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In the interest of speed and timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press newswire and may contain spelling or grammatical errors.
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O.J. Simpson laments cost of good lawyers
Thursday August 21, 2003
LOS 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.''
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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