| In the interest of speed and timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press newswire and may contain spelling or grammatical errors. |
O.J. Simpson laments cost of good lawyers
Thursday August 21, 2003LOS ANGELES (AP) O.J. Simpson says he was acquitted of murder because he was innocent but that without the money to pay a ``dream team'' of lawyers, he would not have prevailed.
In a lengthy interview with Playboy magazine nine years after his trial, Simpson repeatedly vowed he was innocent of killing his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ronald Goldman.
``I didn't commit the crime. That is why I got off,'' he said. ``I feel in my heart that I got off because I was innocent. But I don't know if I could have proven my innocence if I didn't have the money. And that's a shame. Yes, it is a shame that in this country it costs so much to get good representation.''
In the wide-ranging interview published in the current issue of the magazine, Simpson also disclosed that after his acquittal he smoked marijuana in order to get to sleep.
``My drug of choice now is Vioxx,'' said Simpson, who suffers from arthritis. ``When I got out of jail, I kind of appreciated pot more than I ever had in my life.... They used to call me Two Puffs. Two puffs I'm home. I watch TV. Then I'd sleep like a baby.''
He is addicted to golf. ``Next to sex, it is the single most addictive thing I've ever been into,'' he said.
His fame as a murder defendant attracted women, he told the magazine.
``Celebrity and notoriety are an attraction device,'' he said. ``Hell, after the criminal trial, two or three of my first affairs were with people I met at the front gate at my house. The tourists would stop in the driveway and I got to know them and would have a little fling with them.''
He said he and his two youngest children are doing fine at their Florida home, that a call to 911 by his 17-year-old daughter some months ago was ``just a teenage daughter thing.... It was a non-incident.''
He said he has probably spoiled Sydney and Justin a bit. But he added, ``My kids have had to endure more than most people's kids. For whatever reason, they have come out of it in pretty good shape. More than not, they still give me fatherly respect.''
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