Simpson Wins Custody of His Son, Daughter

O.J. Simpson was awarded full custody of his two children from his marriage to Nicole Brown Simpson on Friday, ending a bitter legal battle with his former in-laws, Louis and Juditha Brown.

The judge’s decision to send Sydney, 11, and Justin, 8, to their father’s Brentwood home had been expected in legal circles because the law generally favors parents in such disputes. The judge granted the Browns some visitation rights, to be worked out later.

Simpson, the Browns and their attorneys had spent an anxious day awaiting the news and did not learn of the ruling until shortly before it was made public at 4 p.m.

Simpson, who waited at home in Brentwood, issued the following statement: “We are all so very grateful to have the children home again where they want to be.

“We would like to thank Lou and Juditha Brown for doing the best they could during a very difficult time and fully expect them to continue as active grandparents.”

Simpson said that would be “the first and final statement” regarding his two youngest children and asked that they be granted privacy to live as normal a life as possible.

In a statement read to reporters on behalf of the Browns, attorney Natasha Roit said: “We love Sydney and Justin and pray for their safety and well-being as they return to their father.”

Roit said she requested a Jan. 10 hearing before Orange County Superior Court Judge Nancy Wieben Stock Wieben Stock to stay the ruling until the Browns decide whether to appeal.

A close friend and neighbor said Juditha Brown responded with measured calm to the news that her grandchildren would be returned to their father.

“She’s not bitter, but she’s crushed on so many levels,” said Judie Manto of Monarch Beach.

Brown expects to keep her grandchildren at the family’s Dana Point home through Christmas Eve, Manto said.

During an emotional appearance Friday night on CNN’s “Larry King Live,” the Browns’ daughter Denise said that Sydney and Justin had been told tearfully by their grandmother of the court’s decision.

“It’s not going to be OK for these children,” Denise Brown said.

In an interview with the Associated Press at his Brentwood estate Friday evening, Simpson described his mood as “joyous,” adding: “I know 100% that Nicole wanted the children to be with me. . . . They love their grandparents, but they want to stay with me. I have two other kids and they all love each other.” He said the children were with friends of the Browns for the night.

In an 11-page opinion, Wieben Stock described the children’s affection for their father, writing that one of the children had stated a desire to live with Simpson and the other did not state a preference.

The Browns were granted temporary legal custody of the children shortly after Simpson’s June 1994 arrest in the murders of their mother and her friend Ronald Lyle Goldman.

Simpson was acquitted of those charges in October 1995 and soon after sought to regain custody of the children. But the Browns refused, leading to an emotional legal battle that played out behind closed doors in Family Court in Orange.

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The custody decision comes as Simpson is embroiled in a wrongful-death lawsuit in Santa Monica. In that case, Nicole Brown Simpson’s estate and Goldman’s family are suing the former football star, alleging that he was responsible for the death of his ex-wife and Goldman.

Simpson had been expected to take the stand in that case Friday but did not appear because of the pending custody decision.

As jurors in the civil trial were released for their two-week Christmas break, Superior Court Judge Hiroshi Fujisaki warned them not to be influenced by the outcome of the custody case.

“You are instructed that whatever happens in any other case involving Mr. Simpson or the children has nothing to do with this case,” he said. “You must not be influenced by whatever anybody says or whatever anybody does with regard to any other proceeding.”

The four-week custody trial was closed to the public, and all courtroom participants were silenced by a gag order imposed by the judge.

During the trial, attorneys for the Browns, Roit and Eric L. Lagin, focused on allegations of domestic abuse involving Simpson and his ex-wife. Citing experts, Roit said during closing arguments that witnessing domestic abuse or its results is harmful for children.

But the judge wrote in her opinion that the attorneys for the Browns had “failed to demonstrate clear and convincing evidence” that giving custody to their father would be harmful to the children.

The judge cited an “intact stable, bonded, healthy relationship between the minors and their grandparents” when ordering visitation.

For the duration of the case, Simpson and the Browns politely ignored all questions as they passed through hordes of reporters and photographers each day on their way to and from the Betty Lou Lamoreaux Justice Center in Orange. Simpson often took the time to sign autographs.

The children were never seen at court and never testified, according to sources close to the case.

Legal experts and veterans of custody fights said that years of experience have shown that in matters of family law, judges have wide discretion in determining what is in the best interests of children. In California, however, custody laws generally favor parents.

Legal guardians such as grandparents must show more than that they would simply provide a better and more loving home than a parent would, said Sue Weiss, a Santa Monica lawyer and custody expert. They must show that returning children to their parent would cause real harm.

“Proving that detriment is a heavy burden,” said Joan Hollinger, a family law authority and visiting professor at Boalt Hall, UC Berkeley’s law school.

Family law experts said that in any event, Wieben Stock’s decision is not permanently binding. The Browns can come forward at any time to present new evidence that they believe proves that the children will suffer in Simpson’s care.

That burden might be met if the Santa Monica jury holds Simpson liable in the death of his ex-wife and Goldman, legal experts said.

Several legal analysts said that the timing of Friday’s decision puzzled them and said the judge could have benefited by waiting for the jury verdict in Simpson’s wrongful death trial in Santa Monica.

By moving ahead, Wieben Stock could be in the position of having given custody to Simpson just weeks before he is found culpable in the death of the children’s mother, just outside the room where they slept.

“I certainly wonder what the advantage is in making a decision right now,” said a Los Angeles Superior Court judge who handles custody cases. “If you get back to what is in the best interests of the children, there doesn’t seem to be any need for a speedy decision, especially if there is already an order in place to give O.J. visitation now.”

Times staff writers Ann Conway, Davan Maharaj, Richard Simon, Stephanie Simon and James Rainey contributed to this story.