Simpson, Resnick trade charges in double murders

O.J. makes surprise call to CNN show

February 5, 1996
Web posted at: 7:00 p.m. EST

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- O.J. Simpson asserted Monday that the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman had something to do with Nicole's friend Faye Resnick, who he described as a drug user. (349K AIFF sound or 349K WAV sound)

"I have no doubt whatsoever that the answer to these murders is in the world of Faye Resnick," Simpson said during a live one-hour telephone interview on the CNN legal program "Burden of Proof." (102K AIFF sound or 102K WAV sound)

In response, Resnick called Simpson a "pathological liar," a charge she repeated later Monday on CNN's "Larry King Live. (204K AIFF sound or 204K WAV sound) She described Simpson as "above the law" and said she resented "responding to what a murderer has to say. He slaughtered Ron and Nicole." (187K AIFF sound or 187K WAV sound)

Last October, Simpson was acquitted of the June 12, 1994, murders. Soon after the killings, Resnick wrote a tell-all book about her friend called "Nicole Brown Simpson: The Diary of a Life Interrupted."

According to testimony at Simpson's trial, Resnick had a history of drug abuse, lived with Nicole for a short time before the killings and was admitted to a drug rehabilitation program a few days before the murders took place. On "Larry King Live," Resnick said she had had no contact with major drug dealers, but acknowledged buying $30 worth of cocaine four days before the murders. Resnick went into drug rehabilitation the following day, she said.

"He's a liar"

Simpson's attorneys said Nicole Brown Simpson and Goldman may have been killed by drug dealers bent on scaring Resnick into paying her drug debt.

Resnick said that theory is untrue, and prosecutors agreed there was no evidence to back it. Simpson said Resnick's book is filled with lies.

"Everything he says are lies," said Resnick, who did not see the live interview but responded shortly afterward. "Ever since O.J. Simpson has been telling his lies, my life has been a living hell." Resnick recently canceled her book tour.

Responding to leaks

Simpson, who remained on the phone even through the program's commercial breaks, made the surprise phone call in response to a week's worth of leaks from his deposition testimony in a wrongful death civil lawsuit against him.

He is being sued by the families of the victims. Simpson confirmed many of the details from his deposition, but disagreed with interpretations that the testimony will hurt him.

In his most detailed defense yet of allegations in the case, he also denied he degraded Nicole Simpson, and he said he suspects that police planted evidence.

Simpson said his ex-wife's written allegations of domestic abuse were a ploy to get out of a prenuptial agreement and that only once, in 1989, did they get into a fight that left her injured.

"I was totally wrong . . . I take full responsibility," he said. But Simpson maintained that Nicole used makeup in one of the photos showing her with facial bruises after the 1989 incident.

Simpson says most abuse allegations untrue

"Nicole has never publicly to any public official, including during our divorce, (said) that O.J. ever beat me at any other time" other than the 1989 incident, Simpson said. He suggested that Nicole may have been encouraged to write of untrue allegations of abuse by her divorce lawyers and her therapist, Susan Forward.

Simpson denied an allegation from Nicole's sister, Denise Brown, that he once grabbed Nicole's crotch in a restaurant. Allegations of domestic violence are expected to be a major part of the wrongful death trial set to begin April 2.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs said they intend to contend that Simpson, after years of abusing his wife, committed the ultimate act of abuse by killing her.

Discussing other subjects related to the case, Simpson also:

* Revealed for the first time that he armed himself two days after the murders, saying it was for his protection. He said he placed a gun in the bag that wound up in friend Al "A.C." Cowlings' Bronco the day of the slowspeed chase later that same week.

* Had harsh words for his trial prosecutors. He said that he initially was impressed with Marcia Clark's "passion" but found her to be devious as the trial progressed. As for Christopher Darden: "I don't know, he's just an unhappy person." (230K AIFF sound or 230K WAV sound)

* Blamed media coverage of the trial for stirring racial divisions that are "always there under the surface." (213K AIFF sound or 213K WAV sound)

* Suggested he fired his first attorney, Howard Weitzman, who allowed Simpson to speak to police the day after the murders without a lawyer present. "I can tell you unequivocally, he didn't quit."

* Said he believed he cut his hand twice: once while preparing for a trip to Chicago on the night of the murders, and again after he got to Chicago. He said he recalled seeing blood on his pinkie when he was still at home.

* Denied there was anything sinister in his calling house guest Brian "Kato" Kaelin from Chicago the day after the murders. Simpson said he was calling everybody he could think of to get information about his ex-wife's death. "I couldn't get through to anybody," he said. "What would you do under the circumstances?" (247K AIFF sound or 247K WAV sound)

* Said he didn't know how the DNA of victims Nicole Simpson and Goldman ended up in Simpson's Bronco. "I have absolutely no idea. I think we should be asking the LAPD that."

* Said he didn't speak at any length to Nicole Simpson when he called her house less than two hours before the murders. He said he wanted to speak with their daughter, Sydney.

* Denied he got a phone message from his then-girlfriend Paula Barbieri the morning of the murders in which she said she was breaking up with him.

* Said he didn't respond immediately when limousine driver Alan Park came to pick him up on the night of the murder because he was in the shower. During the trial, Park testified that Simpson told him he overslept. Simpson said Park was "an honest kid doing the best job he could but he testified to things that just were not true." (306K AIFF sound or 306K WAV sound)

Simpson's call appeared to be spontaneous but he had previously been given an open invitation to telephone the program, hosted by Greta van Susteren and Roger Cossack.

Feedback

Send us your comments - Selected responses are posted daily.