Nicole Brown Simpson Discussion

[weezer]

http://www.murfreesboropost.com/cpa-blog-domestic-violence-hurts-everyone-cms-19425

SNIPPED** CPA Blog: Domestic violence hurts everyone
By: MICHELLE WILLARD, Post Staff Writer

Posted: Wednesday, September 23, 2009 1:00 pm

MPD Detective Chris Ashley discusses the Highland Heights precinct with a CPA students during a tour Tuesday night. The mini-precinct was established in 1998 to combat crime in the housing project. TMP/M. Willard

Of all the calls for help received by the Murfreesboro Police Department, 40 percent are domestic violence related, Detective Sgt. Amy Dean said at the Citizens Police Academy on Tuesday night.

The number of domestic violence cases has increased substantially since she started working with MPD in 1991. It stems from more public education on the subject and tougher laws enacted in the mid-1990s, Dean said.

“Thought is if anyone intervened between O.J. Simpson and Nicole Brown, it would have ended differently,” she explained. . .

Dean laid down very sobering statistics about the amount of domestic violence experienced across the nation, calling domestic violence an epidemic.

Domestic violence costs the nation and estimated $44 million per year to treat associated injuries, she said.

Quoting the American Medical Association and National Institute of Justice, Dean said roughly 6 million women report domestic violence yearly. It is the leading cause of murder and most common cause of injury for women.

But women aren’t the only ones abused. Nationwide 90 percent of reported batterers are male, but she estimates about 85 percent of calls received at MPD involve a male batterer.

“And that number for us is coming down,” she said, adding more men are less ashamed of reporting abuse now than before.

When MPD responds to a domestic violence call, the officers always arrive in pairs and determine who the predominant aggressor is, Dean explained. . .

“Whether you go once or 101 times, you never know which one will be it. You never know what family will be it,” she said.

[weezer]

Denise Brown to talk about Nicole during ceremony for homicide victims in Oxnard
By Adam Foxman (Contact)
Monday, September 21, 2009

The 1994 slaying of Nicole Brown Simpson drove her older sister to become an activist against domestic violence, but during the frenetic coverage of the case and years of public speaking, Denise Brown largely avoided talking about Nicole’s life, she said.

“I think it was because we are such a private family,” Brown said. “We’re not open books.”

Brown began to open up about her sister this summer after the 15-year anniversary of Nicole’s killing, because she felt enough time had passed since the tragedy, she said. She plans to speak Friday at an Oxnard event marking the National Day of Remembrance for Murder Victims.

“I want to humanize her,” Brown said in a recent phone interview. “I want to share the life we had together.”

Brown said she plans to touch on her sister’s killing and the connection between domestic violence and homicide at the event, which is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. at Plaza Park, at Fifth and B streets in downtown Oxnard.

Sponsored by the Ventura County chapter of Parents of Murdered Children, the event will also include a dove release, a candlelight vigil, a slide show, a symbolic march and a “murder wall” honoring the lives of local homicide victims.

Relatives and friends of homicide victims are invited to contribute photos of the loved ones to be displayed at the event, said Sandy Montes-Cerna, a member of the chapter.

This year’s Remembrance Day will be the third for the Ventura County chapter, which was founded in 2005. Other chapters around the nation have long held events on Sept. 25, the day in 1978 when Lisa Hullinger of Cincinnati, the daughter of the founding members of Parents of Murdered Children, was beaten to death by an ex-boyfriend.

The Oxnard event will be Brown’s first public observance of the National Day of Remembrance, she said.

She usually marks the day by thinking about her sister and people she knows who have lost children to violence.

“I just really admire that strength in these parents,” Brown said, adding that her mother kept her family together after Nicole’s killing.

Nicole Brown Simpson was found slain outside her Brentwood home along with friend Ron Goldman on June 12, 1994. Brown Simpson’s ex-husband, former football star and actor O.J. Simpson, was tried and acquitted of the killings. Brown and Goldman’s families later successfully sued Simpson in civil court.

In 1995, Brown helped found the Nicole Brown Foundation, which advocates against domestic violence.

The foundation’s Web site attributes Nicole’s death to domestic violence and states that she documented years of abuse during her marriage, but it avoids mentioning Simpson. Brown said Simpson’s name diverts focus from the issue of domestic violence.

“It’s not about him,” she said.

Domestic violence has played a role in at least four of the 24 homicides in Ventura County so far this year, according to police accounts."

[tv]

Denise Brown to talk about Nicole during ceremony for homicide victims in Oxnard
By Adam Foxman (Contact)
Monday, September 21, 2009

The 1994 slaying of Nicole Brown Simpson drove her older sister to become an activist against domestic violence, but during the frenetic coverage of the case and years of public speaking, Denise Brown largely avoided talking about Nicole’s life, she said.

