In November 2006, ReganBooks (an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers) announced that it was publishing a book by O. J. Simpson, If I Did It . Publisher Judith Regan told the Associated Press, "This is an historic case, and I consider this his confession." In an interview promoting his new book on Fox News (which, like Regan Books, is owned by News Corp), Simpson offered such incriminating observations as: "I don't think any two people could be murdered without everybody being covered in blood." The announcement of the book was met with a barrage of criticism. Ron Goldman's sister, Kim Goldman, on CNN's Larry King Live, expressed the outrage of victims: "He's telling us one more time, 'I'm gonna continue to get away with killing your family members and I'm not gonna honor the judgment and look at me, ha, ha, ha."' The criticism caused HarperCollins to recall the book and Fox to cancel the Simpson interview. In January 2007, Newsweek magazine obtained a copy for a chapter from the book. The chapter contained numerous statements that would seem nonsensical if not made by the murderer of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman, despite the insistence of Simpson's lawyer that the account is "purely hypothetical."
In September 2007, Beaufort Books published If I Did It, with profits from the sale going to the Goldman family. (The book soared to #1 on Amazon.)

Chapter 6: The Night in Question

I moved past the front door [of Nicole's condo] to take a closer look. There were candles burning inside, and I could hear faint music playing. It was obvious that Nicole was expecting company. I wondered who the f--k it was this time. I wondered if maybe Faye was coming over with some of her boy-toys so they could all get wild and dirty while my kids were sleeping upstairs.

Just as I was beginning to get seriously steamed, the back gate squeaked open. A guy came walking through like he owned the f--king place. He saw me and froze. He was young and good-looking, with a thick head of har, and I tried to place him, but I'd never seen him before. I didn't even know his name: Ron Goldman.

"Who the f--k are you?" I said.

"I, uh--I just came by to return a pair of glasses," he replied, stammering.

"Really? A pair of glasses, huh?"....

--O. J. Simpson, If I Did It: Confessions of a Killer, p. 128

Motive and State of Mind

According to Simpson's account (which Newsweek describes as employing "the classic language of a wife abuser"), Nicole Brown shared much of the blame for her own death. Simpson calls her the "enemy" and expresses outrage that she would flirt openly with other men in front of their children. He admits to seething with anger on June 12, 1994, the day of the double-murder.

At the Scene of the Crime

After downing a meal with Kato Kaelin, Simpson (dressed in a dark sweat suit) speeds over to Nicole's condo in Brentwood. He parks in the alley, puts on a knit wool cap and gloves, and grabs the knife he keeps in his Bronco. According to Simpson, his intent at this point his to scare his ex-wife, not kill her.

Encounter with Ronald Goldman

After entering the property through a broken gate, Simpson sees Ronald Goldman arriving at the condo. Simpson, in this tell-nearly-all chapter, reports that he accuses Goldman of planning to sleep with Nicole, which Goldman denies. Nicole tells Simpson to leave Goldman alone--that he was just returning glasses she had left in a restaurant. But Nicole's Akita, when it wags its tail to greet Ron, convinces Simpson that Ronald and Nicole have a sexual relationship. Simpson yells at Goldman: "You've been here before!"

Murder (It Seems)

In Simpson's account, Nicole charges at him like "a banshee," falling and smacking her head on the concrete. When Goldman drops to a "karate stance", Simpson loses it. In what amounts in almost anyone's book as a confession, Simpson writes: "Then something went horribly wrong, and I know what happened, but I can't tell you how." Later, in a taped interview to promote the book that was never aired on television, Simpson (according to a partial transcript obtained by the New York Times) said that after "this guy kind of got into a karate thing...I remember I grabbed the knife." Asked in the interview whether he removed his glove before grabbing the knife, Simpson replied, "You know, I had no conscious memory of doing that, but obviously I must have because they found a glove there."

Fleeing the Scene

Simpson describes himself as soaked in blood and holding a bloody knife, with Goldman and Nicole dead in front of him. He strips to his socks before re-entering his Bronco. (What happened to the rest of the bloody clothes remains a mystery; Simpson's bloody socks were discovered in the bedroom of his home on Rockingham.) Seeing the limo parked in front of his house, Simpson enters the estate along a darkened pathway, banging loudly into an air conditioner for Kaelin's bedroom as he attempts to do so.

The Twist

In Simpson's story, he places a second man, a friend named "Charlie," with him at the time of the murders. Charlie, Simpson reports, attempts to stop Simpson from doing what he's doing--committing murder, presumably.

(Source: Newsweek, Jan. 22, 2007 (pp.48-49))


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