O.J. Simpson’s ‘conflict-free life’ statement comes under scrutiny
LOS ANGELES — When O.J. Simpson told a Nevada parole board last week that he’s led a “conflict-free life,” he seemed to overlook a few episodes that had him cycling in and out of courtrooms and jail cells for nearly 20 years before the
Las Vegas hotelroom heist that sent him to prison in 2008.
There was a wifebeating charge in 1989 that he pleaded no contest to, a road-rage charge he was acquitted of in 2001 and a contempt-of-court citation in 2008 that put him in jail for five days.
There was also, of course, the 1994 murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman. Acquitted by a criminal jury in 1995, the football hero and Hollywood star was found liable for the killings in civil court two years later and ordered to pay the victims’ families $33.5 million.
“The idea that he believes that he’s led a conflict-free life shows a certain delusion that he’s been very noted for throughout his career,” said veteran Hollywood crisis publicist Michael Levine.
In the wife-beating case, Simpson was accused of attacking Nicole Brown Simpson on New Year’s Day 1989, angrily telling police it was a “family matter.” Then, fearing he would be arrested, he fled in his Rolls-Royce, according to police.
Officers reported they arrived at Simpson’s Los Angeles home before dawn to find Nicole Brown Simpson screaming, “He’s going to kill me!” They said she had a cut lip, a swollen and blackened left eye and cheek, and a handprint still visible on her neck.
She called 911 again, eight months before she was killed, to report Simpson had broken down a door to get into her home and was threatening to beat her. He could be heard screaming angrily in the background.
When the 70-year-old Simpson told his parole board Thursday, “I’ve basically had a conflict-free life, you know,” the remark lit up social media with derision and disbelief.
“A conflict-free life,” Ron Goldman’s father, Fred, said. incredulously Saturday. “This is who he is. He’s a sociopath, a narcissistic liar, a murderer, a thug, a kidnapper, a robber. The list goes on.”