Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 4, 1995 TAG: 9510040066
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DEBORAH HASTINGS ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium
No longer charged with murder, no longer locked behind bars, O.J. Simpson now steps forward to reclaim his life, his children and his livelihood.
None of it will be easy.
His acquittal notwithstanding, Simpson's legal battles are far from over. He still faces three civil lawsuits, with no trial dates in sight, over the deaths of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.
Legal custody of his youngest children, Sydney, 9, and Justin, 7, rests with his former in-laws, Louis and Juditha Brown.
And his career as Mr. Nice Guy, the smiling, effusive NBC sports commentator and the sprinting Hertz Corp. spokesman, is gone, at least for now.
``Hertz concluded its relationship with O.J. Simpson in 1994, and we do not foresee any change in that,'' company spokesman Joe Russo said Tuesday.
Simpson last worked for NBC in January 1994, and the network would not comment on whether he ever would again.
Al Ries, a New York marketing consultant, said of Simpson's advertising career: ``Unlike baseball, where you have three strikes before you are out, on Madison Avenue, you have one strike and you are out.''
But on the avenue of free enterprise, Simpson is doing just fine.
He has written one book, ``I Want To Tell You,'' and is said to be working on another. His first, for which he was given a $1 million advance by publishers Little, Brown & Co., immediately topped The New York Times best-seller list and has earned him at least $3 million more.
In an upcoming Money magazine article, Simpson's post-trial earning power is estimated at $10 million, including $2 million from a pay-per-view TV interview in which he would field questions from across the country.
Behind bars, Simpson also signed 2,500 trading cards, for which he was paid $200,000, and authorized the sale of 21-inch bronze statues in his likeness, for which he received $50,000 up front, according to Money.
How much of that will be eaten by legal costs is hard to tell. Simpson's criminal lawyers, more than 12, have been on the payroll up to 16 months at undisclosed rates.
Add to that the costs of civil attorneys to battle wrongful death lawsuits. Though acquitted, Simpson can still be sued because the burden of proof is lighter in civil cases. In such matters, verdicts are based on a preponderance of evidence, rather than the ``moral certainty beyond a reasonable doubt'' necessary for criminal conviction.
Goldman's father and sister, Fred and Kim Goldman, claimed in their lawsuit that Simpson acted with ``vicious and outrageous savagery'' in killing the 25-year-old Goldman, and Goldman's mother, Sharon Rufo, has filed a separate suit.
The Browns' civil claim alleges Simpson ``brutally and with malice aforethought stalked, attacked and repeatedly stabbed and beat'' his 35-year-old ex-wife.
O.J. Simpson signed the legal papers giving the Browns custody of the children, with the following stipulation: ``Simpson is entitled to seek termination of this guardianship and resumption of his status as a parent having legal and physical custody, upon his release from incarceration.''
According to Simpson, those children are now his No. 1 priority.
Asked what the Browns will do now, family lawyer Gloria Allred replied: ``We'll have to see what Mr. Simpson decides to do. The Browns will always act in the best interest of the children.''
by CNB