“I think it was because we are such a private family,” Brown said. “We’re not open books.”

Brown began to open up about her sister this summer after the 15-year anniversary of Nicole’s killing, because she felt enough time had passed since the tragedy, she said. She plans to speak Friday at an Oxnard event marking the National Day of Remembrance for Murder Victims.

“I want to humanize her,” Brown said in a recent phone interview. “I want to share the life we had together.”

Brown said she plans to touch on her sister’s killing and the connection between domestic violence and homicide at the event, which is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. at Plaza Park, at Fifth and B streets in downtown Oxnard.

Sponsored by the Ventura County chapter of Parents of Murdered Children, the event will also include a dove release, a candlelight vigil, a slide show, a symbolic march and a “murder wall” honoring the lives of local homicide victims.

Relatives and friends of homicide victims are invited to contribute photos of the loved ones to be displayed at the event, said Sandy Montes-Cerna, a member of the chapter.

This year’s Remembrance Day will be the third for the Ventura County chapter, which was founded in 2005. Other chapters around the nation have long held events on Sept. 25, the day in 1978 when Lisa Hullinger of Cincinnati, the daughter of the founding members of Parents of Murdered Children, was beaten to death by an ex-boyfriend.

The Oxnard event will be Brown’s first public observance of the National Day of Remembrance, she said.

She usually marks the day by thinking about her sister and people she knows who have lost children to violence.

“I just really admire that strength in these parents,” Brown said, adding that her mother kept her family together after Nicole’s killing.

Nicole Brown Simpson was found slain outside her Brentwood home along with friend Ron Goldman on June 12, 1994. Brown Simpson’s ex-husband, former football star and actor O.J. Simpson, was tried and acquitted of the killings. Brown and Goldman’s families later successfully sued Simpson in civil court.

In 1995, Brown helped found the Nicole Brown Foundation, which advocates against domestic violence.

The foundation’s Web site attributes Nicole’s death to domestic violence and states that she documented years of abuse during her marriage, but it avoids mentioning Simpson. Brown said Simpson’s name diverts focus from the issue of domestic violence.

“It’s not about him,” she said.

Domestic violence has played a role in at least four of the 24 homicides in Ventura County so far this year, according to police accounts."

I'm glad Denise is continuing her work with domestic violence. Her face and presence at these events probably generates a lot of interest in the cause.
The murder of Nicole Brown is probably one of the most well-known cases of domestic violence.

[weezer]

I'm glad Denise is continuing her work with domestic violence. Her face and presence at these events probably generates a lot of interest in the cause.
The murder of Nicole Brown is probably one of the most well-known cases of domestic violence.

exactly --

[weezer]

I'm glad Denise is continuing her work with domestic violence. Her face and presence at these events probably generates a lot of interest in the cause.
The murder of Nicole Brown is probably one of the most well-known cases of domestic violence.

I think it's eerie how much she and Nicole look alike.

[tv]

I think it's eerie how much she and Nicole look alike.

I think that's one of the reasons that Simpson hates her so much. Too much of a reminder. I noticed from the 911 tapes that they sound a lot alike also.

[weezer]

I think that's one of the reasons that Simpson hates her so much. Too much of a reminder. I noticed from the 911 tapes that they sound a lot alike also.

have you ever seen the writings from Nicole's diary? I've seen excerpts but not the writings.

[tv]

have you ever seen the writings from Nicole's diary? I've seen excerpts but not the writings.

No, only excerpts. Is there anywhere to see them all?

[weezer]

No, only excerpts. Is there anywhere to see them all?

no -- I remember Petrocelli writing about how upsetting the diary was and that he used it to question orenthal and ac. IIRC, ac got upset and teary eyed over some of the writings.

[tv]

no -- I remember Petrocelli writing about how upsetting the diary was and that he used it to question orenthal and ac. IIRC, ac got upset and teary eyed over some of the writings.

Yes, I think I remember that about AC. I'm not defending AC but I think Simpson put him in a bad position. I wonder if he's had any contact with him since he's been in the slammer?

[weezer]

Yes, I think I remember that about AC. I'm not defending AC but I think Simpson put him in a bad position. I wonder if he's had any contact with him since he's been in the slammer?

ac put himself in that position -- he ran all over town talking to Nicole's friends to see what they knew, he testified about being summoned to a hotel room because by orenthal so orenthal could would have an audience to berate Nicole in front of and/or the time he was summoned to intervene in one of the fights where orenthal threw Nicole's clothes out a window and they were strewn in the parking lot below. Nope. I don't have much use for ac. I remember reading somewhere that orenthal's first wife started off as ac's girlfriend. I watched a snippet on tv one night of ac walking out of somewhere and getting into a car -- he DID not want to say anything about orenthal and if they had kept 'in touch'. . .:eek:

[weezer]

thank you HotWater!!!!

