O.J. Simpson acquitted in road-rage case

MIAMI, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- A four-man, two-woman jury Wednesday acquitted O.J. Simpson of felony auto burglary and misdemeanor battery in a road-rage case stemming from a traffic dispute in Miami Dec. 4.

It took the jury about 90 minutes to reach the not guilty verdict. A juror cited a lack of evidence as the reason for the verdict.

If Simpson had been convicted he could have been sentenced to prison for a minimum of two years and a maximum of 16 years.

Simpson was charged with reaching into the car of Jeffrey Pattinson, 55, grabbing his glasses and scratching his face during a dispute that took place while Simpson was taking his two children home from school.

As the verdict was read, Simpson covered his heart with his hand, looked at the jury and mouthed the words, "Thank you." He then shook hands with his attorney, Yale Galanter, and hugged him.

Simpson did not comment to reporters, and Galanter said, "I'm thrilled."

The case went to the jury after closing arguments were delivered Wednesday morning.

"The state has not met the burden of proof in this case. The case has not proved he has committed a burglary and the state has not proved he committed battery," said Yale

Galanter, Simpson's attorney.

Assistant State Attorney Abbe Rifkin denied that the police treated Simpson unfairly because of his history.

"The defendant should have been and was treated the same way as everyone else," she said.

Noting Simpson said Pattinson lied when he described the confrontation and traffic dispute, she said Simpson was the only liar in the case.

Simpson, testifying on his own behalf during the four-day trial, said he did not reach into the car to grab Pattinson's glasses during the traffic dispute, as Pattinson had testified, and that Pattinson was the aggressor.

He said his thumbprint was on Pattinson's glasses because when Pattinson gestured at him with the glasses in his hand, he brushed them with his thumb as he pushed them away.

Juror Ernesto Diaz said there was no evidence Simpson reached into the car or was even near it.

"Our conclusion was there was a lack of evidence he was at the vehicle. Had there been a fingerprint on the vehicle it would have been different," he said.

Circuit Judge Dennis Murphy would not allow questioning by Rifkin on whether he had ever been aggressive before, an apparent reference to Simpson's murder charge seven years ago.

Simpson, 54, was acquitted of the June 1994 slayings of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ronald Goldman, in a trial in Los Angeles. A civil trial was held later and held Simpson liable for the two slayings. He was ordered to pay their families $33 million in damages.

Simpson moved to Miami-Dade County, Fla., in September 2000.