Simpson Questioned About Glove And Cap Defense Attorneys Challenge Punitive Damages Section

In his fifth day of deposition testimony, O.J. Simpson was questioned Friday about a glove and a knit cap found near the bodies of his slain ex-wife and her friend, lawyers said.

John Q. Kelly, an attorney for the family of Simpson’s ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson, said attorneys showed Simpson photos of crime evidence such as the glove and knit cap and asked him about them.

“I guess that’s the first answers we had to get out of him: Were they his? And if he had something similar to that, where are they now?” Kelly said, refusing to describe Simpson’s answers.

Plaintiffs’ lawyers had more questions for Simpson at the end of the day, but Simpson was not scheduled to appear for further testimony next week.

“I’m confident that we’ll be able to resume the deposition in the near future,” said lawyer Daniel Petrocelli, who represents Fred Goldman. Goldman’s son, Ronald, was slain with Nicole Simpson on June 12, 1994.

Meanwhile, Simpson’s lawyers moved to throw out the punitive damage sections of lawsuits filed by the Brown and Goldman families.

In a motion for summary judgment, attorney Robert Baker argued that punitive damages would constitute punishment and “any punishment of Simpson for conduct of which he has already been tried and acquitted would violate Simpson’s double jeopardy and due process rights.”

The motion was set for hearing Feb. 28.

On Thursday, lawyers grilled Simpson about violence in his relationship with Nicole Simpson. Simpson became so agitated during that session that the questioning had to be temporarily stopped, said Goldman’s sister, Kim.

Kim Goldman has been barred from the sessions but gets reports from her father and attorneys. Even though her father was unable to attend Friday, Kim Goldman still showed up outside the deposition room at Petrocelli’s law office. “This is for my brother,” she said.

Simpson, acquitted of the murders, was sued by the families of both victims in a wrongful death lawsuit. Because Simpson cannot invoke the Fifth Amendment, he was forced to submit to the deposition.