CRIME WATCH : Forum for Simpson

More than three months after O.J. Simpson was acquitted of double murder, the controversy swirling around the actor and Football Hall of Fame member has not let up.

He has steadfastly maintained that he wants to tell his story. Many, including those skeptical about his innocence, are eager to hear Simpson’s account of the night of the murders. In proposed and then aborted interviews with the NBC and CNN networks, Simpson had tried to control the questions.

On Wednesday evening, a live interview is scheduled to air on Black Entertainment Television, a Washington-based cable network.

While Simpson reportedly will not be paid, he will be able to promote the mail-order video in which he presents his alibi for the murder night, along with other information. BET says there will be no limits on the questions put to him.

As part of the wrongful-death suit filed by the families of murder victims Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, attorneys are taking a deposition from Simpson this week. The stakes are high. His answers to questions over the next few days will eventually be released to the public. They will be compared with explanations by his attorneys and with statements Simpson made on his videotape.

Simpson has the right to do interviews and reporters have the right to seek him out. But the only account of his activities on the night of June 13, 1994, that matters is the one he is giving reluctantly this week--under oath--in a West Los Angeles law office.