[tv]

ac put himself in that position -- he ran all over town talking to Nicole's friends to see what they knew, he testified about being summoned to a hotel room because by orenthal so orenthal could would have an audience to berate Nicole in front of and/or the time he was summoned to intervene in one of the fights where orenthal threw Nicole's clothes out a window and they were strewn in the parking lot below. Nope. I don't have much use for ac. I remember reading somewhere that orenthal's first wife started off as ac's girlfriend. I watched a snippet on tv one night of ac walking out of somewhere and getting into a car -- he DID not want to say anything about orenthal and if they had kept 'in touch'. . .:eek:

I think AC knows exactly what happened; he's the one person I think Simpson would confide in. AC seemed to genuinely be sorry that Nicole was dead -- he should have man-upped and told what he knew. For that matter, he should have defended Nicole years before and beat the hell out of Simpson for abusing her. He's just another person who looked the other way. It's odd that he doesn't want to say if he keeps in touch with Simpson now.

[weezer]

I think AC knows exactly what happened; he's the one person I think Simpson would confide in. AC seemed to genuinely be sorry that Nicole was dead -- he should have man-upped and told what he knew. For that matter, he should have defended Nicole years before and beat the hell out of Simpson for abusing her. He's just another person who looked the other way. It's odd that he doesn't want to say if he keeps in touch with Simpson now.

Petrocelli felt like the same. He was sure that ac knew what really happened. there was a reason that ac worked the deal that the timeframe he was with orenthal after the murders was 'off limits' to any questions/answers in his testimony. If there was nothing to tell, why plead the 5th? isn't that the logic used for Fuhrman's plea?

poor Nicole -- no one, no where.

[tv]

Petrocelli felt like the same. He was sure that ac knew what really happened. there was a reason that ac worked the deal that the timeframe he was with orenthal after the murders was 'off limits' to any questions/answers in his testimony. If there was nothing to tell, why plead the 5th? isn't that the logic used for Fuhrman's plea?

poor Nicole -- no one, no where.

Apparently, her parents disapproved of the divorce but to be fair I don't think they knew about the abuse or at least the extent of it. Typical of batter women to keep it secret as long as they can.

[weezer]

Apparently, her parents disapproved of the divorce but to be fair I don't think they knew about the abuse or at least the extent of it. Typical of batter women to keep it secret as long as they can.

when you read what she and others (including people like ac) said was going on, her life with orenthal was a textbook example of abuse.

I know that orenthal met her when she was just out of high school and working as a waitress but then there is the fact that she redecorated his home and the home of at least one friend. I wonder if she wanted to be a decorator when she 'grew up'?

[weezer]

Denise is saying it's time to talk about Nicole the woman -- I'm looking forward to reading about Nicole. I don't think we know anything more than she was tormented, abused, threatened, and finally butchered by orenthal.

[tv]

when you read what she and others (including people like ac) said was going on, her life with orenthal was a textbook example of abuse.

I know that orenthal met her when she was just out of high school and working as a waitress but then there is the fact that she redecorated his home and the home of at least one friend. I wonder if she wanted to be a decorator when she 'grew up'?

I think I read that she hoped to turn her decorating skills into a business.

[tv]

Denise is saying it's time to talk about Nicole the woman -- I'm looking forward to reading about Nicole. I don't think we know anything more than she was tormented, abused, threatened, and finally butchered by orenthal.

I was touched by Jason's civil testimony. He was surprised, after seeing Nicole in her own home, that she had such a varied taste in music and what her style was. It was as though she was so overshadowed by Simpson when she lived at Rockingham that Jason didn't really know the real Nicole. That's what I took from his testimony.

[Hotwater]

thank you HotWater!!!!

You're welcome.

Reminder - This thread was created to discuss Nicole. It's not to be used to bash OJ.

Tread carefully.

[tv]

Perfectly understood. :)

I also hope Nicole's detractors won't use this thread for gratuitous bashing of her.

[Kate Sachel]

Nicole Brown seemed to be a woman who, though not without her own faults as we all have, cared deeply for her friends and family and who loved openly and loyally.

Much has been said that she brought no contribution to her marriage with OJ Simpson because of the fact that was unemployed. However, she was a loving friend and mother figure to Arnelle and Jason and a devoted mother to Sydney and Justin. She cooked, cleaned, and ensured that the home was always running smoothly for her husband. She loved openly and loyally and was always there in times of happiness and crisis for her friends. And, despite what some may assert, she did not spend money lavishly and was rather thrifty instead.

The fact that some don't see these as amazing contributions to a life and a family makes me somewhat sad.

Kate

[weezer]

I'm anxious to meet Nicole, the person. I've seen pictures of her as a young girl and but I've not read anything from anyone other than the few who spoke out during the trial. I"ll look for links to what I've been able to find -- pictures, etc.

