LOS ANGELES, June 25 -- The judge who presided over O.J. Simpson's civil trial has announced he plans to retire. Superior Court Judge Hiroshi Fujisaki's exact retirement date wasn't immediately known.
Fujisaki recently presided over Simpson's civil trial in which the football legend was ordered to pay $33.5 million for the 1994 stabbing and slashing deaths of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. The civil jury in Santa Monica found Simpson liable in February for the killings, though a criminal jury had found him not guilty of murder charges in 1995. Fujisaki kept tight control over his courtroom during the trial, limiting attorneys' arguments and refusing to let TV cameras in the courtroom. He cited the 'circus-like' atmosphere during Simpson's murder trial in the downtown Los Angeles courtroom of Superior Court Judge Lance Ito. Fujisaki handed the civil case over to another judge earlier this year after ordering Simpson to pay the judgment. He had also presided over a number of other high-profile cases, including lawsuits involving actors Gary Coleman, Steven Seagal ('see- GAHL'), Elke Sommer, Zsa Zsa Gabor and Jack Nicholson, during his 20 years on the bench. The 61-year-old Fujisaki was named a Municipal Court judge in 1977 and elected to the Superior Court in 1982. He had previously worked for seven years for the Los Angeles County Public Defender's Office and as a private attorney. ---
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