State: Simpson acquitted of road rage

MIAMI -- O.J. Simpson was acquitted Wednesday of grabbing another driver's glasses and scratching the man's face in a road rage argument that the former football star insisted was started by the other guy.

After the verdict, Simpson put his hand to his chest and said "thank you" as he nodded his head to the jury, which deliberated for 11/2 hours. He then hugged his lawyers.

"I'm a little bit angry and a little bit happy -- a lot happy," Simpson said as he left the courthouse.

Simpson, 54, had faced up to 16 years in prison if convicted of auto burglary and battery in the driving spat with Jeffrey Pattinson Dec. 4 in their suburban Miami neighborhood. Simpson left his thumbprint on Pattinson's eyeglasses.

Jurors decided there wasn't enough evidence to prove that Simpson reached into Pattinson's car -- the basis for the burglary charge -- said juror Ernesto Diaz.

The panel also thought the prosecution should have called Simpson's children, the only other witnesses. Prosecutors announced before trial that they would not call Sydney, 16, and Justin, 12, who were in Simpson's sport utility vehicle during the incident.

Pattinson was not in the courthouse, and a phone message to his home was not immediately returned. He has refused to comment to reporters.

"The evidence early on really did not support the case," said defense attorney Yale Galanter. "This case was argued like it was a death penalty case, and it wasn't even close to that."

Prosecutor Abbe Rifkin interpreted the verdict to mean she didn't prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt, not that Simpson was innocent. Although a plea bargain was discussed, she said Simpson refused to enter a guilty plea. Going to trial "worked out for him."

The drivers offered vastly different accounts of their nighttime encounter.

Pattinson testified that Simpson ran a stop sign, then stopped after Pattinson honked his horn and flashed his high-beam headlights. Pattinson said he stayed in his locked vehicle as a shouting Simpson stormed toward him, reached through an open window and grabbed his glasses off his face. He testified that he asked Simpson if he was "a madman or something."

Simpson said Pattinson was lying -- that he did not reach into the car. He said the men confronted each other outside their SUVs after Pattinson left his brights on and was "sitting on his horn."

Simpson offered no explanation for the scratch left on Pattinson's face but said he must have left his thumbprint on the glasses by brushing them away as he broke off the 30-second, profanity-laced confrontation.

In closing arguments, Rifkin did everything but call Simpson a liar, saying the actor came out in him when he tried to charm the jury as the sole defense witness.

"He is a figment of his own imagination. He's a legend in his own mind. He has a sense of entitlement," she said. "Mr. Simpson's story changes and evolves with time."

Galanter argued that Pattinson chased down Simpson to provoke the confrontation after Simpson coasted through the stop sign.

"Pattinson became a vigilante. That's what he does. He doesn't seek out help," Galanter said. "He wants to play cop instead of calling a cop."

Simpson was cleared in a California court of criminal charges in the 1994 slayings of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. A civil jury later ordered him to pay $33.5-million for their deaths. Simpson moved to Florida last year.

Back to State news

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright

Special Links

Lucy Morgan

From the Times state desk