[tv]

Nicole Brown seemed to be a woman who, though not without her own faults as we all have, cared deeply for her friends and family and who loved openly and loyally.

Much has been said that she brought no contribution to her marriage with OJ Simpson because of the fact that was unemployed. However, she was a loving friend and mother figure to Arnelle and Jason and a devoted mother to Sydney and Justin. She cooked, cleaned, and ensured that the home was always running smoothly for her husband. She loved openly and loyally and was always there in times of happiness and crisis for her friends. And, despite what some may assert, she did not spend money lavishly and was rather thrifty instead.

The fact that some don't see these as amazing contributions to a life and a family makes me somewhat sad.

Kate

Hi Kate, nice to see you. :) I've always had the impression that Nicole was a good wife and mother and that she enjoyed that role. A lot of criticism has been given to her for going out with her friends after the divorce. That's only natural -- she was still a young woman who enjoyed the company of men and her friends. There's never been any indication that she was unfaithful to Simpson during their marriage.

[weezer]

You're welcome.

Reminder - This thread was created to discuss Nicole. It's not to be used to bash OJ.

Tread carefully.

Agreed.

[tv]

I'm anxious to meet Nicole, the person. I've seen pictures of her as a young girl and but I've not read anything from anyone other than the few who spoke out during the trial. I"ll look for links to what I've been able to find -- pictures, etc.

It will be interesting to see her 'fleshed out' as a real person. I always like to know about the personality of a victim and what they were really like. Until I find out differently I just don't believe she was only interested in men and drugs.

[weezer]

:o I forgot to say "Hi Kate. Good to see you.". . .

[weezer]

It will be interesting to see her 'fleshed out' as a real person. I always like to know about the personality of a victim and what they were really like. Until I find out differently I just don't believe she was only interested in men and drugs.

LOL -- I don't think anyone believes that about her. And if they do, they don't have any basis for it. Other than orenthal :punch:, no one had/has anything bad and/or derogatory to say about her.

[tv]

LOL -- I don't think anyone believes that about her. And if they do, they don't have any basis for it. Other than orenthal :punch:, no one had/has anything bad and/or derogatory to say about her.

A lot of negative things are said about her to give credibility to the theory that her lifestyle and 'the world of Faye Resnick' was to blame for the murders. She didn't have any illegal drugs in her system the night she was killed -- a regular drug user would have.

[Its just me]

According to the snip below Nicole suffered a lot of abuse and it looks as if she had made up her mind to make a new life for herself and her kids. Sadly she never got the opportunity to be all she could be. If there is any good in the mist of the sadness and mixture of other feelings because of her (uncalled for) premature death.....she is now at peace and no longer abused.
:rose:


snip from: ( 22 pages of good reading)
http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/famous/simpson/people_5.html (http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/famous/simpson/people_5.html)
She was working as a waitress in a Beverly Hills nightclub called "The Daisy" when she first came into contact with O.J. Simpson. She was 18; he was 30 and married with a family. Eight years later, he was divorced and on February 2, 1985, he and Nicole were married.
She moved into his palatial home in Brentwood on Rockingham Avenue and lived the good life, or so it seemed, until January 1992, when they parted and she and their children relocated to a rented property on Gretna Green Way, only a few hundred yards from South Bundy Drive. She subsequently filed for divorce, which became final on October 15th of that year.
As their marriage deteriorated, Simpson seemed to resort more and more to physical violence. One incident on New Year's Eve, 1989 resulted in the police being called to the Rockingham Avenue home. Simpson was subsequently charged by the city attorney's office, pleaded "no contest" to a charge of spousal battery, and was sentenced to 120 hours of community-service work and two years probation.
On October 25th, 1993, Nicole made a 911 call asking for police. In the background, the dispatcher could hear a man screaming and yelling, his words unintelligible. When police officers responded to Nicole's home on Gretna Green Way, they found O.J. Simpson on the property. He had kicked in the french doors at the rear of the house. Nicole refused to press charges, but later that night, she told Sergeant Craig Lalley of the LAPD how frightened she was of Simpson and his moods, saying, " When O.J. gets this crazed, I get scared. He gets a very animalistic look in himHis eyes are black. I mean, cold, like an animal."
O.J. Simpson had apparently been abusive to his new wife as early as 1985. Then pregnant with his first child, she had called the police. The responding officer, Mark Fuhrman, found that Simpson had attacked Nicole's car (which he himself owned) with a baseball bat, but no charges were ever made by either Nicole or the police.
In fact, according to a diary that Nicole had kept, Simpson's domestic violence began as early as 1977, and by the time of the murder trial in 1995, the Los Angeles prosecution had compiled a list of his abusive behavior which contained 62 separate incidents of physical and mental mistreatment, in addition to numerous threats and examples of control manipulation he had carried out.
Just why, in the end, the marriage collapsed has never been disclosed. In addition to the abuse, it may have been her distress at his philandering. One of Nicole's friends, Robin Green, said in a police interview that the root of the problem in their marriage was his constant messing about with other women. Nicole apparently worried about his affairs and the fear that he might infect her with AIDS. When she confronted him with this knowledge, it would anger him and he would physically assault her during these arguments.
According to her therapist, Dr. Susan Forward, "Nicole was battered incessantly, regularly, all the time. I'm not saying 24 hours a day, but the incidents of battery were extraordinarily high."
Nicole was no doubt deeply concerned by the level of physical abuse Simpson generated throughout their marriage and how far he might go one day. Her mother, Juditha, reported to the investigating police officers that her daughter had told her a month prior to the murders, Simpson had said, " If I ever see you with another man, I'll kill you."

