THE TRIALS TO COME

By CHRISTOPHER JOHN FARLEY

A GOOD NAME IS BETTER THAN riches," said Cervantes. O.J. Simpson, however, isn't doing well on either score. He has not only seen his reputation trashed in the past few months but also depleted his fortune trying to defend it. Now, although he was cleared by a jury of his peers, a huge segment of the American public--most of it white--remains incredulous about the not-guilty verdict he received and downright hostile to his attempts to re-enter society. Nonetheless, O.J. Simpson is a free man. He wants his good name back. And he wants his children returned.

He may be in for a fight on both fronts. Simpson faces three civil suits--the first by Fred Goldman and his children; a second by Ronald Goldman's estranged mother Sharon Rufo, who is divorced from Fred; and a third by Nicole's father Louis Brown. The "wrongful death" actions carry no jail time, but they could cost millions of dollars to fight and tens of millions in damages if O.J. loses. Says Ron's sister Kimberly: "We have only one goal, and that is that he be held responsible for what he did." Simpson will be deposed on Oct. 16 in the Goldman suit.

The position of the Browns is more complicated because they have temporary custody of the Simpson children, Sydney, 9, and Justin, 7. Simpson must go to court to get them back, and it is not yet clear whether the Browns will fight it. For now, at least, they seem conciliatory. In his first statement after the trial, Simpson announced, "My first obligation is to my young children, who will be raised the way Nicole and I had always planned." The day after his acquittal, says Simpson's friend and legal counsel Robert Kardashian, "he saw them all day... it was a wonderful moment. It was laughing, crying, kissing, hugging--all the things you would expect from this reunion."

After spending the night with Simpson, the children returned to their grandparents' home in Monarch Bay, California, where they are enrolled in school. Simpson is represented in the custody case by Bernard Leckie, an attorney in Irvine, California, who predicts that his client will take custody of the children at some point and that the case will be worked out amicably. Says Leckie: "The Browns, in talking with their attorneys, are mindful that the best interest of the children is the key matter, and they realize that O.J. loves the children and that they should have their father's influence." So far the Brown family is waffling, but they've also made conciliatory statements. Juditha Brown, Nicole's mother, told the Los Angeles Times last week, "Blood is thicker than anything. He is their father."

Still, if there is a fight for the kids, the blood spilled during Nicole's murder may count for something. "There's a pretty significant likelihood that if there is a custody battle, O.J. could lose custody," says Scott Altman, a professor of law at the University of Southern California. Although all states strongly favor parents over other relatives in child-custody cases, Altman believes three other factors could tip the balance in the Browns' favor: "For children who have already lived through a traumatic event, continuity of care could be important. Second, the judge could consider evidence that O.J. beat the children's mother and conclude that O.J. presents a danger to the children. Third, because the civil standard of guilt is lower than the criminal standard, the judge might conclude that O.J. probably killed Nicole and deny custody on that ground."

In a custody fight, the Browns would only need to present "clear and convincing evidence" that Simpson is an unfit parent. In the wrongful-death actions that will go to court, the standard of proof is "preponderance of evidence" rather than "beyond a reasonable doubt." Also, in a civil suit only nine of the 12 jurors are needed for a favorable verdict, and Simpson could be forced to testify. Predicts Professor Vincent Blasi of Columbia University law school: "There's a considerable chance that the Goldmans and the Browns will recover, given the amount and quality of the evidence." Then again, many experts predicted that Simpson would be convicted of double murder, right up to the day of his acquittal.

In any case, Simpson could use an influx of cash. The best source of that, experts say, may be for him to encamp on the margins of celebrity: O.J. could sell his story to magazines and tabloids and peddle his autograph at card shows. Frank Vuono, president and CEO of Integrated Sports International, which handles a score of pro football players, says Simpson could probably demand a six-figure sum from card-show organizers. "He's a novelty," says Vuono. "I imagine you'll see O.J. Websites and O.J. collectibles and all sorts of stuff. That's the crazy world we live in."

MEANWHILE, TWO PUBLISHERS have reportedly rejected the sequel to his best-selling book. It was rumored that Simpson would stage a lucrative pay-per-view television interview, but it seems even the folks who broadcast pro-wrestling extravaganzas have their standards. Sniffs Hugh Panero, president and ceo of Request Television, one of the largest pay-per-view networks: "If Mr. Simpson wants to correct misrepresentations that occurred during the trial, he can do it by talking to the mainstream press. I don't know if it is tasteful to do it for $29.95 on a pay-per-view basis."

Simpson's career as a legitimate sports commentator or a product pitchman, even in this numbed, post-Tonya Harding age, may be over. Fox, for one, has stated publicly that it won't hire him. "Athletes in the past have transcended the race issue," says Vuono. "That's the beauty of sports. But O.J.'s case has polarized people."

Some say Simpson should rededicate his life to a meaningful cause or at least something that will keep his face off the E! channel and Court TV. A group of black activists headed by civil rights leader Celes King III held a press conference in Los Angeles last week to announce that since many blacks supported Simpson through the trial, it was time for him to start giving back to the black community in some way. Robert Fisher, owner of a Woodland Hills, California, consulting firm that specializes in burnishing tarnished images, suggests that a Greta Garbo vanishing act may be appropriate for Simpson at this point: "He needs to stick with his kids and stay out of the limelight. If he's seen taking his kids to Disneyland, or at a black-tie party or having fun somewhere, it's just going to grate on America."

It might also grate on his children, who Simpson claims are his first priority. "The more commotion and instability there is in a child's life, the more difficult it will be for them to adjust," says Steven Kanter, a Cleveland child psychologist. "There's also the added factor of the death of their mother. That scar will never completely heal." Still, Simpson might well learn something about equanimity from the way one of his children is dealing with her pain. Juditha Brown says that after she gave the kids over to Simpson, Sydney called on the phone to console her. Said the child: "We will work it out."

--Reported by Patrick E. Cole, Dan Cray, Margot Hornblower, Sylvester Monroe/Los Angeles and Andrea Sachs/New York

With reporting by PATRICK E. COLE, DAN CRAY, MARGOT HORNBLOWER, SYLVESTER MONROE/LOS ANGELES AND ANDREA SACHS/NEW YORK