Jesse Jackson Prays With Simpson in Jail Visit

The Rev. Jesse Jackson visited and prayed with O.J. Simpson for nearly 90 minutes Sunday at the Men’s Central Jail, saying afterward that Simpson told him he misses his ex-wife Nicole, whom he is accused of murdering.

“He was talking about the last time he talked with his ex-wife,” Jackson related to reporters. “There’s always a longing to have one more conversation. There’s the pain of that. . . .

“He continues to be very guarded of Nicole relative to the children. . . . He spoke very highly of her as a mother to those children, and one can tell he’s affected very much by her relationship with the children.”

Jackson said he had found in Simpson “a sense of sorrow. There’s no sense of arrogance, there’s a sense of contrition.”

Asked whether “contrition” referred to any responsibility that may have been acknowledged by Simpson, Jackson did not answer, immediately passing to a summary of what Jackson said was his own view of the case.

“Everybody’s a victim,” he said. “Nicole and Ronald Goldman are dead victims. O.J. is a suffering victim. His two children are suffering victims. The relatives of Nicole and Ron Goldman are suffering victims. They are all losers. There are no victors. There are no victors in this tragedy.”

Did that mean he believes Simpson to be innocent, Jackson was asked.

“It would not be appropriate for me to get involved in the court role, legally,” the former presidential candidate responded. He said he would leave that finding up to “the lawyers, the judge and the jury.”

“A man who had become a national hero is behind bars for what has perhaps become the trial of the century,” Jackson said. “I urge all people involved not to allow the ugliest intriguing dimensions of this to further pollute and poison the rest of the country. We cannot draw from this pain that turns to anger.”

Jackson added that he has already visited Simpson’s mother and is approaching both the Brown and Goldman families. He said Simpson had requested Sunday’s visit.

He was quite affected, Jackson said, when Simpson was brought to the meeting in chains and handcuffs, although those were removed during their actual talk.

Also attending the meeting was Simpson attorney Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., who remarked afterward that he hoped it would be the first of a series of visits by Jackson. (Football great-turned-minister Rosey Grier has already talked with Simpson in jail.) “I don’t think you can have too much spiritual guidance,” Cochran said.