[weezer]

According to the snip below Nicole suffered a lot of abuse and it looks as if she had made up her mind to make a new life for herself and her kids. Sadly she never got the opportunity to be all she could be. If there is any good in the mist of the sadness and mixture of other feelings because of her (uncalled for) premature death.....she is now at peace and no longer abused.
:rose:


snip from: ( 22 pages of good reading)
http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/famous/simpson/people_5.html (http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/famous/simpson/people_5.html)
She was working as a waitress in a Beverly Hills nightclub called "The Daisy" when she first came into contact with O.J. Simpson. She was 18; he was 30 and married with a family. Eight years later, he was divorced and on February 2, 1985, he and Nicole were married.
She moved into his palatial home in Brentwood on Rockingham Avenue and lived the good life, or so it seemed, until January 1992, when they parted and she and their children relocated to a rented property on Gretna Green Way, only a few hundred yards from South Bundy Drive. She subsequently filed for divorce, which became final on October 15th of that year.
As their marriage deteriorated, Simpson seemed to resort more and more to physical violence. One incident on New Year's Eve, 1989 resulted in the police being called to the Rockingham Avenue home. Simpson was subsequently charged by the city attorney's office, pleaded "no contest" to a charge of spousal battery, and was sentenced to 120 hours of community-service work and two years probation.
On October 25th, 1993, Nicole made a 911 call asking for police. In the background, the dispatcher could hear a man screaming and yelling, his words unintelligible. When police officers responded to Nicole's home on Gretna Green Way, they found O.J. Simpson on the property. He had kicked in the french doors at the rear of the house. Nicole refused to press charges, but later that night, she told Sergeant Craig Lalley of the LAPD how frightened she was of Simpson and his moods, saying, " When O.J. gets this crazed, I get scared. He gets a very animalistic look in himHis eyes are black. I mean, cold, like an animal."
O.J. Simpson had apparently been abusive to his new wife as early as 1985. Then pregnant with his first child, she had called the police. The responding officer, Mark Fuhrman, found that Simpson had attacked Nicole's car (which he himself owned) with a baseball bat, but no charges were ever made by either Nicole or the police.
In fact, according to a diary that Nicole had kept, Simpson's domestic violence began as early as 1977, and by the time of the murder trial in 1995, the Los Angeles prosecution had compiled a list of his abusive behavior which contained 62 separate incidents of physical and mental mistreatment, in addition to numerous threats and examples of control manipulation he had carried out.
Just why, in the end, the marriage collapsed has never been disclosed. In addition to the abuse, it may have been her distress at his philandering. One of Nicole's friends, Robin Green, said in a police interview that the root of the problem in their marriage was his constant messing about with other women. Nicole apparently worried about his affairs and the fear that he might infect her with AIDS. When she confronted him with this knowledge, it would anger him and he would physically assault her during these arguments.
According to her therapist, Dr. Susan Forward, "Nicole was battered incessantly, regularly, all the time. I'm not saying 24 hours a day, but the incidents of battery were extraordinarily high."
Nicole was no doubt deeply concerned by the level of physical abuse Simpson generated throughout their marriage and how far he might go one day. Her mother, Juditha, reported to the investigating police officers that her daughter had told her a month prior to the murders, Simpson had said, " If I ever see you with another man, I'll kill you."

I believe the diary detailing orenthal's abuse, threats, etc., the pictures showing her bruised/battered/bloody, and sadly, her will -- all attest to her fear of him and that she understood more than anyone else what he was capable of.

