Court throws out OJ Simpson appeal

The California Supreme Court has rejected OJ Simpson's bid to overturn the massive civil court judgment against him for the deaths of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.

None of the justices voted to review Simpson's appeal over the $33.5m judgment.

The former American football player was cleared of criminal charges in the case in 1995, but later sued for wrongful death by the victims' survivors and found liable for the killings.

Simpson, who has said he cannot afford to pay the sum, had asked the Supreme Court to reverse the judgment, saying the civil case was "built on top of a failed prosecution, a prosecution which was suspect for corruption, fraud, contamination, coercion and collusion".

Contacted at his Florida home, Simpson said he intends to take his appeal to the federal courts, perhaps as high as the US Supreme Court.

"There is no way you can tell me this was a fair trial," Simpson said. "If you're right, you fight."

Simpson, who wrote his appeal without the assistance of counsel, was told by his lawyers to "throw in the towel" on further appeals, according to Henry Johnson, a Simpson friend and adviser.

Simpson had argued that he was denied a fair civil trial because he was unable to question disgraced police detective Mark Fuhrman, who invoked his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. An appeals court has ruled that Mr Fuhrman's exclusion from the civil trial was legal.

Simpson also said his trial was unfair because he could not introduce missing phone records that he said would exonerate him. Simpson claims the records would show his ex-wife was alive at the time he entered a limousine for a ride to a Los Angeles airport.

Edward Horowitz, a lawyer for the Brown family, said Simpson has paid "a couple hundred thousand" from the judgment through the sale of furnishings and his Heisman Trophy but doesn't think the families will collect much more.