‘I’ve Lost My Life,’ Says Simpson

In an infomercial being distributed this week for $29.95, O.J. Simpson contends that he is the “most investigated man in history” and has lost more than the families of the two people he was accused of murdering.

After expressing compassion for the families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Lyle Goldman, Simpson declares in the video:

“I lost more than you did. I lost a person that I loved. I’ve lost my life. And I’ve lost my ability . . . to provide for the people around me.”

Daniel M. Petrocelli, attorney for Fred Goldman, whose son was slain, expressed outrage at the remarks.

“Mr. Simpson is the last person on Earth to know how Fred Goldman feels about the loss of his son Ron,” Petrocelli said. “What rings true from Mr. Simpson’s words is his loss of money and economic opportunity, not the loss of life.”

Informed of Simpson’s references to the Brown family, Lou Brown, Nicole Simpson’s father, declined to comment.

In the 90-minute taped interview and an accompanying walk-through of his Brentwood estate, Simpson for the first time addresses some of the physical evidence in the case, but said he could not explain why some of it appeared to point to his guilt.

“I believe in DNA,” Simpson says, noting that the sophisticated blood analysis technique had freed many innocent people. But he added: “DNA is only as good as the people who are processing it.”

As for the blood at the murder scene and in his Ford Bronco, Simpson said he does not believe it was his blood. However, he says he had been at his ex-wife’s condominium about a week earlier and there had been dogs fighting, suggesting that he might have cut himself at that time.

When Simpson gave his initial statement to the police on June 13, 1994, he made no mention of dogs fighting when he was last at the condominium. He told the officers that he had last been there “a week, maybe five days” before the murders.

At the time, Simpson was responding to a question from detectives about whether he had a cut on his left hand the last time he had been at the condominium. Simpson said “no,” but that he possibly had cut his finger when rushing to leave his house for the airport the night before.

During Simpson’s criminal trial, both DNA and conventional blood evidence was introduced showing that five drops leading away from the bloody bodies of the murder victims contained characteristics matching some of those in Simpson’s blood. Prosecution witness Robin Cotton testified that the most sophisticated DNA testing, known as RFLP, found that only one in 170 million people could be expected to have the genetic markers found in one of those drops. Simpson’s blood was consistent with that drop, she said.

Testimony also was introduced that the five drops leading away from the bodies were found to the left side of bloody Size 12 shoeprints that an expert witness for the prosecution said had come from a pair of expensive Bruno Magli shoes.

In the infomercial, Simpson tells paid interviewer Ross Becker that he did not recall ever owning Bruno Maglis. And in any case, Simpson says, “I would have never worn those ugly shoes.”

Addressing another lingering mystery of the case, Simpson says he could not account for leather gloves he was pictured wearing in photos and during videotapes of him as a network commentator on National Football League games.

But he says this was not unusual because he gives away many of his clothes and routinely misplaces gloves: “I’m with gloves the way I am with sunglasses--I lose them.”

Simpson also says he did not recall his ex-wife ever buying him a pair of gloves. Asked about two pairs of similar gloves that his wife had bought in New York, Simpson responds that she might have purchased them as a gift for one of their friends.

Prosecutors suggested during the criminal trial that the gloves Simpson wore during the NFL games were the same brand as a glove found at the murder scene and as its mate, recovered at Simpson’s Brentwood estate.

Former LAPD Det. Mark Fuhrman planted one of the gloves at his house just hours after the murders, Simpson says on the tape. “I’m totally 100% convinced that he did,” Simpson says.

Asked why Fuhrman would have done this, Simpson responds: “Why would he want to get any black man or Mexican American?” He referred to racial animus Fuhrman expressed in tape-recorded interviews with a screenwriter that came to light during the trial.

Simpson also takes aim at another provocative aspect of the prosecution’s case--its suggestion that he did not behave like a grieving loved one when notified of his wife’s death. Ronald Phillips, one of the first detectives on the scene, called Simpson to notify him of the death and later testified that Simpson never asked him how his ex-wife had died.

Simpson, however, says Phillips told him his wife had been a homicide victim.

“ ‘Murdered’ was the word he used,” Simpson says. But a few moments later on the tape, Simpson backtracks a little: “He might have said Nicole was killed.”

Simpson says he tried to get answers from police, but they said little was known at the time.

Among the most striking portions of the interview are the former football star’s vehement comments about Fred Goldman and Simpson’s ex-sister-in-law, Denise Brown. At one point in the taped interview, Simpson expresses a desire to talk with Goldman and prosecutor Marcia Clark. But then he says “they’re too busy making money” from the case. He then says only he and California taxpayers have lost money because of the murders--a reference to his reputed $5 million in legal bills and the $9-million cost of his trial.

Goldman has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Simpson that could result in a substantial monetary damage award against Simpson. But Goldman always has maintained that getting a judgment that Simpson was responsible for his son’s death--not the money--is his motivation for pursuing the case. Simpson’s deposition in the lawsuit is scheduled to resume Thursday.

Petrocelli angrily denounced Simpson’s assertion that Goldman was seeking to profit from the case.

“Fred Goldman hasn’t made a cent, and he has resisted the opportunity to make substantial sums of money,” Petrocelli said. “And [Simpson] says this while he’s peddling for profit a video based on the gruesome murder of the mother of his children.”

Indeed, when asked by Becker if he hopes to make money off the video, Simpson responds, “Yes,” but quickly adds that his goal is simply to “replenish” all his legal expenses.

At first, Simpson appears reluctant to criticize Denise Brown, who has said she is convinced Simpson murdered her sister.

“I’m in a funny place with Denise,” Simpson says, referring to her role as one of the caretakers of his minor children, Sydney and Justin.

For much of the interview, Simpson reiterates comments he made in a deposition in the civil case and in interviews he has given to several news organizations, including The Times. These include his assertion that the murders were linked to Faye Resnick’s drug problems, but he offers no substantiation on this point.

Simpson also levels criticism at Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti, claimed that LAPD Det. Philip Vannatter and rookie LAPD criminalist Andrea Mazzola mishandled blood evidence and says limousine Allan Park was well-intentioned but inaccurate about details of what he saw the night of the murders.

For the most part, Simpson does not raise racial issues with respect to the case and responds testily to a question suggesting that some people believe the not guilty verdicts were racially motivated by a jury which included nine African Americans. “You see black [jurors] putting black people in jail daily” all over the country, he says.

He also says it was hypocritical for white people to criticize the jurors for rendering such a rapid decision, because polls showed that “80 to 90% of white America already had convicted me,” based on polls taken in August 1994 before a jury was even picked. In fact, polls released at the end of July 1994 showed that 42% of whites believed Simpson was guilty, compared with 15% of blacks.

On several occasions, Simpson proclaims his innocence, but acknowledges that he does not expect to change many minds with the video:

“I swear to God I did not commit these crimes. I ask you, members of the community--I don’t think I’m going to change any of your guys’ minds with this tape--I just want you to listen to the the facts.”