O.J. Simpson Says Media Convicted Him

MIAMI – O.J. Simpson complained Friday that the media have convinced the public he is guilty of murdering his ex-wife, and he said he hopes the real killer is found so that he can have the pleasure of proving people wrong.

“My prayer is that it will be solved so that I can go to so many people that I felt I had to be nice to,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press marking the 10th anniversary of Nicole Brown Simpson’s slaying. “I’ve always been a gracious winner and loser. Only this time, I don’t think I’d be gracious.”

On June 12, 1994, Simpson’s former wife was slashed to death along with a friend, Ronald Goldman, outside her condominium. The slayings and the subsequent trial riveted the nation’s attention. Simpson was ultimately acquitted. Many believe he got away with murder.

In a wide-ranging interview that lasted nearly three hours, Simpson said he blames the media “for convincing the American public I was guilty.” He said he sees the same thing happening with some of today’s high-profile criminal cases.

“You can’t watch the media now and not think that Michael Jackson, Scott Peterson and Kobe Bryant are guilty,” the former football star said.

Simpson said coverage is particularly slanted against black defendants: “It’s much easier to prosecute a black man.”

Simpson said he has given up his much-publicized pledge to search for the “real killer” because of the demands of raising two teenage children and paying for their education.

“I no longer have the money to pay to follow up these leads,” he said.

Former prosecutors, however, maintain that the real killer was caught.

William Hodgman, one of the trial prosecutors, said it still pains him to think of the day the verdict came in.

“I thought there was compelling evidence that Simpson was guilty,” he said. “I thought this case was a tragic injustice and the jury verdicts were wrong.”

Simpson said he has never discussed the bloody slayings with his two children, Sydney, 18, and Justin, 15, because they never asked about it.

“It never comes up with us,” he said. “In the beginning, I wanted to sit down and talk to them about it. But the child psychologist said to me, ‘Kids live for the future. They move on. One day in the future, they may want to talk about it, and you should be ready.’”

He said the focus in the Simpson household is on remembering what he said were the happy times with his ex-wife, not her death. He said he recently took the children out to dinner, and they toasted what would have been her 45th birthday.

“My kids are well aware of what was going on during the trial,” he said.

His daughter is planning to attend a private university in the Northeast next fall, while his son attends a private high school in Miami. Both children spend time each summer in California with Nicole Simpson’s parents.

In discussing the murders, Simpson said, “I wasn’t there. I can’t add anything.”

Simpson, 56, his hair graying and looking a bit heavier than he did during the trial, said he often wonders how his relationship with Nicole would have turned out had she not been murdered.

“The last time I told her it wasn’t working, we ended up making love,” he said. “There’s no doubt that Nicole and I loved each other.”

Nicole Simpson’s sister, Denise Brown, said she still believes Simpson is the killer, calling his acquittal “a total injustice.”

“I’m not angry because I can’t do anything about it,” she told The Associated Press before the interview with Simpson. “You can’t go back and retry the person.”

Of Simpson, she said, “He’s evil. I think he’s the devil walking around on Earth.”

The Goldmans and Browns sued Simpson in civil court and won judgments of $33.5 million in 1997 under a different standard of proof.

Simpson has not paid the judgment and lives in Florida, where his pension cannot be touched.

Simpson said he has become fascinated with the cases against Bryant and Jackson. Jackson provided a refuge to him and his children after his 1995 acquittal by inviting them to his Neverland ranch, Simpson said.

He said he continues to support Jackson, who is awaiting trial on child molestation charges.

“I saw Michael as asexual,” Simpson said. “I know he loved kids, and after my trial the only place we could feel free for my kids to go with their friends was Neverland. He would have it open for us with cotton candy, popcorn, ice cream, everything.”

During the interview, Simpson grew wistful only when he spoke about his dead wife.

“She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen,” he recalled of the day he first saw the then 18-year-old Nicole Brown coming out of a Hollywood night spot “with some of Dodi Fayed’s people,” referring to the playboy who died with Princess Diana.

“I remember saying to the guy with me, ‘That girl there, I can’t look at no other girl in this place. No other girl is going to look that good.’”

A few days after they met, he said, they began living together even though he was still married to his first wife, Marguerite.

Last February, he said, he reminded the children that it would have been his 19th wedding anniversary with Nicole.

“Sometimes I think that instead of putting off the move to Florida I should have grabbed Nicole and the kids and changed our environment. I wonder how things would have turned out,” he said.

He remains convinced that his ex-wife fell in with bad company after they divorced and that her death resulted from those connections, possibly involving drugs.

“A month before she died, I had an argument with her about those people” he said. “Something was out of control here.”

Simpson continues to be dismayed about public opinion 10 years after his case.

“I regret the death of Nicole,” he said. “But from June 12, from the moment I was awakened that day (in Chicago), I did everything I could do. I flew right home. I offered to talk to police. I offered to take a lie-detector test.”

And in the end he was acquitted.

“Everyone tries to find a reason for that: the evidence, the jury,” he said, adding they ignore what he said is the real reason.

“I was innocent,” he said.