clark, although on the losing end, received a huge book deal, as did her co-counsel Christopher Darden. Mr. Cochran and other members of Simpson defense team members also wrote books about the media- smothered proceedings.

"Its lasting impression is simply the overkill on volume of stories and also the huge amount of air time devoted to it," said Margaret Engel, managing editor of the Newseum, the interactive museum of news in the Washington D.C. area. "It kicked off a way of coverage that has become common now."

The public has always had an appetite for compelling stories, especially crime, she said.

From the turn of the century to the 1930s, newspapers devoted tons of space to the exploits of the Capone gang, the Black Dahlia, the Lindbergh kidnapping and the Stanford White trial, to name a few story examples.

"The difference with the O.J. case is there are so many more media outlets," Ms. Engel said. "If there had been 24-hour cable back in the days of Fatty Arbuckle we would have seen the same convergence, where we had compelling, attractive individuals involved in a huge murder mystery."

Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle was a major silent screen star who was tried and later acquitted in the 1920s for the rape and death of a starlet named Virginia Rappe.

What the Simpson case did not do is give an accurate depiction of the average criminal trial, said Bruce A. Antkowiak, an associate professor of law at Duquesne University.

"It was an event unto itself. You do not see criminal trials where there are banks of attorneys and the theater-like atmosphere," Mr. Antkowiak said. "That is not the day-to-day stuff of the criminal practice of law."

While it made for good theater, he said, the case had no impact on the daily legal system.

If any, the most profound effect was on juries. "Their views of the system are changed because they see and they sense firsthand the responsibility they have."

A defense attorney also has a responsibility to put on the best defense for his or her client, Mr. Antkowiak said in response to Mr. Cochran's controversial use of what's now commonly referred to as "the race card."

Mr. Cochran theorized that former L.A. Police Det. Mark Fuhrman, who had expressed disdain for blacks, may have planted evidence in the case. It's a theory that was soundly rejected by some white attorneys who viewed using the issue of race as crossing the line.

Mr. Antkowiak, however, believes the justice system depends upon the integrity of the judge, the competence of the prosecutor, the good-faith effort of the jury and the vigorous efforts of the defense attorney to defend his or her client within the law.

"If it happens to hurt your sensibility or bring down scorn or derision on you, that's the price you pay," Mr. Antkowiak said. "If you shy away from that you should do something else."

In the end, the Simpson case was about the issue of race, which many Americans still want to ignore, Mr. Hutchinson said. Even for those who'd argue that class is more of a factor than race.

"Historically, those that beat the system were wealthy whites," he said.

Still, no one can remember this level of anger over a rich white man being acquitted of a crime.

"In America, race still trumps economics," Mr. Hutchinson said. "Race still trumps, class, celebrity and fame."