Simpson Civil Trial Delayed to Sept. 9

The trial of the wrongful-deaths suits filed against O.J. Simpson was pushed back five months Thursday when Santa Monica Superior Court Judge David D. Perez ordered that proceedings begin at 8:30 a.m. Sept. 9.

In a brief hearing, both sides told Perez that they would not be ready to try the case April 2, as previously scheduled. Lawyers for the families and estates of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Lyle Goldman sought a trial date in mid-July instead. But Robert C. Baker, Simpson’s lead counsel, said previously scheduled trials in other cases would make him unavailable until fall.

Baker also told the judge that he had been informed Thursday morning that his co-counsel, F. Lee Bailey, “may not be available for some time.” Earlier in the day, a federal judge in Florida had ordered the famed attorney to begin serving a six-month jail sentence for contempt of court. Bailey has been unable to comply with the judge’s order that he turn over millions of dollars in cash and stocks that federal prosecutors say he took without permission from the assets of a former client, Claude Duboc, a confessed drug smuggler.

When Baker mentioned Bailey’s difficulties, Perez quipped, “He may cough it up, though. You never know.”

The remark drew smiles from the attorneys on both sides and quiet chuckles from courtroom spectators.

Perez then set the September trial date, which under California law means that the already lengthy process of gathering pretrial discovery and taking depositions may continue until Aug. 9.

The judge said the suits’ next scheduled hearing would be a status conference Aug. 13. He left unresolved the question of which judge will preside over the trial. Lawyers said they do not expect a decision until shortly before jury selection.

The opposing lawyers disagreed in their estimates of how long that process and the trial itself may take: Daniel M. Petrocelli, lead attorney for the plaintiffs, told the judge that he thought that the proceedings would last seven weeks--six weeks for the trial and one for jury selection. Baker said his estimate was five months.

Fred Goldman, Ronald’s father, seemed surprised by the delay and was visibly upset as he conferred with his lawyers at some length in the nearly deserted courtroom after the proceedings.

Later, in a news conference on the courthouse lawn, he told reporters: “I am disappointed that it has been moved back five months. My family, and I’m sure the Brown family, would like to get this as much behind us as we can. This just makes for additional pain.”

In a separate interview, Petrocelli confirmed that the plaintiffs have subpoenaed Lawrence Schiller, who collaborated with Simpson on his book, “I Want to Tell You.” The lawyer said he and his colleagues still were attempting to serve a subpoena on professional football star Marcus Allen. According to sources close to the case, the attorneys believe that Nicole Brown Simpson’s relationship with Allen may have played a part in the events leading to her murder.

During the news conference, Fred Goldman renewed his war of words with Simpson, who in a radio interview Thursday morning said, “I know [Goldman] feels the same way I do about the murders.” When Goldman was asked to respond to those comments, he said, “My answer is b---s---. He’s got a lot of nerve saying we feel the same. He didn’t lose a son.”

Simpson’s remarks--his first in public since Feb. 6--came in an unscheduled early morning call to radio station KJLH-FM during which he not only questioned Goldman’s motives for bringing the lawsuit, but also lashed out at Faye Resnick and Brian “Kato” Kaelin over their testimony in pretrial depositions.

The ex-football star called Resnick a “flat-out liar” and said “no lawyer in their right mind would call” her as a witness. He previously has alleged that the murders were linked in some fashion to Resnick’s admitted cocaine addiction.

Simpson described Kaelin as “a person who you would say is an accommodating person, and he admitted that he’s not really all that clear on when he heard all that.” Simpson was alluding to Kaelin’s sworn testimony that Nicole Brown once told him that she expected her ex-husband to kill her and escape punishment.

Times staff writer Henry Weinstein contributed to this story.