Nicole Simpson’s Sister Questions Defense Actions

In a rare courthouse comment about the case against her former brother-in-law, Denise Brown spoke briefly to reporters outside court Wednesday, questioning why defense attorneys are contesting evidence if O.J. Simpson has nothing to hide.

“If O.J. is so innocent, why are (his defense lawyers) trying to suppress all the evidence” against him, she said to some of the journalists who are permanently assigned to the Criminal Courts Building. “It’s just something on my mind, and I wanted to say it.”

Her comments, made to a small group of reporters after she asked to be brought to a courthouse pressroom during a lunch break, were the clearest hint to date that Nicole Brown Simpson’s family may have doubts about O.J. Simpson’s innocence. In previous television interviews, family members have said they will wait for a verdict before passing judgment on O.J. Simpson.

“We’re hoping against hope that he didn’t, and we don’t know,” Nicole Simpson’s father, Louis Brown, said in a televised interview last month. “We have a justice system that’s going to tell us.”

Denise Brown did, however, comment about O.J. Simpson’s proclamation of innocence at his arraignment in July.

“He’s 100% innocent?” she was overheard saying. “Keep the evidence then.”

Her appearance in the pressroom Wednesday took reporters by surprise, as she has previously declined to talk with them. She was wearing a small white button that read: “Remember Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman,” as well as a gold angel that Nicole Simpson’s family members have worn in memory of her.

Brown declined to elaborate on her remarks, and shrugged and walked away when reporters asked her to comment further.

Simpson’s attorneys have argued that none of the evidence they are contesting would show their client’s guilt. But they insist that he not be tried on illegally seized evidence, and they have waged a spirited challenge to a variety of searches.