Simpson Denies Court Intern’s Claim That He Harassed Her

O.J. Simpson on Tuesday denied an accusation that he sexually harassed an 18-year-old court intern, but the judge presiding over his civil trial delayed the day’s testimony for more than an hour to hold a closed-door conference on the matter.

Attorneys emerging from the secret meeting would not divulge details, but confirmed that Superior Court Judge Hiroshi Fujisaki wanted to discuss the court intern’s accusations. Simpson, meanwhile, ignored his lawyers’ advice to keep quiet and instead talked freely--and indignantly--about the accusation.

“If I’d done anything around here, it would be impossible for you guys not to see it,” Simpson told a knot of reporters gathered around him at the courtroom door. USA Today reported on Tuesday that Simpson had made a suggestive gesture toward the intern during a court session, invited her to a Halloween party, and had made a crude comment about her in public. None of the other journalists covering the civil trial, however, saw any of the incidents. “Give me a break,” Simpson said. “How could I do anything around here without you all seeing it?”

Before one of his attorneys muscled through the crowd and physically pushed him away from the reporters, Simpson went on to call the intern a liar and scoffed at her accounts of harassment as “absolutely wrong.”

Even as his attorney was dragging him into court, all the while admonishing him not to talk to the press, Simpson kept up a steady commentary. He would never have asked the intern to his Halloween party, as she asserted, since he did not throw a Halloween party and in fact spent the holiday on a date with someone else, he said. “I don’t even know her,” Simpson said, shaking his head over the intern’s allegations, “so how could I like her?”

When Fujisaki finally emerged from his chambers just before 10 a.m., he did not mention the issue. And he gave jurors no explanation for the long delay--just a sigh and the cryptic comment, “We’ve had one of those mornings.”

For Simpson, it may well have been one of those weeks.

First, he got in a much-publicized tiff with Fred Goldman, father of Ronald L. Goldman, whom Simpson is accused of killing, exchanging harsh words after court last Thursday. Then, on Monday night, the tabloid television show “American Journal” aired a home video purporting to show Simpson boasting about raping his ex-wife Nicole before their marriage. Next came the harassment allegations from the court intern. Meanwhile, an appeals court refused to give Simpson’s lawyers more leeway in pressing their attack against the Los Angeles Police Department.

And to cap it off, Simpson may be forced to miss the next two to three weeks of his civil trial because he is fighting for custody of his children in a separate proceeding that starts Nov. 12 in Orange County.

Analysts said Simpson should not worry too much about his upcoming absence from the civil trial. When defendants are unavailable because of medical problems or scheduling conflicts, the judge will usually explain the circumstances to jurors. “Juries don’t hold that against you,” civil litigator Brian Lysaght said.

The alleged harassment and the rape comment, however, could have more serious repercussions.

Jurors in the civil trial are not sequestered. They are supposed to avoid reading, hearing or watching any coverage of the Simpson case, but analysts predicted that some news, including sensational allegations, will inevitably leak into their consciousness and could taint their image of the defendant.

“Here we have [jurors] who are essentially out on their own recognizance. They’re told, ‘It’s 4:30 p.m., go home and don’t watch television,’ ” said civil litigator Gary Ottoson. “How much can we ask of people? . . . While I’m a great believer in the jury system, I believe we’re pushing the envelope as far as it can be pushed, and perhaps further, by the constant media pounding.”

More confident in the jurors, Lysaght predicted that even those who heard the most potentially damaging gossip would be able to set it aside and judge the case based on the evidence presented in court. “I think they will regard this as superficial and tangential to their main job,” he said.

Nonetheless, Lysaght saw another potential danger for Simpson in the tumult of the past few days.

Simpson’s insistence on talking to reporters, even as his own lawyers were shouting at him to shut up, demonstrates his determination to say his piece and take charge of his defense, Lysaght said. And that trait could make his crucial testimony at the trial unpredictable, at the very least.

“O.J. will not be as controlled a witness as some others, no doubt about it,” Lysaght said. “Is that good or bad? That really depends on his ability to connect favorably with the jury. The jurors may think that it’s real and authentic, or Simpson may reveal a side of himself that’s incredibly negative.”

Simpson has shown the same stubborn drive to get out his side of the story throughout the case--starting the day after Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were murdered, when he waved off his attorney and talked to police alone. During his pretrial deposition, he answered a string of questions against his lawyers’ advice.

All these incidents, including Tuesday’s impromptu new conference, indicate that Simpson is extremely self-confident in his ability to get across his views, said civil litigator Steven G. Madison, who has been monitoring the trial. “Because of his background and ability as an actor and broadcaster,” Madison said that Simpson seems to have the attitude that he can talk over his attorney’s objections “and get away with it.”