Simpson Awarded Custody
SANTA MONICA, Calif. (Dec. 20, Evening) -- O.J. Simpson's children, Sydney and Justin, will be returning to the custody of their father. Judge Nancy Wieben Stock, who presided over the case in Orange County Superior Court decided that the Brown family failed to demonstrate by "clear and convincing evidence" that living with Simpson would be detrimental to the children's well being.
"[T]he children share a relationship with their father that appears to be strong, positive, and healthy with powerful psychological bonding," Judge Wieben Stock wrote. "[P]sychological testing, clinical observations, and a review of Simpson's history does not yield a picture of a man who has in the past, or is likely in the future, to lose control of himself in such a manner as to psychically or emotionally harm his two young children."
Simpson issued a statement saying he was "so very grateful today to have the children home again where they want to be."
Through their attorney Natasha Roit, Louis and Juditha Brown stated that they "love Sydney and Justin and pray for their safety as they return to their father." Roit also said the Browns, the children's maternal grandparents, may appeal the decision, in which they were given visitation rights.
In the ruling, Judge Wieben Stock stated that she did not consider evidence from Simpson's murder trial. The judge also noted that she was asked to postpone the custody case until after the civil trial. But she decided that a delay would in effect turn the custody battle into a third murder case against Simpson. That, the judge noted, would not have been good for the children.
"The court concluded that after 11 months of pretrial delay [in the custody case] and in consideration of the considerable risk to the children of further damaging publicity that would accompany an unprecedented third 'homicide trial' of Mr. Simpson, that terminating the custody case and continuing it indefinitely so that this matter could be retooled into a homicide trial, would be not in the best interests of the children," Judge Wieben Stock wrote.
The judge based her ruling in part on the fact that experts and testimony showed that Sydney and Justin were close to their father, and one of them even asked to live with him.
"As evidence of the children's lack of fear of their father, at least one child has expressed an unequivocal preference to be returned to the immediate custody of the father," the judge wrote. "The other child has declined to state a preference to the court appointed psychologist, but has stated in positive tones the strong bonds the child has with father's neighborhood and friends."
The Browns, according to people familiar with the custody trial, presented mainly a domestic violence case, in an attempt to show that Simpson was not fit to keep Sydney ,11, and Justin, 8. The judge agreed that the Nicole Brown and O.J. Simpson's relationship "reached a fearful crescendo" on Jan 1, 1989. She also found fault with O.J. Simpson's testimony in the custody trial about the incident, in which he pleaded no contest to domestic abuse charges.
"Although Simpson has admitted his fault in the incident resulting in injuries to Nicole, the court does not find his admissions to be entirely revealing," she stated in the opinion.
But Judge Wieben Stock decided that there was little evidence of Simpson battering Nicole after the 1989 New Year's incident.
"[T]he court finds to be true, testimony concerning slapping incidents which occurred on at least three separate occasions in the mid 80s, leading up to the 1989 incident," the judge stated. "Other testimony of sightings of puffiness on Nicole's face or bruises on occasions after 1989 is not sufficiently clear that the court can tie those observations to any domestic violence."
The Orange County Superior Court judge's decision sparked a media frenzy outside the civil trial and overshadowed the Friday afternoon testimony of forensic toxicologist Dr. Frederic Rieders.
As court broke for a two-week holiday recess, Judge Hiroshi Fujisaki, acknowledging that it was possible jurors would hear of the decision, admonished them not to pay any attention to news of the custody ruling.
"Whatever happens in any other case involving Mr. Simpson or his children has nothing to do with this case," Judge Fujisaki said. "Our case is fact specific."
Rieders took the stand despite the fact that the plaintiffs had not finished cross-examining photo expert Robert Groden. The plaintiffs agreed to postpone the rest of their examination to accommodate defense attorney Robert Blasier, who examined Rieders. Blasier is scheduled for back surgery on Christmas eve and is expected to be recuperating when court resumes on Jan. 6, 1997.
Rieders told the jury that blood samples taken from a pair of socks in Simpson's bedroom and from the back gate at Bundy contained EDTA -- a blood preservative. The chemical is often used in blood samples to prevent clotting. The defense contends that police planted blood from Simpson's reference bottle on the socks and back gate.
On cross-examination, plaintiffs' lawyer Thomas Lambert pointed out that Rieders did not conduct any of his own experiments on the blood samples. Lambert said that the FBI agent who did perform the tests will testify later in the case that although he found a small amount of EDTA in the blood, it was likely the result of contamination.
When court resumes in January, the plaintiffs will continue cross-examining Groden. After the photo expert, the defense is expected to call Otis Marlow and Paul Tippin, former LAPD officers who now work as investigators for the plaintiffs.
-Robert Schmidt
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