Simpson returns for child custody trial

November 27, 1996
Web posted at: 3:00 p.m. EST

ORANGE, California (CNN) -- After three days on the witness stand in the civil case against him, O.J. Simpson returned to another court Wednesday for the ninth day in the custody trial for his two youngest children.

Simpson and the parents of Simpson's ex-wife, the late Nicole Brown Simpson, walked past reporters at the juvenile courthouse but refused to answer questions about either the custody trial or the wrongful-death civil case.

The custody proceedings, which began on November 12, are closed to the public and Judge Nancy Wieben-Stock has imposed a gag order on all parties.

A source close to the trial told CNN that lawyers for the Brown family continued to hammer away at Simpson's alleged history of domestic violence.

During the course of the trial, lawyers for the Browns have called to the stand Los Angeles Police officers who responded to the 1989 and 1993 911 calls, sources said. The sources also told CNN that experts on domestic violence have testified on behalf of the Browns.

Simpson himself spent two days on the witness stand at the custody trial, CNN was told. He responded to questions about past incidents of alleged domestic violence similar to those asked in the civil trial.

The Brown family and Simpson are battling over the custody of the two youngest Simpson children, 11-year-old Sydney and 8-year-old Justin. Both have lived with the Browns since Simpson's arrest in 1994 for the murders of his ex-wife and her friend Ronald Goldman.

Simpson was acquitted of the charges in October 1995, but the Brown and Goldman families filed wrongful death lawsuits against him in civil court.

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Simpson Civil Trial

Simpson returns for child custody trial

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