[Its just me]

http://marriage.about.com/od/infamous/p/brownsimpson.htm

Nicole in letter to O.J., undated: "I see our marriage as a huge mistake & you don't. I knew what went on in our relationship before we got married. I knew after 6 years that all the things I thought were going on -- were! ... I just don't see how our stories compare -- I was so bad because I wore sweats & left shoes around & didn't keep a perfect house or comb my hair the way you liked it -- or had dinner ready at the precise moment you walked through the door or that I just plain got on your nerves sometimes. I just don't see how that compares to infidelity, wife beating verbal abuse --"
Source: CourtTV.com (http://www.courttv.com/casefiles/simpson/new_docs/nicoleletter.html)
Dr. Susan Forward, Nicole's therapist: "She was battered incessantly, regularly, all the time. I'm not saying 24 hours a day, but the incidents of battering were extraordinarily high."
Source: Anne McDermott, CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/US/OJ/victims/simpson/index.html), "Nicole Simpson Profile", January 19, 1995. Shelley Levitt: "There were, after all, many witnesses to the abuse in the Simpson marriage. Friends and family members say O.J. humiliated Nicole in bars and restaurants. Neighbors heard him screaming threats and obscenities. The Brown family saw photographs of her battered face following the infamous 1989 New Year's Day beating. The police, answering her 911 calls, saw a beaten and frightened Nicole and had no doubt that O.J. was her tormentor ... "One of the most amazing things to me when you study the Simpson case is that it appeared intervention failed at every level," says San Diego deputy city attorney Casey Gwinn, who runs that city's domestic violence unit. "Police didn't write reports when they went to the house. Simpson was not put in jail. Friends and family didn't confront him."
Source: People Weekly, "Facing the rage: it was no secret that Nicole Simpson was abused, yet nobody - friends, family or police - effectively came to her aid", February 20, 1995.

[Its just me]

I believe the diary detailing orenthal's abuse, threats, etc., the pictures showing her bruised/battered/bloody, and sadly, her will -- all attest to her fear of him and that she understood more than anyone else what he was capable of.

I agree....it's bad enough living in fear of being abused but to live in fear of your life is beyond my imaginatin. May Nicole RIP and may Simpson continue to spend his life in prison.

[Its just me]

During his closing argument, Christopher Darden showed the jury a large photograph of Nicole Brown. Her hands clasped under her chin, her long, blonde hair brushed casually away from her face, she looked like a gorgeous model for a cosmetic advertisement. He tried in vain to remind the jury that she was the only N-word that should have meant anything in the case.

http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/famous/simpson/siege_11.html

[weezer]

". . .Nicole Brown Simpson was born May 19, 1959, near Frankfurt, Germany, her mother's homeland. Lou Brown, a native of Kansas, had met and married Juditha Baur of the small town of Rollwald, where he was serving with the Air Force.

Their first two daughters, Denise and Nicole, were born in Germany, while Lou Brown worked at Stars and Stripes, the American military newspaper; later, he started an insurance company for members of the military.

Returning to the United States when the girls were toddlers, the Browns lived first in Long Beach, then bought a large home with a tennis court, a 16-foot-deep pool and a three-acre back yard in the Royal Palm Estates section of Garden Grove. Two more daughters, Dominique and Tanya, were born. Nicole and Denise started high school there, at Rancho Alamitos High School, before the family moved to the gated Orange County beach community of Monarch Bay in the mid-1970s.

At Dana Hills High School, what people remembered first about the Brown girls was how good-looking they were. Nicole--they called her "Nick"--was named homecoming princess by the football team in 1976; the year before, Denise had been homecoming queen.

"Nicole was bubbly, always happy and smiling," said Bill Prestridge, one of her teachers.

At the same time, however, she was "more mature than other students," he said. "You almost got the idea that she was ready to get out of high school and go on to bigger and better things."

Interested in modeling and photography, Nicole enrolled briefly at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, where high school friend Chris Valdivia occasionally saw her around campus. By that time, he said, everyone knew she was dating Simpson but her romance with the football superstar didn't seem to have changed her.

"She was just always really down-to-earth, really friendly," Valdivia said.

'Volatile . . . Relationship'

Nicole was barely 18 and just out of high school when she met Simpson. After a two-week stint as a salesclerk in a boutique--during which she made not a single sale, according to her divorce papers--she started work as a waitress at the Daisy, a trendy Beverly Hills club where Simpson was a regular.

The football legend, then 30, whose first marriage to high school classmate Marguerite Whitley was faltering, began courting Nicole almost immediately, Baur said.

Jo Hanson, a Dana Hills High School home economics teacher, remembers Nicole coming back to proudly usher Simpson around to meet her and sign autographs for those in the class one day. "You know teen-agers," she said. "They like someone older and more sophisticated and she certainly did. He was everybody's idol, of course, then."

Within months, she had moved in with him, dropping out of community college because Simpson "required that she be with him," according to the brief her divorce lawyer filed in 1992.

[weezer]

". . .But if Nicole Simpson was a talented hostess and a conscientious mother, she was also notable among her contemporaries for her guardedness.

