Simpson Loses His Appeal of Custody Case

O.J. Simpson lost a state Supreme Court appeal Wednesday in a lawsuit for custody of his two children and faces a new custody trial that would include evidence on whether he killed their mother.

The court in San Francisco unanimously denied review of a lower-court ruling that set aside a judge’s order giving Simpson legal custody of daughter Sydney, 13, and son Justin, 10.

Simpson, reached at home, said he was prepared to face another trial against his ex-wife’s parents, Juditha and Louis Brown of Dana Point, who are challenging Simpson’s right to custody.

“If they want to go back to court, we’ll end up back in court,” he said. “My basic feeling is, I will do everything imaginable. My kids have been through enough. Why would anybody want to do this?”

The children “are doing so well, I’m not going to let anything disturb the positive path they are on,” Simpson said.

Natasha Roit, a lawyer for the Browns, said, “The burden is now on Mr. Simpson. It’s up to him whether or not he decides to have a third homicide trial.”

The children’s desire to stay with their father “should be a consideration” but not the only consideration, she said. “It’s their well-being that’s really at issue.”

Louis Brown, reached Wednesday night at home, would not comment on the court ruling. “At this point we want to keep it low-key for the sake of the kids,” he said.

Marjorie Fuller, a lawyer appointed to represent the children’s interests, said the children “wish everybody would leave them alone. They want to stay with their dad. . . . They want to have an end to trials and lawyers and reporters.”

The former football star has had custody of both children since his release from jail after he was acquitted in 1995 on charges of murdering Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ronald Goldman, who were stabbed to death outside Nicole’s home in June 1994.

A civil jury found him liable for both deaths in 1996 and awarded $33.5 million in damages, a verdict he is appealing.

The Browns, the children’s legal guardians during the criminal trial, appealed an Orange County judge’s order granting Simpson legal custody. The state’s 4th District Court of Appeal ruled in their favor last November and ordered a new custody trial.

The 3-0 ruling rejected Judge Nancy Wieben Stock’s decision to exclude evidence of the murders, evidence that she said would consume too much time and require a pointless rerun of the other trials.

“The question of whether one parent has actually murdered the other is about as relevant as it is possible to imagine” in a custody decision, Presiding Justice David Sills said.

He also said Wieben Stock wrongly required the Browns to prove the children would be harmed by remaining with Simpson. Instead, Simpson must prove that his fitness as a parent justifies ending their guardianship, the court ruled.

The court ordered the case returned to Commissioner Thomas Schulte, who was handling it before the presiding Superior Court judge transferred it to Wieben Stock without explanation. Wieben Stock survived a recall attempt after her ruling.

In an appeal to the state’s high court, Simpson’s lawyer argued that his acquittal made evidence of the murders irrelevant to the case.

“Murder evidence should not be considered in a custody proceeding when the natural parent has been acquitted of the murders and has, at all times, denied his involvement,” attorney Bernard Leckie wrote.

“Simpson has always been a fit parent and has always expressed great love and interest in his children,” who want to stay with him, Leckie said.

He said Simpson’s absence during nearly 16 months of imprisonment should be considered no different from the unavailability of a parent who is seriously ill, then seeks to regain custody after recovering.

Requiring such a parent to prove that another’s guardianship should be ended would set “a dangerous precedent . . . that would unreasonably interfere with the fundamental right of a surviving natural parent to raise his or her own children,” Leckie said.

The case is Simpson vs. Brown, S075400.