O.J., THE SEQUEL

"Every time O.J. Simpson opens his mouth in public, he gets in trouble," says TIME's Elaine Lafferty. "Like when he said he wanted to knock the chip off Marcia Clark's shoulder." Seeking to avoid any more such trouble, Simpson's lawyers were in court Wednesday to ask Judge Alan Haber to seal Simpson's upcoming deposition in the wrongful death suits brought by the families of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman. Simpson attorney Robert Baker argues that the depositions must be kept private to avoid prejudicing potential jurors, but lawyers for the Brown family say there is no reason for the depositions not to be made public. If the depositions are not kept secret, Lafferty says, they could answer some of the questions raised in the previous trial. "Lawyers will ask O.J. all the things that he would have been asked on the stand in a criminal trial. They hope to find inconsistencies in his story about where he was the night of the murders by asking him things like 'If you suffer so much from arthritis, what were you doing out chipping golf balls?' What they want try to do is raise doubts in the public about Simpson's story. If the public looks at the deposition and sees him fumbling all over the place, it could change the public perception of him."