That caution extended even to Baur's wife, who worked in the Simpson house three days a week for almost three years. "She was the type of person who would not say to me what her problems were," said Maria Baur, who said she often heard the couple exchange screaming, angry words behind the closed door of the home's office. "She wouldn't talk."

"The truth is, no one really knew her during her marriage," said one woman who had been friends with her since both were in their early 20s. "She was never free to be herself or have friends. She wasn't available for that kind of intimacy."

It was only much later, the friend added, that she began to suspect there was more to Nicole Simpson's guardedness than met the eye, that there was something very wrong about her tendency toward sudden cancellations and no-shows.

"She would have these horrible cramps. That's what O.J. would tell us. 'Nicole has horrible menstrual cramps.' Supposedly they kept her in bed for days," the friend said.

Eventually, however, the violent and jealous facets of the Simpson marriage became common--if closely held--knowledge in their small circle of friends. . ."

[weezer]

". . .Finally, however, in early 1992, Nicole Simpson filed for divorce. By that time, her father was no longer working for Simpson. The car franchise, Baur said, had never been profitable, and Simpson had finally sold it. Lou Brown, whose other business ventures had included commercial real estate investing and carwash ownership, went into semi-retirement.

. . .In divorce records, Simpson reported that the Los Angeles riots destroyed his one profitable Pioneer Chicken franchise, forcing the shutdown of the other as well. . ."

[weezer]

". . .The divorce left Nicole Simpson single again for the first time since her teens. She was awarded $433,750 and $10,000 a month child support. She moved into a rented house five minutes from the mansion, then bought a nearby condominium. Friends said she was as dutiful a mother as ever, handling the car-pool, showing up at all the school functions, shuttling her little son to karate lessons and her daughter to dance class.

But suddenly, they said, a freer, lighter Nicole Simpson also began to emerge. The transformation in her, friends said, was palpable.

"She became Nicole Brown , her own person," Fischman said. "She started all over again."

She got friendlier with old acquaintances, developing a cadre of perhaps half a dozen women friends--Fischman, Shahian, Westside socialite Faye Resnick, actress Robin Greer, and Chris Jenner (wife of athlete Bruce Jenner), among others. They were a stunning crew ("We're all pretty cute," laughed one Westside divorcee who developed a close bond with her on a trip to Cabo San Lucas. "When we went out to dance, we had to dance with each other to keep the wolves away.")

She threw potluck dinners by candlelight. She would drop the children at school and go jogging--six, nine, 10 miles at a clip--in skintight workout clothes. She would tuck the children into bed at night, recite the Lord's Prayer with them in German, and then leave them with a sitter while she went out dancing till last call. Bartenders would watch, mesmerized, as she hit the dance floor, dripping sweat, in her tank top and strategically ripped jeans, slapping down her platinum American Express for another round of Patron tequila. . ."

[weezer]

". . .Other nights, she would don a black mini-dress and meet her new girlfriends for dinner at Brentwood's Toscana restaurant, splurging on $150 bottles of Cristal champagne. Even so, what people remembered was her down-to-earth disposition.

"She was totally a real person," said an acting teacher who ran into her intermittently over the years. "She had nice things, but she treated her Ferrari the way other people treat their Volkswagen. She was such a no-attitude person."

Her friend Shahian added: "She was just so generous--with her money, herself. She'd have six, seven kids over there at a time.". . .

[weezer]

". . .Still, the reconciliation continued, on again, off again, friends said. Now they were living at Rockingham; now she had bought a condo of her own. Now the relationship was doomed; now they were together for Christmas. Now she had had enough; now it was her birthday, and he had given her a platinum bracelet studded with sapphires and rubies and diamonds.

But a week after her birthday, Baur said, she gave back the bracelet and told Simpson that there would be no reconciliation and no hope of one.

"Nicole wanted to be free of him, she wanted to live her life with the children and raise them away from all this fiasco of the marriage," he said. "She wanted to have a happier, more peaceful life. . . . This time it was different. She really meant it and he knew it."

Afterward, he said, she seemed relieved. In a matter of days, Simpson was being seen with model Paula Barbieri, whom he had dated right after the divorce. Donna Estes, a writer and film producer who has known the Simpsons for the last six years, said she saw him with Barbieri at a Memorial Day golf outing, but that before dinner, Barbieri suddenly left.

Later, Estes said, Simpson confided that they had gotten into an argument when he confessed that he still loved Nicole.

But on the night before Nicole died, Simpson showed up at a black-tie event with Barbieri on his arm. Friends said Nicole was relieved when she found out: "She was happier than hell about it," said a woman who spoke to her on the night she died.

Still, the next day, at their daughter's dance recital, her friends said, Simpson and Nicole scarcely looked at each other. A friend who was there said she made it clear he would not be invited to the family dinner afterward.

