Custody Battle for Simpson Children Waged Behind Closed Doors

The nearly empty corridor outside Department 605 at the Betty Lou Lamoreaux Justice Center gives no clue that O.J. Simpson is inside, waging yet another legal battle, this time for custody of his children.

Even the public court calendar makes no mention of the case involving Simpson and his in-laws, which entered its fifth day in court Monday.

All parties in the case have agreed not to speak to reporters.

“The privacy of the children has to be respected,” said Marjorie G. Fuller, attorney for the children.

Sydney, 10, and Justin, 8, have been staying with their maternal grandparents, Louis and Juditha Brown of Dana Point, since Simpson’s arrest in the June 1994 slayings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Lyle Goldman.

Since his acquittal in October, Simpson has had weekend visits with the children. Now, he and the Browns both want custody.

Simpson is expected to testify before Commissioner Thomas H. Schulte. Nicole Simpson’s sisters, Denise and Dominique Brown, have been called to court as witnesses. So has Arnelle Simpson, O.J. Simpson’s daughter from a previous marriage.

On Monday, while their attorneys entered the courtroom through the front door, Simpson and the Browns used a back entrance, their comings and goings monitored by about half a dozen TV news camera operators camped on a street corner.

The proceedings in the courtroom, a division of Orange County Superior Court, were so secretive that a lawyer in the case said it is uncertain if Schulte’s ruling would be released.