(8 of 9)
Though Simpson spent some of the time playing golf as the jury deliberated, waiting for the verdict proved to be excruciating for most of the principals. Fred Goldman spent the first Thursday afternoon of deliberations just driving alone around Los Angeles. Denise Brown was at her parents' house in Orange County, trying to comfort her mother Juditha. Juditha was worried about Denise, convinced that Simpson would somehow hurt her. The Browns were also concerned about logistics: How would they get into the courthouse when the verdict came down without going through the media-and-heckler gauntlet? They sent an emissary to scout a back entrance and consider a front-door decoy or diversion for verdict day. As it turned out, when the verdict came down by the early evening of Feb. 4, the Browns found themselves two hours away from Santa Monica--behind the Los Angeles rush-hour gauntlet. By the time they got to the courthouse, a crowd of 2,000 people was gathered outside.
The verdicts were unanimous: Simpson was liable on all eight counts and was ordered to compensate the parents of Ron Goldman with the sum of $8.5 million for his wrongful death. The size of the triumph stunned even the engineer of the victory. At the Doubletree, Petrocelli hugged his wife and son Adam. "We couldn't have done better. I didn't think it would be unanimous. Isn't it incredible?" As his young assistants and clerks celebrated, Petrocelli slumped into a chair. Someone offered him champagne. "No. Not now. I need some time to just try and take this all in. This is an incredible moment."
For the Goldmans and the Browns, the verdict was bittersweet. The two families have never been close, and they did not savor the verdict together. At the Doubletree, the Goldmans popped champagne and celebrated. Fred Goldman, standing on a chair in what used to be the clean room, thanked lawyers and friends. "Finally there is justice for Ron," he told the gathering. Patti Goldman and her sister Kim answered the constantly ringing phones, fielding congratulatory calls.
Meanwhile, at a small gathering at the tony Shutters on the Beach hotel, a quiet Juditha Brown told friends she tried not to show too much emotion as she listened to the verdict being read in court. There was much to meditate about the future: Sydney and Justin were in the legal custody of a man who had been found liable for the battering--and by extension the death--of their mother. The fact that the estate of Nicole Brown Simpson did not file a wrongful-death suit leaves open an even more macabre possibility: that either or both of the children, when they come of age, may sue their father for their mother's wrongful death.