As always, their friends said, they made a stunning pair, she in her backless black dress, he in silk shirt and jeans. Three folding chairs, wide as a demilitarized zone, marked the chasm between them as their little girl danced. In less than six hours, Nicole Brown Simpson was dead. . .":rose:

[tv]

Thanks, weezer. It's good to have a picture of Nicole other than the final one -- of her lying in a pool of her own blood. The part about her real personality coming out after the divorce reminds me of Jason's civil trial testimony about Nicole -- that he was surprised to find out what kind of music she liked and what her decorating style was. It's a shame it was a short-lived freedom. :(

[weezer]

this link is to a tribute site for Nicole

Nicole Brown Simpson Remembering Nicole always ~~Beautiful Angel

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewAlbums&friendID=333583395

[tv]

this link is to a tribute site for Nicole

Nicole Brown Simpson Remembering Nicole always ~~Beautiful Angel

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewAlbums&friendID=333583395

There were a lot of pictures there I hadn't seen. :)

[weezer]

There were a lot of pictures there I hadn't seen. :)

beautiful young woman -- from reading about her, I think I would have like her alot.

[tv]

beautiful young woman -- from reading about her, I think I would have like her alot.

I think so too. She seemed to be bursting personality and vitality. So sad. :rose:

[weezer]

and a tribute to the young man who died at the wrong time and in the wrong place.

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=333583395&albumId=801036

[Its just me]

snip from....... And Now, The Trial
NEWSWEEK

http://www.newsweek.com/id/106937/page/2

The prosecution won the public-relations war last week with its riveting -- if sometimes overwrought -- allegations detailing Nicole and O.J.'s stormy relationship. Eyewitnesses interviewed by the state, from limo drivers to friends, described some of the harrowing incidents, but the most sordid came from Nicole herself, who emerged as an avenger from the grave. She had chronicled the tale of abuse to help in her divorce case two years before her death. Investigators who drilled into her safe-deposit box also found pictures of her bruised face and letters of apology from Simpson. In one, replete with bad spelling, Simpson tells Nicole: "Let me start by expressing to you how wrong I was for hurting you. There is no exceptible [sic] excuse for what I did." One of the cruelest incidents Nicole wrote about occurred in 1988 after she, daughter Sydney and her mother and sister saw "Disney on Ice." A drunken O.J., accusing her of leaving him out of the family outing, attacked the two-month-pregnant Nicole as a "fat pig." He added, "You're a slob . . . I want you out of my f---ing house." He allegedly then said: "I want you to have an abortion with the baby." Nicole asked: "Do I have to go tonight? Sydney's sleeping. It's late." He responded: "Let me tell you how serious I am. I have a gun in my hand right now. Get the f--- out of here." Nicole gathered Sydney and some clothes and left.

[weezer]

snip from....... And Now, The Trial
NEWSWEEK

http://www.newsweek.com/id/106937/page/2

The prosecution won the public-relations war last week with its riveting -- if sometimes overwrought -- allegations detailing Nicole and O.J.'s stormy relationship. Eyewitnesses interviewed by the state, from limo drivers to friends, described some of the harrowing incidents, but the most sordid came from Nicole herself, who emerged as an avenger from the grave. She had chronicled the tale of abuse to help in her divorce case two years before her death. Investigators who drilled into her safe-deposit box also found pictures of her bruised face and letters of apology from Simpson. In one, replete with bad spelling, Simpson tells Nicole: "Let me start by expressing to you how wrong I was for hurting you. There is no exceptible [sic] excuse for what I did." One of the cruelest incidents Nicole wrote about occurred in 1988 after she, daughter Sydney and her mother and sister saw "Disney on Ice." A drunken O.J., accusing her of leaving him out of the family outing, attacked the two-month-pregnant Nicole as a "fat pig." He added, "You're a slob . . . I want you out of my f---ing house." He allegedly then said: "I want you to have an abortion with the baby." Nicole asked: "Do I have to go tonight? Sydney's sleeping. It's late." He responded: "Let me tell you how serious I am. I have a gun in my hand right now. Get the f--- out of here." Nicole gathered Sydney and some clothes and left.

everytime I read of his tormenting/abuse of Nicole, I get sick to my stomach. :flamemad:

[Its just me]

everytime I read of his tormenting/abuse of Nicole, I get sick to my stomach. :flamemad:

I know and it is happening to many other women as I type. To my understanding Nicole not only spoke from the grave but OJ got to testify without getting on the stand. His letter admitting he had hurt her. Not sure if that was part of the evidence....if not it certainly should have been.

I can not help but compare the Disney on Ice to Sydney's recital. OJ was so mad claiming he was left out of the family outing to Disney on Ice he had a gun in his hand......I guess he was so mad about him not being included in the family outing after the recital he put a knife in his hand.