It’s Simpson III: Custody Case to Open in Orange

The O.J. Simpson criminal trial is history. The Simpson civil trial is proceeding in Santa Monica. Now the Simpson custody trial is about to begin.

Hearings will begin Tuesday in family court in Orange to determine whether Sydney, 11, and Justin, 8, Simpson’s two children from his marriage to Nicole Brown Simpson, should go to live with their father in Brentwood or continue living with grandparents Louis and Juditha Brown in Dana Point.

The children have been living with the Browns since 1994, when the former football star was arrested on suspicion of killing his ex-wife and her friend, Ronald Lyle Goldman. In the Los Angeles criminal trial, Simpson was acquitted of the murder charges in October 1995.

Simpson has since asked to retain custody of the children, but the Browns have refused, sparking more than three months of pretrial hearings in two Orange County courthouses.

As the two sides prepare for trial, family law attorneys say the law favors Simpson, the father. But the Browns have a longshot chance of maintaining custody if they can prove that the children would be harmed by moving to Brentwood.

“The Browns might argue that Simpson’s off playing golf; he’s off on personal appearance trips--the idea that the children’s best interest is with a couple that’s there every day,” said Los Angeles family law attorney Sorrell Trope. But he added: “I don’t know that they can show he does all of these things.”

Also, the Browns reportedly are hoping that the current wrongful-death civil trial in Santa Monica ends before the custody issue is decided, for if Simpson is found liable in the civil trial, it could be argued that he is an unfit parent.

The custody hearings have been closed under order of family court Commissioner Thomas H. Schulte. Further, there is a gag order on all parties in the case, extending to anyone who walks through the courtroom doors.

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Sources said that the Browns will try to establish a pattern of past wrongdoing by Simpson, such as domestic violence against his former wife, to show that he should not have custody of the children. In turn, the Browns will try to establish that they can provide a good homestead.

“Look at the Browns,” one source said. “[The children] have a solid home with their grandparents, cousins and aunts, and they’re at a school they’ve known for two years.

“With their dad, they’re with a man who has been vilified; he can’t go out in public and has to stay in his compound.”

Citing the gag order, Simpson’s custody attorney, Irvine-based Bernard A. Leckie, declined comment. But Trope said Simpson need not look far for his courtroom argument.

“The argument is something inherent in the law,” Trope said. “That it is in the best interest of the child to have maximum exposure to the natural parent.”

One source said Simpson already has given an indication as to what he will say.

“He’s a great dad. He’s got a great home environment,” the source said. “Even after the divorce [with Nicole], he saw the kids when he wanted to. There was a lot of cooperation between the two.

“She [Nicole] never thought he was bad for the kids,” the source added. “If that’s true, that’s pretty powerful evidence.”

In addition to attorneys for Simpson and the Browns, a court-appointed attorney, Fullerton-based Marjorie G. Fuller, will be in the courtroom to represent the children.

Citing the gag order, Fuller would not say whether she has determined if the children should live with Simpson or the Browns.

Although the case started out with Commissioner Schulte, it was transferred to Superior Court Judge Nancy Wieben Stock in Fullerton last month. Court officials would not comment on the reason for the transfer. Stock will hear the case back in family court at the Betty Lou Lamoreaux Justice Center in Orange.

Speaking through a court bailiff, Wieben Stock said she did not know whether her final decision would be made public. No jury is involved; the decision is left to the judge.

Despite the gag orders and closed hearings, some stories have trickled out.

More than one month after the Aug. 5 pretrial hearings began, Schulte scuttled a hearing to determine temporary custody of the children, allowing them to remain with their grandparents in Dana Point at least until the trial.

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Just two weeks later, Eleanor A. Stegmeier and Saul Gelbart excused themselves as the attorneys of record for the Browns citing money and other issues.

A week later, Natasha Roit, an attorney working on the wrongful-death civil case against Simpson, took the Browns’ case.

The children themselves were never seen at court.

While the legal proceedings go on, Sydney and Justin are students at a private school in Laguna Beach where, according to the headmistress, they are doing well.

Sydney sometimes helps serve school lunches and tutor classmates with reading assignments, according to Anneliese Schimmelpfennig, who runs the school. Justin is a sharp soccer player who always has a smile on his face, she added.

Schimmelpfennig said she has never asked the children if they prefer to stay with their grandparents, but indicated that they are happy where they are.

“They love to be with the grandmother--they have expressed that,” she said. “They say they wish [their] life would be here--where they have their friends established.”