Simpson Testifies in Custody Case

After cheerfully signing autographs for admirers and ignoring shouts from hecklers, an upbeat O.J. Simpson took the witness stand in Family Court on Tuesday in his battle to regain custody of his two children.

A gag order prevented attorneys and others from disclosing what was said during the opening day of a trial pitting the former football star against Louis and Juditha Brown, the parents of Simpson’s former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, whom he was acquitted last year of killing.

But outside the courtroom, Simpson looked like a man without a care in the world, calmly smiling amid throngs of reporters and showing a flash of football form by quickly cutting to the right to escape the media mob while on his way to lunch.

One autograph seeker was Anaheim resident Dawn Bradford, 48, who waited until a morning break for Simpson to wander into the first-floor lobby. Handing Simpson the only piece of paper she had--a legal document for her son who is on probation--she got what she came for.

“He was a good football hero,” Bradford said later. “He seemed like a nice guy. He seemed down to earth.”

Bradford said she plans to frame the autograph, which read “Peace to You.”

Paul Gonzalez, a 28-year-old nursing student, had Simpson autograph a school textbook.

“I think he should get his kids back,” said Gonzalez, a resident of Santa Ana. “I think a parent should have his kid.”

Simpson continued to sign autographs as he left the courthouse at the end of the day amid the shouts of protest from Anaheim resident Geneveve Muro.

“I’m a Nicole survivor!” she said. “Look at me, I’m not dead!”

Muro, 39, said she just happened to be at the courthouse to file divorce papers against her second husband when she learned Simpson was inside. She said she had been beaten and threatened by her first husband in the mid-1970s.

“I was the same way as [Nicole],” Muro said. “I don’t think he should have his kids.”

Simpson was the first witness to testify Tuesday, sources said. He is expected to testify again today and possibly Thursday.

Attorneys for the Browns, who live in Dana Point, hope to show Simpson as an unfit parent by bringing up, among other things, past instances of domestic violence. A source said Tuesday that Simpson will be confronted with a well-publicized 911 tape in which the football hall of famer screams at Nicole Brown Simpson.

Simpson was charged with murdering Nicole and her friend Ronald Lyle Goldman in 1994, but was acquitted in October 1995. When Simpson faced those charges, his two children, Sydney, 11, and Justin, 8, went to live with the Browns, their maternal grandparents, in Dana Point.

Simpson has asked to regain custody of the children but the Browns have refused, sparking the legal battle. He’s also been in court in Santa Monica on a wrongful death civil lawsuit.

Although he is fighting two cases, Simpson appeared cheerful, even commenting about his golf game to reporters at one point during a short break.

In the custody case, the law favors Simpson over the Browns because he is the natural father, according to family law attorneys. But the Browns have a longshot chance of maintaining custody if they can show that the children would be harmed by moving to Brentwood with their father.

Simpson, the Browns and others involved in the case were forced to use the public entrance of the Betty Lou Lamoreaux Justice Center. During previous pretrial proceedings, they used a side entrance to the courthouse. Attorneys said the court decided not to spend the time and money to secure a private entrance.

This time, admirers, hecklers and the media surrounded the adversaries during the long walk from the courthouse to a parking structure.

All remained tight-lipped, citing the court’s gag order, but Simpson still found time to sign about a dozen autographs.

While some onlookers said they showed up to get a glimpse of Simpson, others said they were there to settle their own problems and resented the attention the Simpson matter received.

“We’re too busy to notice all this hoopla,” said 56-year-old Sherry Veal of Laguna Hills. “We’re just every-day people here with our own problems.”

This was not lost on Juditha Brown, who during a morning break looked up at the multistory courthouse and remarked, “There’s so much tragedy here. But, we’ll all be OK.”