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As the plaintiffs focused and honed their strategy, Simpson was distracted. During most of the civil trial, he had another trial on his hands. Fighting to gain custody of his children, Simpson, his bodyguard Tom Gleeson and his brother-in-law Benny Baker spent most days in September attending the Orange County proceeding. In a small courtroom closed to the press and the public, tensions ran high. Juditha Brown, Nicole's mother, and Denise Brown, Nicole's sister, also attended every day, and the proximity of the families led to a few near blowups. At one point Simpson's sister Shirley Baker began playing tic-tac-toe on a note pad during testimony. Juditha turned to the Brown family lawyer Natasha Roit and said, "And this is the woman who will be caring for the children?"
The Browns, however, had their own behavior to defend in the custody case. It was revealed that Louis Brown had earned $262,000 since his daughter's death by selling her diary to the National Enquirer and the home video of her wedding to a television tabloid show. In addition, sister Dominique confessed that she had sold topless photos of Nicole to the National Enquirer. None of this helped the Browns. Simpson used his two days on the stand at the custody trial essentially as a warm-up for the testimony he would give in the civil proceedings.
On the day both families were to receive the judge's ruling by fax, Simpson had a few people over to his Rockingham residence. Waiting with him were television reporter Star Jones of Inside Edition, CNN legal commentator Greta Van Susteren and Linda Deutsch of the Associated Press--and a lawyer and friend, Leo Terrell. When the news came that Simpson had won custody of daughter Sydney and son Justin, Simpson was ecstatic. Said Terrell: "This is the case that he really cared about. As long as he has his children, he'll be O.K."
Rockingham became the central meeting place for the Simpson defense team. To save money on hotels, Dan Leonard, an associate of F. Lee Bailey, and Robert Blasier, the only holdover from Simpson's criminal defense, were living at the estate. Leonard slept in Kato Kaelin's old room. Lead defense attorney Robert Baker, as well as his son and assistant Phillip, also met and worked with Simpson at Rockingham. Many of the witnesses who testified for the defense were prepared during marathon sessions at Rockingham. Robert Groden, the photo expert who testified that the first photo that appeared of Simpson wearing the Bruno Magli shoes was a fake, spent some five hours there one Sunday afternoon as Baker and his son went over his testimony. Many friends dropped in, adding to the messy, busy atmosphere. Some Simpson supporters, such as Terrell, made less frequent visits as the civil trial wound down. Said Terrell: "There's almost too many people there."
The weekend of Groden's dress rehearsal saw a visit from the Simpson youngsters. "Sydney and Justin are very strong," says a source close to the custody case. "Actually, they're what most people would call brats. Sydney says what she wants and when she wants it. She knows how to get what she wants out of her father. She bullies him." The source continues, "It can be obnoxious, but that willfulness may be what has saved these kids during this ordeal. They're smart, they're tough and they're resilient. When you think about O.J. and Nicole, it's really got to be genetic."